Year Three Kai Continued

Today, Year Three were back out in the Mara investigating kai.  First we observed the differences since we were last there in March:

Zoe "The leaves had gone from the fruit trees.  Last time there was lots of fruit and leaves"

Augustino "Cabbages were growing"

Evie K "There was no more leaves on the apple trees and no more apples"

Isla "The leaves will come back in spring"

We tried silver beet fresh from the garden.  

Next we thought about the differences between home grown kai and kai we buy in the shops.  Kai we grow at home is fresher and takes a lot less energy to transport and store so it's better for the environment.  We can't grow all our kai, but it's great if we can have a couple of fruit trees or a small veggie garden at home.

We created diagrams to show the differences between homegown and store bought kai. 

Lastly we thought about the senses that we use when we eat and created a vocabulary bank.

Next time we are looking forward to finding out the groups we can put kai into and how the different food groups are good for our bodies.

Room 7 had a slightly different afternoon because they had the big job of collecting all the bins from around the school for tomorrow's waste audit.  Also, when they were in the Mara Kai they say a HEDGEHOG.  At first it was curled up and then it was waddling around the garden. This led to some hedgehog research.  Did you you know they can swim? Their quills act like a life jacket as they are filled with air.  Unfortuanatley they below in England - they are now considered a pest in New Zealand.

Next time we will be doing a special Civi Defense lesson, then we are looking forward to finding out the groups we can put kai into and how the different food groups are good for our bodies. The children want to end this unit by making kumara soup from the mara.

Greenfingers Gang on the hunt

 Today, the Greenfingers Gang got bust tipping compost, weeding and lastly protecting our Mara by setting rat traps. Stay tuned to see if we catch anything. 

Year Six Continue Our Estuary Inquiry with Watercare

 Today Year Six learnt about how we can observe what live in our fresh water ways, with Kathryn from Watercare.  We learnt about the common risks to our local waterways - detergent, nitrates, oil, plastic litter and paint. Sadly litter is a main pollutant.  What could we do about that?

Next, we used magnifying glasses to find macro invertebrates in the samples.  Who knew there were so many bugs living in our freshwater?! Lots of life means healthier water.

Observation, identification and recording of data

Good news! We saw six types of macroinvertebrates, so the water was relatively healthy.

What we found:

- leech

- microvelia

- water boatman

- water mite

-damsel fly

Freshwater Leech

Water Boatman

Lastly, we chose one water bug to find out more about and created research posters. Check them out HERE

Thank you to Kathryn and Watercare for the wonderful hands on learning.

Year 4 Get Ready School Challenge

 Nature isn't always kind. Today, Year 4 thought about how we can get ready and be prepared if a natural disaster strikes.

What sort of things could we get ready for?

Arjun "Earthquakes"

Theo "Volcanoes"

Amelia "Tsunami- my dad went through one in Samoa"

Caden "Tornadoes and Cyclones"

Karina "Fires"

Kimaya "Flood"

Nick "Rockslide"

Amelia "Sinkhole"

Azara "Pandemic"

Archer "Heatwave"

We practiced 'Drop, cover & hold" to prepare for an earthquake.

We took part in the "Get Ready Schools Challenge" by completing eight activities:

1. Practise drop, cover, hold for an eearthquake

2. Learn the 111 emergency number, your address and your parent's phone number off by heart - we'll learn this at home if we don't know alreadu.

3. Check big objects are secure around the house

4. Know who is responsible in the event of an emergency

5. Know the types of hazards that may happen in New Zealand

6. Know how to respond to  hazards

7. Create a fire escape plan with your family - we'l do this at home.

8. Know how to evacuate for a tsunami.

REMEMBER to talk about this mahi, complete the fire evacuation plan with your whanau and memorise your emergency contact details.

THEN return the sheet with the dog on it to your teacher to enter the IPAD draw.

Lastly, we drew our families evacuating with our 'Go Bags' in the event of a volcano.

Year Five Waste Water Warriors

 

Today Year Five continued our community hero inquiry with a visit from Kathryn from Watercare.  She was focussing on how Watercare does an amazing job of dealing with our waste water.  Aren't we lucky that all our waste water just disappears down pipes?!

We began with a teacher vs. students game to identify all the ways water goes down a drain inside our buidlings.  Some ideas were - dishwashers, sinks, toilets, wet rooms, waste disposals and showers.

Next, we went back in time to discover how Maori desposed of there waste water by digging holes  far far away from the living areas.  We were surprised to hear that when the Europeans came they mixed up the waste water on Queen Street with the natural spring that was used for cooking, drinking and wshing.  This casued a typhoid outbreak. Gross!  To solve this problem the colonials created the job of a "Night Soil Collector", so people didn't tip their waste into the waterways anymore. When the population increased, pipes were dug under the ground to take the waste water away to treatment plants.

We love being able to flush our waste away, but we need to look after this system, so it will keep working.  Here's how:

- Only the 3 P's - pee, poo and (toilet) paper down the toilet

We watched the "Disgusting Fatberg Video".  It was disgusting. What did we learn?

- fat and waste solidifies into "fatbergs" that block the sewer and have to be broken up

- DON'T  put fat down your sink

- people that break up fatbergs get paid around the same amount as teachers

Our waste water goes to treatment plants.

1 The lumps bigger than 3mm (like lost toys) are taken out and sent to the dump

2 Reactor/Clarifiers that are 77m in diameter remove nitrogen with bugs that eat bacteria

3 Ultraviolet lamps kill viruses 

4 Gravity Belt Thickeners remove particles

5 Anaerobic sludge digesters break it down

6 Centrifuge spins out more waste

7 Inter-tidal ponds send it out to sea

8 Leftover biosolids are used to build land like at Puketutu Island

Lastly we conducted a water density experiment using water, salt, food colouring and plastic piping.

How will you protect our waster water network at home?

Year Three Water Saving Super Heroes

 Not only were Year 4 Road Safety Super Heroes today, they were also Water Saving Champions too!

Sarah from Watercare visited today.   The tamariki had lots of questions about where their water comes from and where it goes to. 

We discovered where the water in our taps comes from - The Waikato River, aquifers & dams.  Did you know the ground water is the cleanest?

We learnt how to be Water Saving Heroes by measuring the water that can be saved with some simple behaviours:

- turn off the tap when we brush our teeth or use a cup (20 litres can be wasted if the tap is left running)

- use the small button when we flush the toilet (Yes, the small button can be used for number twos. It takes 12 litres to flush the big button and just 7 for the small)

- fill the bath less (a full bath takes 200 litres of water)

- use your bath water on the plants or share your bathtime

- have a short shower (showers take 12 litres of water a minute)

Each tamariki are bringing home a shower timer to help them and their whanau be Water Saving Superheroes. Thank you Watercare!!

If we are careful with our water it's great for the environment as the water will stay in our dam lakes, aquifers and rivers.

Lastly we used our superpowers of problem solving and collaboration to create super fun water courses. The teams tried their best to move the maximum amount of water with the minimum amount of spillage. 

Thank you to Sarah and Watercare for a wonderful learning experience! 

Greenfingers Gang in the Garden

 

The Greenfingers Gang gives our younger tamariki a chance to show environmental leadership in our gardens.  This week, after they tipped the hot compost, they checked the tracker tunnel out out by the Eco Group. We were so excited to discover the peanut butter was gone and there were lots of prints.

When we went back to The Green Room we researched what had left the prints here: https://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/our-work/predator-free-2050/a-short-guide-to-identifying-footprints-on-tracking-tunnel-papers.pdf 

We decided they were left by a hedgehog.  These are pests as they eat native insects like weta, but we don't really want to trap them.

Next week we'll tip the compost as usual and put worm tea on the cabbages.