Room 13's Learning Journey

How do the pohutukawa and rata cope so well when they grow in sand and lava rock?

All the sand and lava rock has no nutrients but when it rains the water drips down on the leaves  then trickles down the trunk and to the aerial roots  and when the water gets to the roots it fills with nutrients.

In week 2 of the term our class went to the amazing Tiritiri Matangi Island to see how the native bush on the island has been replanted after decades of farming, and how the island has become a a sanctuary for some remarkable NZ endangered birds. Many birds have been translocated there and we were amazed to see many birds up close. The following pictures show some of these birds and the fabulous bush on the island:

Two tui...look closely!

Windswept harakeke (NZ flax) that tui love to sip nectar from when they flower

Some of the R13 students in front of the lighthouse that was transported in sections from England

The NZ Cabbage Tree (Cordyline Australis) in flower

Walking down the road on the island

Quietly lifting the lid on the baby blue penguin nests....amazing

They are so cute....

Meeting Tiritiri Matangi's famous takahe, Greg

Greg can be a wee bit naughty... he thinks he is ready for an extra lunch -we didn't feed him because it is not healthy for him

Brown sugar and water make a real treat for tui and bellbirds and other birds

What an amazing island. We learned that planting native trees certainly helps create a great habitat for native birds. We can't wait to finish our plan for the back field at our school!

In the last three weeks R13 has been taking part in a virtual learning project, with Learnz, called Takahe. Below is a descriptor of this topic on the Learnz website.

It has been an exciting journey going into the Murchison Mountains in Fiordland, NZ in search of the remarkable takahe birds. We have taken part in an audioconference with Learnz teacher Andrew and it was great to have our questions answered by a scientist working to save these critically endangered birds.

Two R13 students using the speakerphone for the audioconference

Our next virtual tour is to Northland, New Zealand to learn about the "NZ Christmas tree":

We finally opened the box with our flower tiles... and the results are lovely.

This Term we are just getting into Readers' Theatre. There are lots of benefits. Room 13 students, please post a comment explaining these benefits.

This open day for parents was lots of fun...
In Maths we were exploring 3-dimensional shapes and learning about faces, edges and vertices.



How many R13 students could fit into a one square metre cube??? Guess and find out below...

We have been inspired by some of the work in leading Enviro Schools... we have done lots of reading from our School Journals:

And lots of books on the saving of New Zealand birds: