Hiwi the Kiwi

Two years ago a rich lady called Tracey decided to go fishing for her first time. Tracey did not know anything about fishing not even to wear a lifejacket so she didn’t!

She went to 90 Mile beach in Kaitaia. She just took a little dinghy out to the rough sea. She caught a huge heavy snapper but when the fish got on the boat the fish tipped both of them right over into the water! The fish swam away but Tracey swam a bit further.

To Tracey’s surprise she found an old rusty submarine! It had lots of petrol in it too! So…… she hopped in the submarine and drove it for a week and stopped at an island. Tracey lived there for four days.

Tracey was going for a swim one day when she found a beacon with a small flare in it washed up from the sea. So she let it out with a whoosh! Bam! Bang! The signal went up to a satellite and went quickly to a rescue house. The rescue people came and took her to shore. She got fined $100 for not wearing a lifejacket.

Tracey went home and felt mad and sad. She thought, “Man, I am not going fishing again! Next time I am surely going to wear a lifejacket and I think there are some things I need to learn first too.’’

Native Tree Trail

After lunch we walked along the native tree trail. We looked at many fascinating and interesting native trees such as the Confusing Cousins called Kanuka and Manuka.  Kanuka is kind and soft to touch and Manuka  is mean and prickly to touch.  The Kiekie is a plant Maori used for weaving. It likes to be in a moist, shady place. Rats and birds eat its fruit. The Putaputaweta tree is called that because wetas live in holes in its bark. The Tarata tree used to be mixed with puha to make a type of chewing gum and is sometimes called Lemonwood because its leaves smell like citrus. The Kauri tree can grow 50 metres high. It has female cones which are round and male cones which are long.

We had a busy, interesting and tiring day. We all learnt lots about how nature recycles living things using the F.B.I.

Poem Recitals

Swinging from the Lights

The Ghost

My Cat goes Flying through the Air

My Teacher calls me Sweetie Cakes

Mermaid

Death Cycle

On Wednesday, the 2nd of May, Room 16 drove to the Botanic Gardens on a bendy bus to learn about nature’s recycling. First we had morning tea under the huge covered courtyard with really fat birds. After that, two educators took us through a cold, dark bush walk. We had to pick a green, yellow and brown or skeleton leaf and put them in a line. The educators told us about the death cycle and that leaves have mould on them. Each year the leaves are not piling over us because of the F.B.I. That stands for fungi, bacteria and invertebrates. The invertebrates go chew, chew, chew, poo, poo, poo and the fungi and bacteria go rot, rot, rot and turn the leaves into soil.

Worm Farm

Next we went and did some worm farming. Each group made a worm farm. First we got a container with a hole in the bottom. Then we put in big, flat stones, then little stones, and then mesh so the worms can’t escape. Next we put in wet newspaper because worms need to be wet to live. Then we put in the tiger worms, and then some kitchen scraps for the worms to eat. Finally we put on a blanket, then a lid with air holes. The worm wee drains out of the hole at the bottom and can be mixed with water then put on the garden to help the plants grow.

Making a compost heap

After that we learnt how to make a compost heap. There was a green bin and a brown bin. In the green bin there were green leaves, old cabbage, lettuce, banana peels and apple cores which are all a little bit wet. Grass clippings are green waste too but not too much because it’s no good for the F.B.I. to breathe. In the brown bin there were dry twigs and leaves. We went on a twig hunt for the compost heap. We put some green materials and some brown materials on the compost heap. A compost heap needs to be on the ground so worms can get in. It can get so warm that sometimes cats sleep on it. Compost heaps also need to be moist.