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predator free nz Tag

Enviroschools Marlborough / Posts tagged "predator free nz"

Wētā houses at Picton Kindergarten

The tamariki at Picton Kindergarten have been learning all about Wētā. This evolved through their exploration of te ngahere and how to care for the native flora and fauna through pest control. It began when one of the tamariki discovered a wētā family in her woodshed. She recognised it as one of our native insects and sent in photos to Kindergarten for everyone to see. Jo, then bought in a real live wētā from her home and they made a habitat for it. This lead to learning about what they like to eat, where they live, how many eggs they lay as well as what predators endanger them. When the tamariki learnt that cats, dogs and hedgehogs endanger wētā, they...

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Fairhall School kaitiaki

Kaitiaki at Fairhall School

Te Rūma Rātā and te Rūma Pōhutukawa - kaitiaki of birds and habitats at Fairhall School Whare wētā At the beginning of the year te Rūma Rātā and te Rūma Pohutukawa made a kaitiaki pledge to be guardians of birds and habitats at Fairhall School. We first set out to learn in particular about New Zealand birds, lizards and wētā so this could help inform how we could make a difference to their habitats around our school and local community. We also worked with local environmental educators and our Enviroschools facilitator to deepen our understanding of the native bush that is in our ngahere and what plantings might encourage more wildlife to...

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‘Save the fantail’ project

Grovetown School’s Waihi class has embarked on a special project this year to save the fantails in their school forest. Identify The project came about as part of an inquiry: ‘How is our place unique?’. The class began by exploring and learning about the native, endemic and introduced animals and plants in their school. During this exploration, some of the children found empty fantail nests which prompted thinking about why the nests might be empty. Some of the students’ ideas were:  “rats have eaten them" - "it is too cold for the eggs and chicks so birds don't lay eggs in winter" - "the fantails think it’s too dangerous because of the rats and possibly stoats so they won't...

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Canvastown School House plants

Canvastown kids explore their Living Landscape

The kids at Canvastown School have been fully absorbed in discovering what creatures live in the school’s wild places this year. They have poked under logs and in tree-stumps, crawled through long grass, shaken the branches of trees and picked through the edible gardens, seeking out all manner of living things. They used the Living Landscapes kit to take a closer look at the birds, bugs, plants and fungi, finding names for them and learning about their interesting habits.  Angela visited and helped them with some activities from Tiro One One - our Marlborough living landscapes resource.

We flipped over a tree trunk and found heaps of insects on the bottom. - Finn Wendy from...

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Sustainable Action Ideas

Sustainable Action Ideas | Term 3 2019

Looking for some ideas or inspiration for teaching in Term 3?  Take a look at our list of ideas - there's something for everyone! Tracking tunnels & traps: DOC have confirmed 2019 as the biggest mast event in 40 years.  The rats, mice and mustelids are fat and breeding prolifically.  It’s the perfect time to track what is living in or around your school, set up a trapline, or visit a local trapping programme. Take a look at our ‘Animal Pests’ resources here, and look at this workshop that DOC is running later this term for beginner trappers. In the garden: it’s a good term for learning about the soil and worms!  Visit...

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Caretakers trip to Kaipupu Point

Caretakers get together

This year the team from Waikawa Bay School hosted the annual caretakers get together - with a surprise! The school had arranged for the caretakers to travel by boat to see the Kaipupu Point trapping programme.  Rachel Russell from Kaipupu Wildlife Sanctuary gave a bit of background about the project, and then the caretakers walked up the hill to see a variety of traps and the spectacular view.  Waikawa Bay School is part of the Picton Dawn Chorus predator trapping programme, and wanted to show other schools why they were involved in predator trapping. We returned to the school for a delicious lunch and then the students proudly showed off their trap line that runs...

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Linkwater School

Linkwater School builds predator traps

An enthusiastic group of student carpenters at Linkwater School took action to help their local living landscape this week, by building wooden boxes that will house predator traps.  The students learnt all about how the traps work, and the special design that means that the traps are ideal for catching target predators like rats and stoats, but not pet cats and dogs, or native birds.  The project was part of the amazing Kiwi Can programme, and was all about showing respect to the local community, by making the environment safer for our precious native species.  The next step is for the students to take the traps home and record what they catch.  We look forward...

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