Year 6 Estuary Animal Champions

 

Today Year Six revised how we can categorise the estuary animals into endemic, native, introduced and pest.  We want to promote which animals live in our local estuary so people value the esturary and it's biodiversity. We were lucky enought to have eDNA information about the animals living in the estuary from the Wakaaranga Eco Warriors - Wilderlab eDNA Report for Wakaaranga Creek

We thought about how to champion the animals in our local estuary:

Ruby said posters to display down at the estuary.

Elizabeth added we could create a play or video with estuary animals in it.  Ticket sales could support environmental groups.

Tai suggested creating short informative videos.

We broke into groups to plan our campaigns.

K1 groups - 

White Faced Heron Group

Cockles Group

Springtail Group

Pied Shag Group

Snapper Group

Banded Kokopu

Mosquito Fish Group

Short Finned Eel

K3 Groups:

Short finned eel

Kingfisher

Mud Crab

Morepork

Oyster Catcher

Pied Stilt

Red Bill Seagull

Godwit

K2 Groups:

Tui

Fantail

Pukeko

Variable Oyster Catcher

Godwit

dotterel

Year Two - Mahi in the Mara Kai

 Today Year 2 had Enviro with Mrs Daniel. They learnt about the important job our Sunny Honey Bees do pollinating our food.  

Brylee "Bees help plants grow"

Jay "I had honey from the school so that's also why we have bees"

David said "Bees move pollen to another flower so they can make seeds"

Sophia added "Bees get nectar from the flower to make honey"

Lucy knew "If a bee stings you they will die"

Mila "Bees take pollen out of flowers"

Archie "They spit out the nectar at the hive"

Leo "If the bees are boys they will be called a drone"

We all visited the bee hives and camelias to observe the bees closely.

We wanted to help the bees by planting flowers for them.

Room 10 & 14 moved soil and fed the gardens with worm tea.

Room 13 planted broadbean seeds in the new bed Rooms 10&14 had created. 

The broadbeans' black and white flowers will feed the bees with nectar.. The bees will move the pollen so the flowers turn into beans for us to eat. 

Thank you for your mahi Year 2!

Year Five Spin the Carbon Cycle

 

In between showers, Year Five helped our Ngahuru Mara Kai (autumn food garden) by collecting hot compost and moving it into our mara kai.  We planted our Tukurua (winter) crops incuding kohlrabi, spring onions, kale and callendula.  Then we watered with worm tea.  

Lastly we harvested feijoas and carrots to eat. Next time we meet we'll be diving back into our sea studies.

Year 3 - Mara Kai Ngahuru

Aavin told us we can eat feijoas skins. Who knew?! 

Year 3 today consulted the maramataka (calendar) for Matauranga Maori (traditional knowledge) around what to do in our Mara Kai Ngahuru ( autumn food garden).  Autumn is a time to harvest, tend and plant our Tukurua (winter) crops.  

We noticed our kumara leaves just starting to yellow, which is great news for a harvest in time for our Matariki hangi.

The tamariki all worked hard weeded, digging and harvesting fruit and veggies.  Check out our giant hue gourds!

After all our mahi it was time for a feijoa feast! Next time we're looking forward to planting traditional Chinese plants in our tea garden and finding out more about the gourds.

Year Sixes Sponge Cities

Today Year 6 explored how estuaries and wetland are important for cities.  We used a lesson borrowed from the Sustainable Schools Team.

Firstly we listened to a poem which weaved the Maori World View into our water cycle.

Next we reviewed the water cycle in groups.

Methunee "The sun makes the water go up and water comes down and the lakes get full and it happens again"

Albert "The sunlight makes the puddles, sea, lakes and rivers warm and then they rise up"

Afterwards we experimented in the nghere with how water moves in our cities. 

 Jerry - "The forest floor soaked up our water"

Robyn "The water flows quicker through the pipe compared to the forest floor"

Conrad "The sponge soaked up the water like the forest floor"

We learnt how China is leading the way in creating sponge cities by mimicking nature. Cities need lots of green and blue spaces to soak up downpours. 

Mark "If we put sponges in the city they would act like forest floors."

"Wetlands take less time to soak up water"

Conrad "More trees, grass and dirt will mean you're less effected by floods"

Lastly we played a Kahoot to review. 

Year Four Ocean Voyagers

 

Today Year 4 learnt about the important role of ocean voyages to our island nation. 

We 'Got Thinking' by listing all the vessels we knew in five minutes. Some of our ideas included waka, dinghy, cruise ship and boogie board. Ritchie thought of 19 including "waka, dinghy, speed boat, Titanic, jet ski, surf board, navy ship and submarine."

We 'Explored' our ocean history by watching this: 

 And reading this Hui Te Rangiora: The Navigator

Indigo "When the Egyptians were building the pyrimids the Polynesians moved to the Pacific Islands"

Kadien "They found their way using the starsa and the clouds"

Kayla "The first person that came to Aotearoa was called Kupe"

Touma "NZ has won lots sailing competition"

Ava "Ancestors from south east asia moved to the Pacific Islands 4000 years ago"

Mukundi "Kupe came approximately 1000 years ago"

"Many ships visited New Zealand" Elsie

"Captain Cook arrived 500 years after Kupe" Kayla

Lucy "NZ has won sailing cups"

Hunter "4000 years ago people travelled into the Pacific"

Saane "All of the people travelled to New Zealand with their boats"

Lastly we 'Made Meaning and Connections' by using A4 pieces of paper to design and build our own waka.  We "Shared & Shined" by testing our boats to see if they floated and making improvements.

Year Three Tummy Tea

 Today Year Three continued to learn about the uses for the herbs we grow at our kura.. We investigated kawakawa, an important plant for Maori Rongoa (medicine).

We combined kawakawa leaves, mint leaves, SunnyHoney and hot water to make refreshing tea that soothes our tummies after all that Easter chocolate. 

Tino "Kawakawa is healthy for your tummy and teeth" 

Camelias "It tasted like mint and water" 

Emily "I didn't really want to try ot but when I did, I liked it" 

Coby"Kawakawa leaves with make medicine. No holes us better for tea"

Ciara "The tea was a light yellow colour" 

Annabelle "Drink it slowly so you can get the taste". 

Next time we're going to take part in our anual bird survey.