Year Four's Wonderful Whale Day with Project Jonah

 

What an incredible day Year 4 have had learning about tohura (whales). Michael visited from Project Jonah with his amazing life size blow up whale.  Our time was split between learning about the humpback whale in the hall and learning about the Bryde's whale in Piwakawaka.

What did you learn about humpback whales in the hall?

Sterling "A massive whale eats a tiny creature called krill or plankton"

Gavin "Their teeth are made of the same stuff as our fingernails"

Azariah "The whale's tails are made out of the same thing as our nose"

Muller "They eat more in a day than we eat in a year"

"They breathe through their blow hole" Het

Riana "I liked going inside the whale"

Huvishka "The females are 5m longer than the males"

Jasper "humpbacks can hold their breath for 20 - 30 minutes"

In Piwakawaka we learnt about the amazing Bryde's Whales that live in our Hauraki Gulf. We used our maths skills to measure how long they are. WOW 15 METERS We used our measurement skills to compare how long we can hold our breath compared to the. About 1 minute VS. 15 minutes!

We learnt lots of facts about these incredible tohura and recorded them under a detailed sketch.

I wonder what Hauraki Gulf animal we'll learn about next... 

Fancy Feet Week

 👡👞👢👟👠🚶🚲🛴🌎 It's Fancy Feet Week! Walk, bike or scooter to school and you can wear your foot wear of choice. You'll go in the daily spot prize draw too. Thanks for supporting our #travelwise school. Auckland Transport

Congratulations to the random prize draw winners from Fancy Feet Week.

Year 6 dive into our Local Estuary

 Year 6 started a new inquiry into our Local Tamaki Estuary. We explored what we already know,

our experiences and wonderings.

Izzy "Where salt water meets freshwater"

Eddie "Lots of birds and bugs and fish live there"

Anastasiia "There is lots of water" 

Emily "Where water meets  the land"

Christina "There are many species of animals there"

 

Check out the rest of our slides here

We read an online magazine and answered comprehension questions.

Next, we will look into why they are so important....

Year Four - Being Kind with The Youth Project

 This term, Claire from the Youth Project will be working with all our tamariki to explore what kindness is and how we can be kind to our environment and the community.  Each year group will take a different action to care for our tangata.

We learnt that there are 3 aspects of kindness: 

1. Being friendly 

2. Being generous 

3. Being considerate 

All these things are FREE.

Today, Year Four made wooden jigsaw puzzles for Farm Cove Kindergarten tamariki.  We decorated them with an environmental theme. What a wonderful random act of kindness!

Find out more about the Youth Project here

Year Two - Bee Boogie

 

Today, Year Two reviewed what we've learnt about bees so far by reading "Honeymakers" by Leigh Barrie with our Fluency Partner.  

Afterwards we investigated how bees communicate to each other.  They need to tell each other where the flowers are, but they can't talk.  We learnt they communicate by waggle DANCING 

We made up our own waggle dances in groups.  First we had to think of our own dance move and then teach it to a partner.  The partners made a group of four with another partnership and we all learnt our dance moves to make a whole bee dance.  We shared our dances with the class.

Next, Ms Everitt read a bumble bee picture book.

Lastly Rooms 9 & 10 helped our fruit trees by mulching them.   

Tree Planting Update

 Last year our Eco Warriors planted 20 trees with Howick Local Board. Here is a photo update:

11 trees are doing well with the rest suffering from the drought over the summer holidays despite mulching.

Year 4 dive into Marine Reserves

We dived into the Marine Reserves, looking at the difference between the protected and the unprotected moana around Aotearoa. 

What can you do in a Marine Reserve?

What are you not allowed to do in a Marine Reserve?

First, we watched Riley Hathaway diving in a city harbour and in a marine reserve.  We discussed the differences that we saw.  Next we pair read this article to find out more.

Before lunch we went on a litter hunt to protect the moana.  Sadly we found SO MUCH litter in the drain by our eating area. It's plastic and it won't break down.

Then we cut and pasted activities that we can and can't do in the marine reserves to show our understanding.

Lastly we had a little time to explore www.youngoceanexplorers.com

Year 5 - Active Travel & the Environment

 Year 5 continued our Travelwise journey by investigating how active travel is good for the environment.  We defined these terms in groups and then researched them further:

• fossil fuels

• exhaust emissions 

• air pollution 

• greenhouse gases

• Climate change

Next we thought about the links between burning fossil fuels in transport and the enhanced greenhouse effect - extra carbon dioxide creating a blanket around the earth that is making the climate warmer over time. We completed a reading comprehension activity in our digital work books

After morning tea, we did a quick litter hunt. Next, we looked at an image of a very sad community full of litter, chimmneys, air pollution, no trees, burning rubbish, cars and carparks.  We used our digital skills to create our own collage of the future we want to see, including bike tracks, footpaths, gardens, trees, and solar panels 

              Check out our Slide show that shows our idea of a Clean Green Community..