Room 29 learn about the Fabulous Whio

 Sanulya- "Where do whio go on their journey?"

 Indie-Rose- "What does it eat?"

Ruben- Where is the crystal clear water where we could find them?""

 Margoh- "What colours are they?"

Elora- "What size are they?"

First, we wondered about the Whio...

Celine- "Where do they live in NZ?"

Benji- "Who discovered the Whio?"

Ariel- "How big are they?"

Bella Rose - "What species are they?"

Jace- "Are they harmful?"

Willow - "What do they do?" 

We learned lots of information about the whio.

• Whio live in New Zealand
• They live in fast-flowing crystal clear rivers.
• The parents stay with their chicks to look after them
• Whio and endangered
• Whio are on the $10 note
• Stoats are their main predator
• they are camouflaged
• Whio have special features including a rubber bill, wedded feet, streamlined body, and waterproof feathers.

Eco Warriors Plant Native Trees with Howick Pestfree Ward

 

Today we put our "Native Trees for Native Birds" Planting Plan into action with help of Samantha from Pest free Howick.  Our Eco Warriors worked together to plant 20 native trees including: 

-a majestic puriri for kereru

- kowhai and flax for tuis

- karamu for white eyes

- lemonwoods and  manuka for the bees

On Monday we are going to meet to come up with an action plan for protecting our trees while they grow.   Standby for quarterly updates! Thank you Howick Pestfree Ward!!

Room 5 & 6 Fuel Up

Today Room 5 & 6 had Education for Sustainability (EfS) with Ms Everitt and Ms Daniel.  We're learning about healthy eating and exercise with 5+Aday. 

We began our lesson by taste testing lemonades from our school orchard:  

Venuth - It smells sour

Sophie - It's kind of sticky

Mason - It smells like leaves

Eryn - It tastes like watermelon

Lilly - It smells like orange

Olive - It feels bumpy

Rylee - It smells like lemon

Ezra - It's kinda a bit sugary

Ceejay - It smells sour

Izaac - I want more!

Afterwards we played a fun matching game with healthy food pictures.  Check out our cutting skills!

After morning tea we visited the orchard and and compost. Our lemonade peels are going to turn into new soil for growing more kai. Can you spot the blossoms? Koanga (spring) is on its way! Soon there will be more fruit to pick! 

Lastly we had good fun with mindful Banana Yoga 🧘

Gaining Advice on How to Share Our Estuary Mahi

 

Earlier this year Year Six decided to champion our unique estuary animals.  We want to get the word out about who is living in our estuary and how we can protect them. We decided to create fact posters and display them in pop up exhibition along the Rotary Walkway this weekend. Check out our mahi here Estuary Animal Inquiry Exhibition

Today we asked out Sustainable Schools Advisor Cate how we might best share our mahi with the wider community.  The Eco Warriors showed there posters to her. Cate said that they are currently creating the 100 year plan for the coastline and she is going to speak with the organisers about including the voices of Wakaaaranga tamariki. How exciting!

Year 3 promote a very important FBI

 Year 3 started to create a promotional poster for our vital worms. They wanted to create an eye catching 3d background with marker pens. We will finish them in the next session at EfS with main character worms and information.

Afterwards, we took action by feeding the fruit trees with mulch.  Look at the wiggly worms we found!

Year One's Broad bean harvest

We are learning about growing kai with 5+Aday.  Today we harvested the broad beans we had planted in the Mara Kai.  We had great fun pulling the fat pods off the tall bean plants.  Then we put the plants into the compost, so they can make new soil for growing new food.

Back in the classroom we each opened a pod and tried the beans.

 "The inside of the pod was slimy" Thea

Sapphire "The "beans were big when I opened it".

Mia "They are yucky"

Liam "It smells good, it tastes good and the beans were big"

Advika "It tastes good"

Emile "The inside was fluffy and the bean was wet"

Ethan "There were some tiny ones like babies and some big ones like grandpas"

William "I liked them"

Jackson "They are light green in colour"

William D " They were sour an yucky"

Alice "They tasted a bit like  a chemical"