Visit from Peter Garden

 Last month we were very lucky to have Peter Garden ( Maddy's Grandad) come and visit us. Peter had just returned from South Georgia where he was flying a helicopter as part of an eradication program to rid the island of rats.

He spoke to the class about the program and then showed us fabulous photos of the special wildlife that lives in South Georgia. We saw different penguins, a variety of special birds and heaps of huge Elephant seals and

Peter showed us a video taken from his helicopter as he flew over the island. The scenery was amazing and there was heaps of snow on the mountains.It felt like we were there in the helicopter and it was an unusual feeling.
We know exactly where South Georgia is now and on the map you can see it is such a long way from mainland South America. Peter and the other team members slept in a tent while they were on the island. South Georgia is uninhabited.
We wrote a special card to Maddy's Grandad before he returned to his home in Wanaka.

   Last week we made Dioramas. We chose an Ecosystem for our animals. We had jungles, plains, rain forests, polar regions, and deserts for animals to thrive and survive. We loved sharing them with each other in class and the visitors to our room have enjoyed looking at them too.

OROKONUI ECOSANCTUARY TRIP 21st MAY
Our senior school being welcomed by Tahu and her team at Orokonui Ecosanctuary.

Some children were lucky enough to spot the Tuatara in his enclosure.

Jono took us through the security gate into the forest.

We looked at different trees and fungi along the paths, as well as watching out for wildlife.

At the feeding stations we watched Tui and Bellbirds sipping the sugar water to top up their diet.We closed our eyes and listened to the chorus of birds. It was amazing.

Tahu told  us what Orokonui was like before humans arrived.

Here is Millie dressed up in the Freddo frog costume.

Baza worked with us at the pond. He talked about NZ frogs and the problems they face. We enjoyed using nets and magnifying glasses to find the small invertebrates living in the pond. Orokonui hopes to bring frogs into this pond soon.

Can you spot the little Tomtit? It was very difficult to see because of its colouring.

Our last group of the day was with Chelsea creating seed bombs. We threw them in the bush and hope the seeds will sprout and begin growing.
What a great day out!!

On Friday as a lead up to our trip to the Orokonui Ecosanctuary, we had a visit from Tahu and Chelsea. They came to help us investigate the life of our local stream.

 We discussed the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates and we looked at pictures of the type of invertebrates we might see in our stream.
We talked about water quality levels and the levels of purity different  stream creatures need to survive.

Room 3  headed off with gumboots, buckets, nets, sieves and sunshine to seek out the stream life.

Very quickly we found a small lobster followed by a variety of other stream life.  It was great to know our stream is healthy and supporting these creatures.

  We placed everything back as it was and picked up the one piece of rubbish we found. It was a fun afternoon and Room 3 know how lucky we are to have such a cool stream so close to our school.
We are all looking forward to working with Tahu, Chelsea and others on Tuesday 21st May on our full day trip to the Ecosanctuary.

This Term our  school Topic is " How animals thrive and survive" We were very lucky to have Rod Morris visit our school and present his new book to our Library. Rod is an expert on animals and he is coming back share more of his knowledge with us and  answer any questions we have.

What a sea of red and black as we dressed up to remember Christchurch School Lyttelton West with a gold coin donation. We will send the money to Lyttelton West School. The children put their coins on a large L W written on cardboard. Ariana and Callum Barr went to Lyttelton West School before they came to Dunedin.

 On 16th April Room 3 went by bus to the Dunedin Public Art Gallery to do a workshop with John Neumegen. Out trip was to support our topic for the term " How to help our Oceans and waterways to thrive and survive"

 John showed us artworks relating to the ocean and we had an opportunity to play bells to create the tune of an Octopus's garden. We watched a wonderful video called " The Octopus's Garden."

Later we went to the workshop to create an artpiece of an octopus or squid using permanent markers, pastels and dye. They look fabulous and will be up on room 3 walls soon.

 On Wednesday morning the Senior school visited Macandrew Bay Beach

 We were taking part in the Metre Square project looking at the Marine creatures in our area.

 We used Tally sheets to show the number of creatures we found.Parents helped us locate and count these creatures.

 Sally and Victoria from the Portobello Marine Aquarium helped us identify some creatures.

 Later in the year we will visit the same area and observe any changes.

 We were so lucky to have such a beautiful calm morning to take part in this project.

 We found crabs, brittle stars, varieties of seaweed, different shellfish, worms, sea cucumbers, little fish, sponges and many other creatures living in the low tide area.

We discussed the things that could have an impact on our beach, things like the widening of the Macandrew Bay Road, people using the beach for leisure, the stream that is fresh water coming down onto our beach, and rubbish on our beaches. We want to make sure Macandrew Bay Beach is clean and free of rubbish for us to enjoy it.

Airini Taylor visited our school and we worked with her to make tiles.

Room 3 enjoyed working on the tiles. They are going to look fabulous in the pool area.

We have created our own portraits and have them up on the wall for viewing. We used our photos to recreate a charcoal image and used colour to enhance our work. They are 3D and sit out from our patterned background.

Class photo of wonderful Room 3 2013

Room 3 is made up of 27 children.  We have Year 3 and Year 4 children in the class.In our class we have 14 boys and 13 girls.This term we are studying the ocean. We are finding out how the ocean thrives and survives. It is a great topic and we are researching lots of information.