Eating a Rainbow

 Our youngest Tamaki learned about the importance of eating a rainbow.

You can listen to Fredge here

In between the showers we looked for fruit growing at Waka, we have peaches, lemons, apples, fejioa.

We even got to sample some vegetables...yum...

Year Four - Sea Week Young Ocean Explorer Challenge Series

Today Year 4 began our SeaWeek Young Ocean Explorer Challenge Series.  We were investigating our Turangawaewae - place in the Hauraki Gulf / Tikapa Moana.

First we watched a message from the Young Ocean Explorers Introduction Video We were amazed to see all the sea creatures and beautiful motu (islands) that are right on our doorstep.

Next we learnt how to use Google Maps to locate Wakaaranga in relation to the Hauraki Gulf.  We right in middle on the Western edge!

Then it was time to research some the meanings of our local place names in Te Reo Maori.  Did you know Pakuranga means "the battle for the sun's rays"? We wondered what the story is behind that ...

Lastly we worked to protect Tikapa Moana by picking up rubbish that might otherwise blow down the drains and out to sea.

Look at what we collected:

Mrs Hurford's and Mrs Wall's rooms' litter haul. We'll done for saving so much plastic from the moana! 

Next time we're looking forward to find out about our local Tohura (whales)

Year Two - Why are bees important? Pollination models

 Prior Knowledge - What do you know about pollination?

Isabelle "if we don't have bees nothing will grow"

Taylor "Bees grow plants and trees and the leaves give us oxygen to breathe"

Kaden "bees are important because when they get nectar from the flowers they make more plants and trees"

Henry "Without bees we would starve"

Evelyn "Without bees we wouldn't have honey"

Year 2 learnt about how bees move pollen from flower to flower while they are drinking nectar.  When the flower has pollen from another flower it can turn into fruit or seeds. Without bees we wouldn't have so many fruits, plants and trees.

We created flower models complete with pollen and sticky stigmas then we acted out  pollination with pipe cleaner bees.

Lastly we feed compost onto the mara kai so we can grow flowers to feed our bees.

Next time we are going to create seed packets for flower seeds to feed the bees. 

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!

Year 1 What do seeds need to grow?

 Rooms 1 & 2 investigated how we can grow beans in the new Mara Kai. 

We looked at a bean close up and wondered what a seed needs to grow.

Next, we prepared our soil just like Fredge did in the story

We added compost to the soil so that the soil has 

nutrients to help our seeds grow.

The rain came down so we drew pictures of our mascot Fredge.  We're wondering how we can turn our drawings into scarecrows to protect our Mara Kai.

Can your tamariki name four things seeds need to grow?

Next time we're looking forward to learning about how eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables fuels up our bodies for learning.

Year 5 Explore how & why Wakaaranga is a GreenGold Enviroschool

 Our year 5 classes explored the wonderful places we have at 

Waka that makes us a Green Gold Enviro School.

A new addition this year is our 3 Mara Kai (vege beds) made by 

wonderful caretaker Mr Dowden.

How wonderful our school is!

We watched ""Áll the Way to the Ocean""

Then we investigated our own drains at school...

Jayden- I saw a lot of plastic in our drain

Caroline- There was a spoon and iceblock wrapping

Sana- There was plastic that looked like jellyfish

Kendrick- I saw a pencil

Emily- I saw lots of squished food.

Isaac- There was lots of rubbish in most drains

We talked about what we could do about this...

Caroline- We could pick up the rubbish

Sana- We could have litter-free lunches

Caroline- with litter-free lunches, there is no rubbish to go down our drains.

Year Six Explore how & why Wakaaranga is a GreenGold Enviroschool

 

Year Six had their first Education with Sustainability session this week with Ms Daniel and Ms Everitt.  We reminded ourselves of what sustainability means and the actions we can take everyday as members of a GreenGold Enviroschool.

What is sustainability?

Ethan "protecting the planet"

Jaklyn "reusing things"

Tiaan "keeping the planet clean"

Ada "respecting"

Izzabella "Everything keeping going in one big cycle"

What can we do?

Indy "Pick up one to two pieces of rubbish everyday"

Evelyn "Bring a litterfree lunch everyday"

AJ "Walk to school"

Liam "Make a compost"

Amelia "Don't use glad wrap use bees wax wraps instead"

Sean "If you have soft plastic don't put it in the bin put it in soft plastic recycling at a shop where they can resuse it".

Evelyn "Keep litter in your lunchbox and throw away at home"

Amelia "give chip packets to people who make them into survival blankets for the homeless"

Krish "pick up litter on the beach"

Beau "Use biodegradable things"

Benjamin "Bring your own bag to the shops"

Lucas "Take scrap metal to be recycled"

Naomi "use the right bins"

Hannah "Pick up rubbish at the Wakaaranga Creek"

Next we mapped all the places (wahi) at school where we practice sustainability. Afterwards we used our maps to complete a scavenger hunt. 

Some tamariki helped spread compost in the new Mara Kai and begin planting. Collecting food scraps for the compost and growing kai is just one of our circular economies. Do you have a compost at home? 

Next time we're looking forward to beginning our enquiry into our local estuary.