Year 6 Annual Water Testing with WaterCare

 Today, we were fortunate enough to have Kathryn from Watercare come work with our Year 6's to test the water quality of our estuary.  We learnt about the factors that can harm our estuary such as litter, car oil, detergent, concrete making and fertiliser run off.

Next we tested water samples and observed macro water invertebrates. The other half of the class picked up litter and hunted land invertebrates.  Sadly so much plastic litter had blown into our native bush walk. A big thank you to all the Whanau who make the extra effort to pack a litterfree lunch. 

Next lesson we will analyse our results and compare them with last year.

Room 26 Investigate where kai comes from

 Today Room 26 compared and contrasted growing food in our school Mara Kai and the kai we buy at the supermarket.  We read 'Kumara Behind the Scenes'  to see the journey of kumara from market garden to supermarket.  There were lots of workers, machinery, trucks and packaging. Then went to the Mara Kai and planted tipu so we will have delicious kumara to dig up next Matariki.

We noticed the lush rainbow silver beet growing in the Mara Kai, so Ms Daniel picked the biggest leaves for us to try.  We ripped up the giant leaves and steamed briefly in an electric fry pan with salt. So easy!

Oisin "I've never eaten it before. It was so good" 

Lela "It was salty and soft"

Andrew "The stalk was like celery" 

Rael "I learnt silver beet is easy to grow" 

Charlotte "Food is fresher from the garden" 

Year 2 Investigate Super Seagulls

Rooms 8,9 and 29 listened to the story Celia Seagull by Nicole Miller.

We thought of ways that we could help reduce the amount of plastic in our ocean:

Naira, "We can recycle."

Holly, "Whenever we are about to chuck something away we can look at it, and  maybe we could use it for craft?"

Milly, "We can put plastic in the right bin."

Oliver,  "We can reuse things like paper... use both sides."

Rosemary, "We put rubbish in the correct bins."

Suvini, "We can pick up rubbish floating in the sea with a net."

Grayson, "We need to make sure the rubbish doesn't go down the storm drain."

Pierina,  "When we go fishing, we can pick up litter in the sea."

Amy, "Tell people to stop littering."

Collins, "We you go to the beach.... Take 3 for the see!"

Leo, "When you go to the beach take a rubbish bag with you."

Archer, "Put rubbish in the bin."

Amber, "Don't be lazy and throw rubbish in the drain."

Ryder, "Ask mum and dads to pack you food that doesn't have food around it."

Elora, "Stop using plastic bottles, instead use glass or metal so you can use it 

over and over again. "

Margoh, "Reuse our drink bottles over again."

Baylee, "We could pick up litter RIGHT NOW!"

 We talked about how we can REFUSE plastic in the first place, 

so that it doesn't get into our ocean.

We drew our 3 different types of New Zealand Seagulls.

We went on a litter hunt to make sure none of our own 

Wakaaranga litter goes down the stormwater drains and out to the ocean.

Lastly, we mulched our native tree walk, to protect soil moisture and feed the trees.

Travelwise Leaders Big Sort Out

 Our year 6 Travelwise Leaders sorted out the new safety gear for road patrollers. Thank you so much New Zealand Police for providing such a valuable resource. They are nice and bright which helps with the visibility for cars to see us.

John offered to take home the soft plastic so it could be recycled properly. 

WHAT A STAR!

Year One Go Litter Free

 Congratulations Rooms 7 & 4!  They had 18 litter-free lunches.  

Rooms 1 & 2 sadly only had 5 litter-free lunches.  

Plastic litter is a BIG problem for our world.  Packing a litter free lunch means packets and wraps can't blow around our school and go down the drain to the sea.  We held a pop-up prize draw and five lucky winners were rewarded for making sustainable choices.

Next, we went on a litter hunt around the school and sorted what we found into paper, plastic, and food scrap piles.  Sadly the plastic will not break down and hurts our environment.  We discovered that nearly all the plastic was from food wrappers.  This made it obvious that litter free lunches are a really powerful action we can take every day to protect our world.

Before morning tea, we did Squish the Fish Yoga to calm our minds and stretch our bodies. We learned how to breathe from our bellies. We read Kiki Kiwi and The Travelling Trash and finally planned our own delicious litter free lunches. 

Year 3 Finishing Off with Fungus, Bacteria & Invertebrates

 Year 3 finished the year with revision of what we have learned about fungus, bacteria and invertebrates and especially those super hero composters - EARTHWORMS. 

After the karakia, we started the session with caterpillar yoga, calming our minds and bodies.

 We revised what we have learned so far and added to our 

kete of knowledge with some more research.

We worked on our worm booklets adding facts, 

a worm farm poster

 and finishing with beautiful colour.

Then we did some Mahi to help protect our native trees for the long-hot Raumati ahead.  We spread mulch, which will lock in moisture and feed the trees as the fungus, bacteria, and invertebrates break it down.