In this lesson, we made observations of an underwater animal, a frogfish, in order to collect evidence that its external structures serve specific functions. In the activity, Frogfish Finder, we used observations to construct an argument that the frogfish’s external and internal structures work together as part of a system to support its growth and survival.
We were amazed at the incredible adaptations of the frogfish. Afterwards, we used our imaginations to create our own sea creatures and describe their special adaptations.
Today, we gave the new Science curriculum a go. We started by learning about 3 different types animal: herbivore, carnivore, and omnivore.
There are also decomposers, which help close the circle returning the nutrients into the ground. We know all about them from our compost topic.
Next we built a food chain and had a go at creating our own simple version. We saw how the energy goes from the sun to plants, herbivores and then to omnivores and carnivores. We talked about how animals in the same ecosystem are related to each other through these food chains and rely on each other.
Lastly, we consolidated with a Kahoot to embed our learning.
Did you know that all outside stormwater drains lead to the ocean?
Year 1 learnt about our new Hot Compost System that was put in at the beginning of Term 4. We also read about Kiki Kiwi and The Travelling Trash.
We were going to go on a litter hunt, but it was still raining! We did have a chance to look at a few of our storm drains here at Waka. We noticed there are a lot of stormwater drains all around our school. Lots of them had rubbish from lunchboxes in them. This made us sad, as we now know that the stormwater drains go straight out to Wakaaranga Creek, then out to the Tamaki Estuary.
Freddy the fish taught us a song to help us remember. "That Only Rain goes down the Storm drain."
Please help Wakaaranga by bringing a litter-free lunch.
Today, Year 4 looked at our new system for dealing with all food waste at Wakaaranga. Thanks to a generous grant from the Mana Ora Climate Resilience Fund, we were able to purchase Hot Composters from the Carbon Cycle Company.
The great thing about our new composters is that they can convert ALL FOOD SCRAPS into compost for our gardens. This also stops our scraps going to landfill where they turn into greenhouse gases that are helping to cause climate change.
The Eco Warriors made a video to explain how the new composting system works and what we need to do:
Afterwards, we visited the new hot composters. We all had a chance to feel the heat coming off the compost. All the billions of fungus, bacteria and invertebrates in the compost cause it to heat up which in turn causes it to break down faster. We'll get compost in 3 months instead of 12 months.
We'll use the compost on our food gardens. Then we'll put the scraps in the hot composters and the whole cycle starts again. That's sustainable - no waste and no nasty gases or chemical fertilisers.
To review our new system, we created a cut-and-paste flow chart.
Today we learnt more about Kiki Kiwi and The Travelling Trash.
Did you know about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?
Well, it is what happens to rubbish in our ocean as currents carry it and it ends up in this area. This is what happened to the blue plastic bag in our story.
We took action by looking for litter around our school. We found that most of the litter that we picked up came from our lunch boxes. Hmmmm, what can we do about this? We discussed different options, like putting the plastic chip packet in the right bin. But the BEST way is not to bring the rubbish to school in the first place!
We made a display to help us be mindful of the litter in our school.
Please bring a litter-free lunch box to school to help our oceans.
