Bay Bush Action

Last week in Te Ngahere we had two of the Bay Bush Action members visit our class. They talked about the ngahere, threats to native/endemic birds and how our school can become the first pest free school in New Zealand. They gave us ten rat traps to set up around our school and so far we have not caught any rats yet. I enjoyed their visit because it taught me a lot of interesting things about the ngahere.

Moment in Time (draft copy)

Last week in Te Ngahere we were writing descriptive pieces of writing to describe the forest. The WALT was to use descriptive language and to use present tense verbs. I enjoyed writing about the forest because there was so much to explain but I still haven’t finished. This is my draft copy



Moment in Time (draft copy)



The bird's melodies travel through the trees of the forest creating an echo, the melodies quickly draw unknown peoples attention. The sun shines through the shady forest roof hitting the faces of the people walking through the muddy tracks of the forest.

The branches of the big Ponga Trees sway with the direction of the breezy wind, leaves make their way to the damp forest floor, step by step the leaves on the ground crackle beneath peoples shoes, the trees branches are waving to the children walking past. Amazed people are standing beneath a giant Kauri Tree, children jaws drop. The smell of the wet wood makes its way into people's noses. The smell of the damp leaves creep into the childrens nostrils, the breezy wind hitting the back of their necks as they make their way through the breezy forest.

Explanation Writing

In Te Ngahere last term we were learning about healthy ecosystems. We wrote explanations about what a healthy ecosystem is and what an ecosystem needs. Our WALT was to use the correct structure for a piece of explanation writing. It took me a while to finish my explanation but in the end I think it turned out great!



What Is an Ecosystem?


In an ecosystem there are two classes, organic and inorganic elements. Inside of an ecosystem there are producers, consumers and decomposers. Producers, consumers and decomposers are organic matter which are living elements. Snakes, rats, lions and kina are another example of organic matter. Inorganic matter are nonliving elements such as rocks, trees, air and water.

Producers are things that use photosynthesis to make their own food, they extract nutrients from the sun and the soil to do so. Two examples of a producer is phytoplankton and kelp.

Consumers can’t create their own food like producers so they have to feed of of them, an example of a consumer is a mussel.

Decomposers are things such as fungi and bacteria, they break down dead matter. Every part of an ecosystem has a specific job, if any part of the ecosystem gets damaged it affects the entire thing.

If a storm occurs the ecosystem will be harmed but not only will it be harmed it will possibly cause destruction towards it because the ecosystem is very brittle and can’t handle a big change within the weather. Inside of ecosystems there are food chains, one way an ecosystem can become unhealthy is if the food chains get unbalanced caused by other living animals in the environment and humans. For example, if the kina barrens population continues to increase they will continue to eat all the kelp which means there will be no kelp for the other animals to feed off of which can lead to distinction.

Animation

Last term in Te Ngahere we were learning about healthy food chains. We were also creating animations about a food chain of our choice so we had to choose a food chain to animate and then we had to screencastify it. I enjoyed creating my animation and I think I did pretty good. Something I can do better next time is record my voice on my screencastify.

Kaitiakitanga o te Moana

For the last couple of weeks in Te Ngahere we have been learning about Kaitiakitanga O Te Moana. Our WALT was to make connections between different things we read or view to create new learning. I enjoyed learning about Kaitiakitanga O Te Moana because I learnt what a Rahui and a Kina Barren is. I think that my group worked good because we collaborated well.

Visual Pepeha

In Te Ngahere we have been making our visual pepeha. Our WALT was to introduce ourselves and our whanau. The purpose of this was to know who we are and where our ancestors came from. Something that I think I did well was spelling maori words correctly.