Ethan talked with our Pestfree Cadets about some of the amazing native species we have in New Zealand like the luminescent limpet, the puriri moth, the Kiwi, tuatara, and some pioneer plants like harakeke, kawakawa, Kowhai, nikau palm.
We were amazed to see taxidermy specimens of some of the pests that threaten our unique native species.
Ethan handed out feathers, shells, fake poop and footprints. We used these clues like master trackers to figure out which species could be in our environment.
Today Year Four investigated how early Māori journeyed across the Pacific Ocean / Te
Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.
We began by brainstorming all the vessels we could think of in our own Google doc. Some of our ideas included: cruise ship, jet ski, house boat, boat, fishing vessel, pontoon, paddle board, cabin cruiser, cargo ship, yacht, sea plane, dinghy, raft, submarine, waka, steam boat, hovercraft, pirate ship, kayak, sea plane, canoe, ferry, water taxi, paddle boat, bumper boat, speed boat, sea biscuit
Next we watched this video and brainstormed what we had learnt:
Jake "Polynesian ancestors found lots of islands"
Logan "Captain Cook found Aotearoa in 1769"
Evie "The first ships were guided by stars, sun and wind"
Ava "The first person to find Aotearoa was Kupe"
Micah "Early settlers came to live here from Europe 500 years after Maori"
Ebony "People came from around the world to New Zealand"
Gursev "They navigated using the stars, sun, birds, wind and wave"
Hector "Whalers and sealers came to New Zealand"
Savannah "NZ has sailed in the America's Cup"
Sharmaine "Captain Cook came to Aotearoa 500 years after Kupe"
Maddi "Kupe went back to tell people he'd discovered New Zealand"
Today in our Ready Set Go UnitYear Five were exploring how active travel is good for the environment. We began by discussing the definitions for:
fossil fuels
exhaust emissions
air pollution
greenhouse gases
Climate change
The tamariki had impressive prior knowledge!
Next, we read information carefully and answered comprehension questions to deepen our understanding of climate change, its causes, its effects, and all the actions we can take to mitigate it.
Lastly we watched two quick videos from Nasa Kids to consolidate our learning.
Next time we are looking forward to creating our ideal world and planning a change campaign.
Year Two visited the Mara Kai to see the Waka Bees pollinating our broad bean flowers. While we were there we noticed the carrots looking lush, so we each picked one to eat.
Ryder "It was really yummy and amazing"
Taylor "It was fresh just like in the fridge"
Rueben "The carrot was crunchy and sweet"
Dakota "I just wanted to say I loved it"
Leo "It was really good I wanted to have thousands. It was so satisfying pulling them out"
Margoh "It feels smooth"
Leleya "When I was eating it it felt crunchy"
Willow "The leaves at the top are soft"
After we finished munching we learnt about how bees are mathematicians. Did you know they create tessellating hexagons to form their honeycomb? We created our own hexagon honeycomb with popsicle sticks and then we drew them too.
