Year 5 Camp to Pounawea

 

We wandered through an old train tunnel at Tunnel Hill, visited the rocky shore, checked out native trees on the Pounawea Nature Walk, tramped in to the McLean Falls, explored the Cathedral Caves, challenged ourselves on the confidence course at Tautuku, kayaked and fished in the Pounawea estuary, visited the Owaka Museum, completed an orienteering course, met the sea lions at Surat Bay, appreciated the view from the Nugget Point lighthouse and played in the surf at Kaka Point. Thank you to Mrs Tansley for organising such an outstanding camp.

Here we all are listening to Mrs Tansley explain our task down at the Rocky Shore. We learnt how important it is to always be facing the ocean, as the tide certainly came in very quickly!

 

 

The walk in to the McLean Falls was definitely worth climbing all those stairs for!  What an impressive sight to see.

 

The Cathedral Caves were really fun to explore. It was also a cool place to take some interesting photos.

A tourist to the Cathedral Caves took this great photo of us all!

The Tautuku Confidence Course was a good challenge for all, even some of the parents and teachers had a go. It was soooooo good to have our wonderful parents station themselves around the course. They did a superb job encouraging us along the way.

We went kayaking and out for a ride in Mr Cuthill's boat.

We also jumped or were thrown or pushed from the pontoon!

 On our final day we clambered over rocks and down the beach at Surat Bay to see...

...these stunning creatures - the sea lions. 

We were amazed at their size.

One of our final stops was at Nugget Point. We climbed up to the lighthouse and from here we were rewarded with this beautiful view of the nuggets.

Time for a bit of lunch and a quick play at Kaka Point before Kevin our bus driver delivered us back to school. We were all tired, but full of exciting stories to share with our families.

Fish For Tomorrow

Today we watched a short DVD sent to us by the Ministry of Fisheries called Fish For Tomorrow. Some of the important points we learned were...
1. The sea is not a magic fridge - food doesn't just magically reappear in the ocean. It is a renewable source, but needs time in order for this to happen.
2. We need to think about future generations - we don't want our grandchildren having to visit the museum in order to see paua! Fish for tomorrow.
3. Don't gut fish into the ocean as it can attract predators such as sharks.
4. Abide by the limits for certain shellfish and fish in your area.
5. Ask the fisheries officers if the fish are the right size (or check on the website before you go.)
6. Obey the fisheries rules. They are there for a reason.
7. Take any rubbish home with you, as this can be harmful to sea creatures, and it also makes our beaches look untidy.
8. Sea creatures are an important part of an interacting system.
9. If you take the right amount (or less) there will be plenty of seafood for others to enjoy.
10. Don't destroy marine habitats and take care when touching sea creatures.

Hermit Crab Character Descriptions

  Hermit Crab

Hermit Crab is reddish-orange. He has long black antennae and is shyly very creative. His small black dots as eyes stand out like disco lights on a starry night. Every time he gets too big for his little shell he finds a bigger one. He creates a whole new idea so his shell is colourful with all his friends; the rough coral, spectacular sea star, super-clean sea snail, a fierce kina and much, much more. 

He is very lucky and likes to wander around the pearly yellow seashore bed. His shell is as colourful as coloured coral and seaweed and is a big friendly ocean aquarium. He is polite and never bothers anyone in the middle of something. He is small and different, but unique in an amazing way. He is a very quiet thoughtful little crab and is never afraid to try new things. He has a flock of small orange legs crawling underneath him. His smile is like a rosy red little rose. You would want to be friends with him.

By Macy

Hermit Crab

Creative Hermit Crab was looking for a home. His bare skin was red and orange as a basketball. Once he found a shell big enough. It was a very plain shell.

Afterwards the shell was beautifully created with spiky hurtful sea urchins, lovely glowing lantern fish, spiny coral, snails all slimy, a sticking starfish and a sea anemone with its waving tentacles.

By Toni
 

Aquarium Visit - Mon 21 Feb

To begin our unit on The Rocky Shore and Interacting Systems, the Year 5 and 6 children visited Portobello. Whilst there we met the friendly creatures that live in the touch tanks at the aquarium, scrambled over the tidal zones on the rocky shore, and sketched spectacular peninsula landscapes. It was a great way to get our brains ticking about the rocky shore.

Swimming Lessons with Swimsation

During the first three weeks of Term One, all the Year 5-8 students participated in swimming lessons with instructors from Swimsation. We all made huge progress and should feel very proud of ourselves.