Bush Builders

Today, aka June fifteenth we did Bush Builders at our school. Educators from the zoo came to work with us. We got to use this cool and safe equipment to find creatures and creepy crawlies in the school. Some of us went to the lizard garden and some as to top grass! We searched everywhere. We found animals we even didn't even know of! It was amazing. We also visited the zoo in Term 1. It was amazing too. We learnt how to classify different plants and animals. 

By Ruby

Argument Writing. Can I convince you?

We have been developing persuasive pieces of writing to express our ideas to wrap up our Inquiry.  What can be done to be a Forest Protector?

Many of us have developed some strong ideas about deforestation, pests and the damage they have caused and some have been focusing on water quality in New Zealand Aotearoa.

Today we had a debate to really thrash out the issue.

Great arguing guys!  Just for the record book; the results turned out to be a draw:13 votes each.

Another example:

Loss of habitat  by Greta Year 4

Loss of habitat , stop and think!

NZ is losing lots of forests.  If we lose our forests we will lose the creatures which live in them!

I believe something must be done to protect our forests and replace what has been lost.

Birds don't wreck our homes why should we wreck theirs?

Did you know 919,000 square kilometers of trees are cut down a year.

And in 2000 - 2013 trees were cut down globally, about 70,000 square kilometers per year

Hey you; If we cut down trees it's hard for our natives to live that can't live on the ground.

Birds help to the spread seed so once they are gone, the trees can’t grow from seed.

If this goes on birds will die!  Die forever means to become extinct!  

Did you know every 12 years more kiwis die than live.

Hey birds do help, their poop can contain seeds.

If this goes on, natives could die.

Did  you know around 4 billion trees die every year for paper so birds need to find homes elsewhere.
Life on the ground is hard and can be dangerous, especially when so many of their homes are killed
every year

Come on reader you gotta help everyone can make a big difference right?

What's happening to our habitat? Loss of habitat is the answer.

It's up to you and me reader.

We can do this, come on! I have the power, you do too, everyone does.  
Let’s stop deforestation once and for all.

The end

Forest Protectors: Taking Action!

We are taking action! We are know that we need to help our forests and our environment. We can make big changes because "we are powerful!"

On Friday we made prototypes for our Forest Protector designs. We have had a chance to reflect on these and today we had a go at improving our ideas. 

We followed the design process: 

Prototypes: Forest Protectors

This is an example of one of our designs

On Friday, we started our prototypes for the inventions we are making. We are designing products or inventions that can be used to help protect our Forests. We have bird feeders, cat collars, waste disposers and so many more! Bring any materials (cardboard, recycling, tape) - basically anything your design needs!

Goodnature Traps: Inspiration for our own Inventions

At the end of the last term we had Josh from Goodnature come in and talked to us about their traps and the process that they went through to get to the stage that they are at now.

When he was here, he told us all about how their trap works and what barriers they had to overcome.

As well as that he showed us a slide show of all the different prototypes and design ideas, to inspire us to come up with our own ideas, and questions.

After the presentation we got an email from Josh talking about how he thought we were really welcoming and how he had a blast!

Now we are coming up with our own design ideas and making our own prototype testing and improving.

Thanks Josh!

By Zach J

We Are Designing Because We are Forest Protectors!

We are Inventing Because We are Forest Protectors!

We have been thinking about the problems which confront our native flora and fauna and are taking action to do something about it. Before we make anything though we are learning about the design process. Josh Waaka from Goodnature traps explained that they took about eight years to design their trap. It went through many iterations and each time there was an improvement. Trial and Improvement!








We are starting with the Problem, doing research to understand the problem, looking at what exists already in terms of solutions and building on those with our own ideas. We have been developing a design criteria to evaluate our design as we go.





Great discussion, great discovery, great creativity!

Thinking like an inventor

The next stage of our Inquiry is to become designers and inventors. We know that inventors need to have lots of ideas to get their best ideas. 

We thought "outside of the box" and thought of inventions for combining shoes and a vacuum cleaner. 

Our next steps are to design something to help the forest... Watch this space!

Into the Bush at Centennial Reserve

Forest Protectors 

We spent an AMAZING day in the bush at Centennial Reserve on Monday.



Nest building for the fat Kereru.

Joakim and Sophie set up a series of activities for us including Find the Pest, Sketching, Nest Building, Identifying Species and a good Discovery Walk.

We were really impressed with the amount of work which has already been done by the Motu Kairangi group who have planted thousands of plants there in the last 5 or 6 years. The good work is paying off with many invertebrates in evidence and for much of the day we were accompanied by a very friendly Piwaiwaka or Fantail.



Kids noticed all the details including this formidable looking Weta and a sketch of a fern.

To finish the day off we scattered Tawa seed deep in the bush. In 50 years time we hope to see a Tawa forest there with numerous Kereru hanging from the branches.

We are looking forward to following this visit up with our own projects.

Forest Protectors- What if there was no pest control in NZ?

Today we begun our new Inquiry- Forest Protectors! As a tuning in activity we did 4 rotations. One of the rotations was a provocation- what if there was no pest control in New Zealand?

We watched:

We worked in small groups to create a consequence map. 

Walk to Tarekena Bay

Today we did a big walk from Worser Bay School to Tarakena Bay. On the Eastern walkway, we looked at the flora, the fauna and the landmarks. What a great way to explore and get ready for our Inquiry at the beginning of next year when we will be "Forest Protectors". 

A big thank you to all of our parent (and grandparent) helpers!