Island Bay Marine Centre Treasures!

Island Bay Marine Centre Treasures from Matariki on Vimeo.

Visiting the Island Bay Marine Education Centre and exploring Island Bay beach and rock pools

Today we were fortunate to have a great calm day to compare Island Bay beach and rock pools to the more local conditions we've already explored at Worser Bay and Breaker Bay. There was quite a big difference in what we found - many more varieties of snails and some shrimp, even a small dead octopus, but almost no         starfish at all! There were also much fewer varieties of seaweed, and no sea lettuce. We were wondering why we found different things here.



We were able to get hands on with many sea creatures we'd seen a little of already and learn more about them by touching the creatures we've been researching up close to see some of their features. Did you know starfish have five eyes at the end of their arms - they sure don't look like ours though!

We explored the beach to learn a little about the food chain on the beach especially looking at how seaweed, sandhoppers and crabs affect life in the sea. It's all connected... We also looked inside bull kelp and saw how it's internal structure has lots of air packed in a way so it can float. This allows the kelp to reach towards the light to that it can get it's energy from the process of photosynthesis, just like plants do on land.


Thanks again to those parents who were able to support our trip by joining us. We're all really excited at the thought of coming back towards the end of the year to do some snorkelling here.

Upcoming Events in Mahutonga Matariki

Upcoming events in Mahutonga Matariki

• Camp is fast approaching.  We will have the activity groups and Cabin groups sorted and shared with the kids early next week.  They are very excited!
• Our Inquiry continues with some focused activity around the coast.  We will be doing some more science at Worser Bay Beach on Wednesday and other activities.  If the weather permits we are hoping to do Sailing and Kayaking also.  The will be more on the blog on this early next week. Coincidentally this is taking place during the nationwide Sea Week so we are able to coordinate some of our learning with this much larger event.
• Camouflage Crab

• Island Bay Marine Centre visit.  On the 17th of March we will be heading to Island Bay for a full day of activity connected to the centre there.  Later in the year (term 4 we have scheduled some snorkelling with the assistance of Julian form the Marine Centre.