2024 Stormwater Slueths

 Our 2024 Eco Warriors began their citizen science job of monitoring the Tread Lightly Stormwater Slueth Trap to see what effect Wakaaranga is having on our estuary. Last time the trap was monitored there were sadly 36 pieces of litter. 

We sorted the contents into leaves and litter.  The litter was surprising! There was a $1 coin and a metal K as well as a Mobilo block and a dice. There was of course the usual food wrapper items. We were so happy to see that there was only 17 litter items altogether this time.

How could we further reduce the litter going down the drain from Wakaaranga?

Harvey - Encourage more people to bring litterfree lunches

Izzabella - we could make a slide show to show the classes what's in the drain and where it will go

Samuel - we could do a litterfree lunch competition

Harvey - we could put up posters around the school to encourage keeping the drain clean

Samadhi - we could put on a show

Stay tuned for our stormwater action!

Our Estuary Monitoring Trip with Frazer, Cate & Kylee

More photos Estuary Trip 12/12/23

Today the Pestfree Cadets were lucky enough to visit the Wakaaranga Creek with Frazer, Cate and Kylee - experts from Sustainable Schools. We wanted to gather more information about what lives at our local estuary.

Here is a our survey data:

12/12/23

9:15am - 10:15am

Wakaaranga Creek by the Ropello Entrance

Cloudy & windy

Birds we observed:

pukeko

pied shag

tui

sparrow

swallow

white faced heron

black backed gull

seagull

blackbirds

duck

starling

piwakawaka

tern

Sadly no kingfishers, godwits or oyster catchers

Are pests, human activity or pets a factor?

We noticed what nature was telling us.

The mangroves were not there when the creek was used as the resting place of the canoe.  We wondered why they are there now.

The pohutukawas were in flower and the puriri were covered in berries.

We have taken a water sample so that it can be EDNA tested.  This will tell us what is living in our estuary. When creatures move through the environment they leave traces of their DNA. Scientists will analyse our sample and send us the results.  We can add that to our estuary inquiry.

This trip will help inform our inquiry and actions in 2024.

Thank you for an amazing trip Cate, Kylee, and Frazer.

Eco Warriors Stormwater Sleuth Fieldtrip

Today our Eco Warriors took part in Estuary Monitoring as part of our Stormwater Sleuth Project.  We met Monique and Dom from Tread Lightly at the Wakaaranga Creek where our school drains come out.  This is where any litter going down the drain will end up.

We performed various scientific tests to monitor the creek's health and we recorded the data.

This is what we found:

Clarity - 45 - 60cm - OK

Dissolved Oxygen - 8 - 12 - OK

Nitrates - 2 - Not good

Nitrite - 0.15 - 0.3

Temperature - 22 - 23 degrees - OK

PH Level - 7 - Good

Phosphates - 1.5 high

Litter - lots of litter - 20 - 30 pieces - mostly plastic - mostly food packaging. Some paper.

Compared to last year the phosphate and nitrate levels were a concern.  Sadly last night's downpour may have caused a sewerage spill.

There were lots of weeds in the creek compared to last year.

In 2024 we are going to do a big inquiry into our estuary.  We'll keep monitoring our drain trap and repeat the tests we did today.

Thank you to everyone who packs a litter-free lunch.  You are helping to protect the estuary and moana.

Checkout more photos in this folder here

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JFyFT2UNhjRbmbNK9

Blake Inspired Teachers Conference 25-29 Sept 2023

 Mrs Daniel and Ms Everitt were lucky enough to spend a week at the Blake Inspired Teachers Conference in Auckland during the holidays. Lots of inspired learning.

Storm Water Sleuthing - Data Collecting, Mapping & Extrapolation

 

Our citizen science stormwater project continued today with the Eco Warriors and Monique. We split into groups to map the outdoor drains and survey the litter in our drain trap. 

It took a long time to carefully sort and weigh the litter in the drain.

In May there were 30 pieces of litter in the drain. Today there were sadly still 34 pieces. The bits of Tiger Turf in the drain are also a problem, but we didn't count these.

 Straw wrappers, Tiger Turf, and food wrappers were the biggest problems. A reminder that we need more litter-free lunches, please.

Next, we extrapolated that if there are 27 drains and 64 pieces of litter in each drain there could be 1728 pieces of litter leaving Wakaaranga and going into the Wakaaranga Creek every few months.  Oh no! What could we do? Jiajia - reward litter-free lunches, Lily - pick up litter, Kelly - take your litter home.  

Do people know that outside drains go to the sea? Are they dropping the litter by accident? 

How can we draw attention to this problem? Samuel - give rewards for litter-free lunches. Esther - spread awareness by talking in an assembly. Jiajia - a class activity to acknowledge litter-free lunches.  Indi - litter-free lunches go to morning tea early. Charlotte - make posters.

Next time we are going on a field trip to the creek to see where our stormwater leads ...

Encouraging More Birds to our Environment

 Room 20 completed the Garden Bird Survey and then wondered how we could encourage more birds into our environment.  We researched common garden birds and created fact files.  We'll use our research to inform our actions next term.  Hopefully when next year's Year 6's complete the Garden Bird Survey, we'll see an increase in native birds at Wakaaranga.

Check out our research here: Room 20's Garden Bird Research

You can create a bird friendly garden at home too.  Check out this link: https://gardenbirdsurvey.nz/garden-for-birds/