Message from the Educator

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?

Talking potentially toxic algae with St Anthony’s School

Many of our swim spot sites were affected by the high levels of potentially toxic algae this year due to long hot spells and low rainfall. Students at St Anthony’s School in Pahiatua, embarked on an inquiry to learn more about it and its effects. I met with the students towards the end of their inquiry to see what they had learnt and answered many of their questions, which included "why can dogs get ill eating the algae, but the fish do not". 

Stuffed pest animals were a hit with Ashhurst School

Ashhurst School is embarking on an exploration of what lives in their school grounds. In addition to talking about bugs with the view to design and build their own bug hotels, they also learnt lots about animal pests. The students were already very knowledgeable on naming our animal pests so we discussed how we would track them using tracking tunnels (to look for animal footprints) and chew cards (used to identify animals by their teeth marks). In the future, they will be making some tracking tunnels to set out in their school grounds.  

If your school is looking for education activities around tracking and trapping, get in touch. In collaboration with our local DoC office, we are able to offer schools these types of activities in line with the Predator Free 2050 initiative.      

A record haul of rubbish collected at Seaweek event

To celebrate Seaweek 2018, we held a community beach clean at Foxton Beach on 3 March. More than 50 people attended collecting an impressive 250kgs of rubbish. A big thanks to Horowhenua District Council who kindly disposed of the rubbish for us.

Results of Horizons' summer swimming competitions

We had some stunning weather over the summer so we hope you all managed to get out and swim in our region. Hopefully you noticed Horizons ran a couple swim spot competitions throughout the summer. 

The first, a #swiminourregion photo competition, asked the public to share photos of themselves enjoying the region’s waterways. By tagging the location and using the hashtag they were in to win a water themed adventure package worth up to $1,500. Our judges, Chief Executive Michael McCartney, Chair Bruce Gordon and Manawatū Standard photographer David Unwin had a tough time picking from 110 entries, but in the end our congratulations goes to Amanda Hodge whose winning photo was taken at Himatangi Beach.

Our second summer competition, ‘spruce up your swim spot’, invited the public to vote for their favourite location from a selection of eight. The popularity of this year’s poll doubled with over 1100 votes, in comparison to the over 450 votes last year. The Whanganui River at Cherry Grove site in Taumarunui soared into first place with 228 votes more than Lake Wiritoa in second place. Keep an eye out to see what improvements will be made to the site, in collaboration with the local community.

Comparing stream and pond life with Ohakune Primary School

Students from Years 1 and 2 of Ohakune Primary School had fun exploring which macroinvertebrates (bugs) live in the Mangawhero Stream and how they're different to the ones at their local pond at Miro Park, Ohakune. At the stream, the students learnt how the bugs in streams and rivers, such as mayflies and stoneflies can tell us about water health. At the pond, lots of fun was had dipping their nets into the water where every scoop contained different bugs such as dragonfly and damselfly larvae, snails and amphipods.

An unusual find on a Waiora stream study

Part of the Waiora stream study is to look for the macroinvertebrates which like to live under the rocks of the riffles (fast flowing sections) of a stream or river. This is the fish food which feed our native fish. Typically on these studies we might catch some other critters too such as crayfish (koura), baby trout and eels. However, students from Mataroa School who were studying the Hautapu River, netted an unusual find, freshwater mussels (kākahi).  Kākahi are an at risk species and this is the first we've found during a Waiora study. This find was reported to our Science team who keep records of this important species.

We also welcome four schools/centres to our Friends of Enviroschool network. These are Pongaroa School, Marton School, plus Makino Kindergarten and West End Kindergarten who are both part of the Ruahine Kindergarten Association (RKA). The ‘Friends’ network is a stepping stone towards becoming a full Enviroschool once funding has been secured and the school/centre feels ready to commit themselves to the Enviroschools kaupapa.

Kimbolton School’s night forest experience

Each year students from Green Gold Enviroschool Kimbolton School host members of their community on a night tour around Kimbolton Reserve which they look after. We had the pleasure of going along and ran an activity searching for bugs around the trees and on the forest floor. We were very excited after breaking open a rotten log and finding a peripatus or velvet worm. This was exciting as while they are not at risk, they are particularly great at hiding. The attendees also brought back weta, large stick insects and a beautiful paua slug – a first for myself. We also took along some bat boxes but unfortunately we didn’t hear any signs of them that night.

Enviroschools regional road trip

As part of continuing professional development for our Enviroschools teachers, we are excitedly planning our inaugural regional road trip, set to happen in early July. We will be visiting couple of Enviroschools in the Manawatū District to look at what action projects their students have been undertaking, and how they empower them to take action on issues important to them and their communities. A write up will appear in next term’s Seedlings edition.

IDEAS

New DoC education resources

The Department of Conservation is continually updating and adding to their education resources aimed at getting your students out in the environment. These resources support outdoor investigations at your school, or field trips to local conservation hot spots. They have recently added resources such as the Conservation Dogs programme, Opportunities for Action around the School or Kindergarten and Exploring the Local Environment through the Seasons.

Celebrate your school grounds

May is the annual, global celebration of International School Grounds Month, an event that recognises the importance of school grounds as special places that shape children and youth's experiences of the world around them. In anticipation of this celebration, a free 2018 edition of the school grounds activity guide has been released. The Activity Guide is filled with hands-on outdoor ideas intended for children and youth, ages 3 to 18 years old. The activities in the book support learning across the curriculum, promote healthy lifestyles, and encourage play and exploration during free time and before, during, and after school. Many of the activities focus on ways to help kids understand the places they live in, build life-long skills, and collaborate with their communities to improve their school grounds.

Free webinars – DoC ‘exploring local environments’ resources

The Science Learning Hub and DoC present Eco-explorers, part-one of a series of four webinars. In this first session on the 3 May, they will model activities that support an inquiry approach to conservation education and introduce exciting DOC resources about exploring your local environment and experiencing birds and invertebrates in your green space. The webinar will discuss some of the highlights, opportunities and challenges that come with teaching about and in the outdoors.

This session will be valuable for both primary and secondary school teachers.

For more information and to register click here.