Naturewatch

I discovered a website for observations of plant and wildlife and posted our Monarchs on to it. Take a look at Our Monarchs on Naturewatch

Kids Making a Difference

It is easy to feel helpless in the face of big business or governments and the choices they make, so I thought I would find some links about children who are making a big difference in the world.

Kids Making a Difference is a site with lots of information and inspiration for young people.

Kids Are Heroes - lots of ideas. On this page Meet The Heroes you can read about all sorts of children and what they are doing in big and small ways to make a difference.

Malala Yousufzai - aged 15 was shot in the head in her home country of Pakistan because she was openly advocating education for girls.She has now recovered and started school in England.

Boyan Slat - aged 19 has unveiled plans to create an Ocean Cleanup Array that could remove 7,2500,000 tons of plastic waste from the world’s oceans.

Pay It Forward

A critical clip from the movie "Pay It Forward."

Service Learning

We are trying to raise money to help buy a mobility van for Lilly - see her page here - Lilly's page . 
A few people have bought some swan plants, and Danny donated some toys to sell. We will offer them at school first, then if they don't sell, we will list them on Trademe. If you would like to donate to this great cause or have suggestions for ways the students could raise money, please let us know.

Sea Mammal and Platypus information

We had an interesting discussion about features of mammals yesterday and most of the students were amazed that seals and whales suckle their babies. I went online and found some sites with pictures. You may need to scroll down to find the pictures.
Orca
Beluga
Sea lion
Harp seal

Yes, a platypus is a mammal. It is one of two egg laying mammals, the other is the echidna (ant eater).
Platypus facts


I didn't know this
"Mother platypuses don't have nipples like most mammals. They suckle their hatchlings by secreting milk onto their fur from two milk patches on their stomach."

Here is a picture of two tiny platypus babies with their mother.   

And Even More Poems

After the one word poems we tackled two word poems and tried to include some alliteration (repeated consonant sounds).

This is the class effort.

Crazy caterpillars
crawling, climbing
across strings
every day
seeking adventures.

...and here are some individual ones.

Crazy caterpillars
dying painfully
in gardens
every day
wasp food.
By Devontae Burgess

Fat caterpillars
create cocoons
on leaves
today, safely
forming butterflies.
By Jessika Morrison.

More Caterpillar Poetry

Today we worked on one word lines for the poems. This was a team effort as it wasn't easy to think of single words that made sense.

We ended up with...

Caterpillars
hang
outside
now
transforming.

Caterpillars
scaling
walls
now
pupating.

Caterpillars
munch
leaves
constantly
hungry.

Caterpillars
eating
plants
now
enlarging.

Then Blake came up with this one.

Butterflies
flying
outside
now
feeding.
By Blake Whitley

Caterpillar poetry

We've been playing with 5W poems based around experiences with the caterpillars.
The 5 Ws are Who? What? Where? When? Why?

Each line of the poem answers a question in that order.

Here are some.


The caterpillars
turn into cocoons
on a leaf
when the time feels right
because that's what they do.
By Devon Martin

The caterpillars
form into a cocoon
on a leaf that's strong
when they're fat and bloated
so they may be pretty when evolved.
By Ranui Purnell

Caterpillars
munching
on leaves
outside
because they are hungry.
By Zinzan Wilson-Ogg

Little caterpillar
hatching
on a swan plant
when the sun just rose
to live its life.
By Patricia Nikara

The caterpillars
were eating
on the plant
when they are big and fat
they will have eaten enough to become a chrysalis.
By Rhylee Moore

Two caterpillars
munching leaves
on a huge tree
all day long
so they can turn into pretty butterflies.
by Titan Simon

The caterpillars
eat leaves
on a leaf
when they feel like tea
because they're hungry.
By Amanda Dempsey.

Hatching!

Today I was taking pics of a chrysalis that looked near hatching and it did, right in front of the camera. Shortly afterwards a second one hatched and all the kids were able to watch it.

I was taking a photo through the window when...

The chrysalis started to split.

So I rushed inside and...

....took more pics

The flash didn't work this time.

That's his head down the bottom.

Swinging his way out.

Now officially hatched (sorry about the blurry pics.)

Holding on tight...

Tiny wings.

Bigger wings...

 

Getting bigger....

 Just need to dry and strengthen now.

The butterflies

The students have had great fun watching Monarch caterpillars strip swan plants bare as they grow from tiny little things into monsters, pupate and now hatch. Over the weekend we had 7 hatch and now several more have done their thing.

This was one of our first born :). They've mostly been boys so far.

Today's pair. This shot also shows our line up of pupae. The leaves they were on were eaten, so we rescued them and hung them along the window.

Another shot of the line up in the window plus some of the caterpillar action.The ones with black on top didn't drop their skins when they pupated. Those are their skins, still sitting there.

Pupae which are still on their rather skeletal plants!

Goal setting conferences

These are on this week. There is still time for you to book in to visit the class, spend time looking around and discussing what your child has been doing and help them set a goal. 

These are student-led conferences. I will be available for some discussion, but the aim is for your child to lead the discussion and set a goal with your support. I would like goals to focus on being prepared for learning and willing to support other students' learning.

Times still available are between 3 pm and 5pm on Tuesday 5th March, and 3 pm to 6pm on Thursday 7th March. 

If you wish to have a one to one appointment with me, please make an appointment for another time altogether.  My email is dbird@maeroa.school.nz or you can leave a phone message or send a note with your child.

I hope to see most of you this week.

Swimming sports on Feb 27th

The swimming sports went off brilliantly well. Many students brought orange gear to support the team and the rest of us borrowed some from Miss Handley.  

Our swimmers represented us in fine style and we thank everyone who tried out for the team, swam so well on the day and represented the class in the width relays. Well done to you all!