Year Six Estuary Habitat Hunt

 Today Year Six looked at the variety of habitats our Tamaki Estuary offers.

We played a fun Kahoot to review what a habitat its, read posters describing estuary habitats and the animals that are adapted to live there, cut and pasted descriptors and their photos and lastly played an online create a mangrove habitat game.

What have we learnt today?

Frida "Lots of birds like salt marshes"

Stephen "Mangroves have roots that like to live in muddy shaded places"

Eliza "Over 300 000 litres of rubbish are collected out of the Hauraki Gulf every year"

Harry "Reefs increase the biodiversity of estuaries"

Ruby "There are lots and lots of fish in estuaries and we need to help them"

Tai "Salt marshes are one of the hidden treasures of the estuary"

Chloe "Seagrass is great homes for baby snappers"

Kayden "In the marches stoats, cats and rats feed on the baby chicks and eggs of seabirds"

Monique "Pests like cats live on the estuary edge"

Rory "Shellfish keep the estuary clean"

Carlos "Mud snails live in mangroves"

Eco Leaders - Citizen Science - Stormwater Sleuth Study

 Today the Eco Leaders discovered FOUR KGS of waste in our drain litter trap.  OH MY GOODNESS! What was all this waste destined for the Tamaki Estuary????

4 tiny pieces of soft plastic

6 tiny peices of hard plastic 

1 bottle top

1 piece of styrofoam

AND 4 KGS OF CLAY AND LEAVES

We think this came from the recent gardening work.  The left over dirt and leaves must have washed into the drain.

Unfortunately the reason our estuary is so muddy and murky and full of mangroves is from this type of thing washing down the outside drains.

What can we do??

Monique "sweep it onto a lawn instead"
Matthew "put waste in landfill not down the drain"

Year 4 Find Out About Tahora

 Today Year Four began their EfS lesson by estimating 15 metres.  We discovered there is an animal that lives in the Hauraki Gulf that is this long.  Wow!  It's the Bryde's Whale and they live in our neighbourhood all year long.

We read the Hauraki Broo by Nikki Robinson 

Nicolas "There are very few Bryd'es whales"

Peyton "A Bryde's whale is 15 metres long"

Hunter "It takes patience and time to find Bryde's whales"

Renee "They are medium size whales.  Ships crash into them so they need to slow down"

Emmersyn "They are smooth"

Hunter "The Hauraki Gulf is one of the few places the Bryde's whales live"

We learnt about what threatens the Bryde's Whale and how all the ships in the Hauraki Gulf have agreed to slow down.

Richie"I think the boats slowing down is one of the few things humanity has solved. It makes me feel happy that creatures in the ocean aren't dying"

What can we do?

Isabel "Fishing is a risk"

Indigo "Getting caught in a wave and going on shore"

Isabel "Ships need to slow down"

Pick up litter and bring a litterfree lunch

We learnt some Te Reo Maori words to describe the whales

Tahora - whale

Nui - big

Roa - long

Tino momona - fat

We sang a waiata to learn them - Tahora Nui Waiata

Room 6 collected 96 pieces of litter.  Well done! Sadly it sill lots of food wrappers.

Next time we are going to learn about how people voyage across our moana.

Room 4 had time to vote for the Fish of The Year https://www.mountainstosea.org.nz/fish 

Year Six Tamaki Estuary Exploration & Environmental Action

 Today Year 6 began our estuary inquiry.  We are going to be action learning for the Tamaki Estuary.  We are on a mission for our mahi to lead to authentic actions that will protect our local moana.

Some of our Estuary prior knowledge:

Ellen "Like a river"

Annabelle "There's trees"

Stephen "It's very watery and there's some mud sometimes"

Sophie "It's like a waterway"

Emme "It's got fish"

Matthew "It's got boats"

Ellen "It's got mangroves and eels"

Stephen "When the mangroves are small they are spikey"

Arta "People sail there"

Taanvi "There's underwater plants"

Albert "There's fresh water fish"

Oskar "There's takahe there"

After an introductory slideshow and Kahoot to review our new knowledge we recorded what we knew, our experiences, what we wondered and how we were going to find out more.

Some of our Wonderings:

Where does our estuary start and why does it start there?

Elizabeth "What plants grow there?"

Kayden "What types of fish live there?"

London "What is different about estuary fish.  What birds live there"

Harry "Will there still be estuaries in a 100 years?"

Eliza "Are there bees or wasps in estuaries"

Manushee "Are there any insects that live there"

Ruby "In 100 years will the estuary be better or worse?"

Where we thought we can find out more:

Rory "Google Earth"

Mark "Water testing"

Katara "Visit the estuary"

Zoha "Websites"

Annie "Young Ocean Explorers"

Jerry "Documentaries, books and Auckland City Council"

Lastly we took action:

K2 collected  211 of litter

K3 weeded the native bush area

k1 released trees in the bird corridor

Next time we're looking forward to learning more about the importance of estuaries and the different habitats they provide.

Using our pineapple sage with Year Three

 Today Year 3 continued our inquiry into how we can use the herbs we grow in the Mara Kai. We discovered the amazing history of tea beginning 6 thousand years ago in China and spreading ALL over the world.

Next we picked pineapple sage and made it into refreshing cold fusion tea.

Maddison " The tea smelt like pineapple gummies" 

Camellia "The tea tasted a little bit like pineapple"

Chase "It smelt like pineapple but it tasted like water"

Tino "It smelt like juice"

Annabelle "A man in China poisoned himself and a tea leaf floated into his mouth and saved him"

Alice "Shennong invented tea 6 thousand years ago"

Pineapple sage is like it's cousin mint and as well as having alovely aroma is great for stomach issues. Next time we are looking forward to exploring Maori Rongoa by using our kawakawa.

Year Five Explore Our Local Moana

 Year Five dived into exploring the Hauraki Gulf today.  We discovered the amazing creatures that live there, mapped our location in the Gulf and found the meaning of many of the Maori place names.

Vida "Crayfish, sharks, fish, octopus, whales live in the Hauraki Gulf"

Yumi "Crabs live there and lobster"

Blake "There are turtles and they look like birds because they flap flippers like wings"

Yumi "I learnt that manta rays come to New Zealand"

Blake "The seals were hunted and now they are coming back"

Ruby "In the Hauraki Gulf there are lots of sea creatures that are almost extinct"

Laela "Seals were almost extinct"

Gabby "I never knew there were so many cool animals down there"

Fred "I learnt how big the Hauraki Gulf is"

Aiden "Seals jump out of the water"

Olivia "I learnt the Hauraki Gulf if so amazing"

Lucas "Rangitoto means sky blood because Maori people saw it erupting"

Blake "Wakaaranga is called the resting place of the canoe because that's where they put their canoe when they went up to Ohuiarangi"

Alexander "Musik Point looks like it's pointing to Browns Island and Rangitoto"

Ben "If you look for Musik Point you can find Sunnyhills because there's a lump to the bottom left"

Blake "Sunnyhills is south of Rangitoto"

We wondered how we can protect the Hauraki Gulf...

Ben "Pick less plastic when you're shopping"

Mia "Before we throw things away think if we can reuse or recyle them"

Harper "Bring a litterfree lunchbox"

We went on a litter hunt.

Room 1 found 106 pieces of litter.  We noticed:

Harper "It's disgusting"

Taryn "There wasn't much around"

Cody "There were loads of plasters around"

Alexander "There was lots of paper"

Jake "Most of it was plastic which can't be reused"

Ben "At lot of rubbish was semi buried in the dirt so had been there a long time."

Room 3 collected 101 pieces and Room 2 found 66.  

Olivia "Most of it was plastic"

What can we do to stop this litter problem?

Vienna "Talk to neighbours to stop throwing rubbish over the fence"

Evie "Bring a litter free lunch and after you have sushi take the litter home"

Olivia "Use beeswax instead of plastic wraps"

Fred "Be careful when your you are opening plastic packaging and styrofoam"

Year 4 Dive into the Hauraki Gulf

 Today Year 4 continued their Moana studies.  We're celebrating being part of the Hauraki Gulf.  We learnt some of the many sea creatures that live there: 

Warren "Sharks, turtles and fish"

Renee "Sting rays, octopus and orca"

Hunter "Marlin, sprats, and kingfish"

Richie "Bronze whaler sharks, whales and seals"

Then we used our mapping skills to locate Sunnyhills School in the Hauraki Gulf. 

Maori were here first.  We learnt the meaning of some of the names they gave the places in the Hauraki Gulf.

How can we protect our moana?

Maya "Don't fish"

Kayla "Use less plastic"

Aelene "Be a tidy kiwi"

"Put rubbish in the right spot"

We took action by going on a litter hunt.

Room 5 found 106 pieces of litter on the field and edible garden! Room 4 found 30 pieces of litter in the native bush walk.  And Room 6 found and incredible 152 pieces of litter around the school after lunch. Wow! That's 288 pieces of litter collected in just ONE day.

What did we discover about the litter?

Ambrose "It's coming from food and juice"

Zachary "There were lots of plasters"

What could we do about it?

Brayden "some of it can be recycled"

Zara "through it in the bin"

Luca "stop using plastic"

Caitlin "bring litter free lunches" 

PLEASE BRING A LITTERFREE LUNCH.  PERHAPS WE CAN ASK THE OFFICE TO BUY BIODEGRADEABLE PLASTERS ...