Otatara School are back!!
An all day visit by the Year 6 Pōkākā and New Entrant/Year 1 Miro buddy classes of Otatara school meant in depth learning about native tree species, in what environment they live and thrive in, identifying them and studying their features.
A walk in the remnant kahikatea swamp forest, and another in the restored forest area around the pond allowed for searching for their classroom tree species, and learning to identify a number of NZ native tree species. It was also a chance to learn about what lives in these two different habitats and making comparisons between them. We looked closely at the two habitats and how forests work - one day the restored forest will have canopy tree species like miro and pōkākā growing. We found divaricating and heteroblastic plants, with questioning and wondering revealing lots about these tree adaptations. We heard fernbird and saw a number of other birds.
Back in the education centre we identified the leaves we had collected showing just how tricky it can be to identify plants which have similar looking leaves. Close up noticing and looking contributed to some awesome nature journalling and note taking about plants. We finished the day planting pōkākā and miro, and estimating and then measuring the height of these trees. Over time they will be measured to see how tall they grow.
Bronwyn
Posted: 3 March 2020