Year 5 Investigating the health our local waterways with Watercare

Today Year Five helped to test the health of the Wakaaranga Creek with Kathryn from Watercare.  We learnt about the common risks to our local waterways - detergent, nitrates, oil, plastic litter and paint.

Next we tested water samples from the creek for turbidity (clarity), PH, temperature and nitrate levels.

Lastly we used magnifying glasses to find macro invertebrates in the samples.  Who knew there were so many bugs living in the estuary?!

Good news! Our results when compared to December 2023 showed that our waterway is healthier than a year ago, as there were less nitrates present.  Sadly there is still lots of plastic litter present.  We'll think about actions we can take next year to address this when we take part in our Year 6 Estuary Inquiry.

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

 

While others tested water we also went on a hunt for land invertebrates. We logged our finds on iNaturalist. 

Year 6 Upcycle

 

Today Year 6 thought about the impact that fast fashion is having on the environment. 

What could be the impact?

"Fashion trends last two seconds then die and no one wears the clothes anymore" Taylor

"Clothes made out of bad materials like animals" Ethan

"People who make the clothes don't get good rights" William

Jaden "Using animal products"

"Manufacturing could make pollution" Advik

Jaden "Uses machinery"

 Did you know fashion is the biggest polluter after fossil fuels? We followed the life cycle of your cotton t-shirts by watching this video: 

Next, we thought about how we can reduce our impact by making choices about clothing:

AJ "Buy less clothes"

Cooper "Go to op shops"

Liam "Turn them into a bag or cleaning cloth"

Amin "Wash clothes less"

Blake "Buy organic cotton"

Then we upcycled our old t-shirts to make tote bags.

Afterward, we got creative making sustainable wrapping paper, cards, and tags. 

Year 6 Reflect

Year 6 spent some time reflecting on their enviroschool journey at Wakaaranga. 

 Here is the link to our reflections

Anyone for kale chips? Year 5 harvest and plan next steps

 Today Year Five began their E4S lesson by harvesting kale and taste testing kale chips.  So easy to grow and so easy to make!

We also reflected on our learning journey so far and planned our next steps.  We're going to be focusing on the estuary next, so we recorded what we already knew, what we wondered, who could help up us and our experiences with the estuary.  Check out our mahi here.

Next time we are going to be visited by an expert from Watercare to help assess the health of our estuary.

Year Four Reflect

 Today Year Four reflected on our Education for Sustainability journey.  We read a story, article and poem about other school's environment actions and used these to compare and contrast.

Afterwards we went to our Mara Kai and harvested fresh healthy silver beet.  It was delicious.

Lastly, we mulched the native bush walk.

See you in 2025 Year 4!