Wednesday, 21 May 2025

Why are Estuaries and Wetlands important in our cities?

 What happens when it rains in cities vs. forests?

Toby "In forests the rain soaks in and in the cities it will sit on the concrete"

Blake "In the wetlands it won't overflow but in cities it can overflow"

We took equal measures of water outside and experimented with how it flowed over concrete and over the garden.

Semith "The concrete because there was no where for the water to go and the garden slurped up the water"

Vienna "The garden acted like a sponge"

We further explored this idea by watching this video: The Genius of China's Sponge Cities

And playing NIWA's Township Flood Challenge Game

What did we learn?

Rory "Don't buy by a river"


Afterwards we worked with Claire and Anne from the Youth Project to create a gift and cards  that recognise the hard work of volunteers in our community. 












Tuesday, 20 May 2025

Year 3 Being Kind with the Youth Project

 








Today Year 3 ended their Enviro Lesson, by working with Claire & Anne from The Youth Project.  We were thinking about how we can be kind to the environment and our community.

Kindness has three aspects:

Friendliness

Generousity

Consideration

We decided to be kind to preschoolers in our community by creating beautiful jigsaws with environmental themes. These will be distributed to local kindergartens to share kindness and an environmental message.

Thank you to The Youth Project and their sponsor Dalton Electrical









Thursday, 15 May 2025

867 Trees for Survival Planting Day 2025

 ðŸŒ³ðŸŒ³ðŸŒ³Well done to our Eco Group, who planted 867 trees today, at the Worker Polo Pony Farm in Clevedon.. Thanks to all our grand/parent help. And a big nga mihi nui to Trees for Survival for allowing us to play a small part in something big 🌳🌳🌳


























Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Year Five Road Safety Week - Statistics & Heart Health

 It's Road Safety Week. We'll done to all our active travel super heroes! 


Today Year Five learnt how active travel is good for our tinana (body); specifically our heart and muscles.  We research the important role of our heart:

Renee "The heart is the size of your clenched fist"

Paris "Your heart beats about 100 000 times a day"

Brayden "Your heart beats 3 billion times in an average lifetime"

Fiona "Your heart pumps blood through the body"

Ava "The blood carries oxegen"

We learnt how to work out our beats per minute.  We took our pulse for six seconds and then multiplied by 10.  We found our BPM when resting, walking, running and cooling down.  We graphed and analysed the results.


Next we learnt about our muscles and completed a diagram of the main muscles we use during active travel.

Our fast 


Tuesday, 13 May 2025

Year Four Wonderful Whale Maths

 








Today Year Four learnt about the amazing Bryde's Whales that live in our Hauraki Gulf. We used our maths skills to measure how long they are. WOW 14 METERS We used our measurement skills to compare how long we can hold our breath compared to the. About 1 minute VS. 15 minutes!

We learnt lots of facts about these incredible tohura and recorded them under a detailed sketch.

Lastly we read "The Hauraki Broo" a picture book all about the Bryde's Whale. 

Wednesday, 7 May 2025

Year Six - Literacy Week Estuary Inquiry

 


As it is Literacy Week, Year Six began their Education for Sustainability lesson by reading a Kiwi Conservation Club magazine all about Wetlands and Estuaries.  We checked our comprehension with a Kahoot.

Next we learnt how estuaries are important by reading this slide deck and completed a fun sorting game to follow up.

Why are estuaries important?

Vinuka "They filter out mud"

Maddy "It is where lots of animals live"

Laela "They sometimes stop flooding"

Lucas F "They give people food"

Blake "They are good for walking along"

Manal "They prevent flooding of houses as they drain the water"

Lastly, in groups we began to plan our own inquiry into our local estuary. Check out an example here

Tuesday, 6 May 2025

Year 3 - Luscious Leaves

 


Today Year Three discovered The Green Room was covered in fragrant leaves from our mara.  We split into teams and investigated each plant using our senses.  We recorded the name if we knew it our any other ideas we had.  

Jaxon "It smells like onion"

Jadyden "It smells like ice pops"

Joshua "It's bamboo"

Theo "It smells like lemonade"

Kimaya "It looks like a lily pad"

Ella "Is it lemongrass? We grow it and my dad uses it".

Mrs Daniel identifed each plant and some of it's uses.  They were lemongrass, kawakawa, kumara leaves, spring onion, nasturtium, sorrel, mint pineapple sage & rosemary.  They can be used to add flavour, make teas and some of them are herbal medicines.  



We brainstormed what we wanted to find out about leaves, herbs and tea. 

Next we researched the amazing origins and fascinating history of tea. We followed up with a Kahoot to check our new knowledge. Did you know it was invented in China 6000 years ago?

We have mystery box of special of tea from Mr Lesley to investigate in the coming weeks:


Next time we're looking forward to using our mint plants to make tummy tea.