The Southland Community Nursery supported Environment Southland’s Enviroschools hui at Omaui as many Southland Enviroschools came together to learn about Māori perspectives of our environment. Activities included flax weaving, traditional Māori games, the Aquavan, plant identification and Māori uses, as well as some art and a shared hangi.
We ran the plant identification and Māori uses activity. Our leaf bingo cards were used to match up leaves, with participants (children and adults alike) having to look closely at the features and characteristics of leaves. We also looked at some bark, seeds, berries and fruit that are also features of plants that can be used to help us identify plants in our ngahere. We then travelled back in time, to a time with no supermarket, or chemist, or pantry or fridge to open when hungry. Students learnt about their chosen plant and reported back to the group. We discovered that many parts of plants were used for food, for example the fruit of tōtara and kahikatea were collected to eat using baskets made from plants from the forest. Plants were also the food for bird species that were eaten, with the ngahere ecosystem providing in this way. Many plants were used as part of the maramataka (Māori lunar calendar) to indicate when would be a good time to plant, or fish or harvest. Wood from different plant species also had a variety of uses for food gathering, fishing, traps and food storage. And plants also had many medicinal uses, as well as personal, domestic and industrial use. It was noted that some species were once seen as indispensable to Māori life in NZ.
The day was fun and interactive, and we look forward to working with schools again.
Check out our Leaf Bingo resources at www.southlandcommunitynursery.org.nz/education-centre/activities/school-activities/
- Leaf Bingo - an easy and fun way to learn how to identify native plants.
- Leaf Bingo Maori Uses - learn about traditional Māori uses for some of our native plants
Bronwyn
Posted: 23 April 2021
On 13 April 2021, Bronwyn, Mark, Linda, Ray and Chris joined the Otatara Landcare Group hosting 150 SGHS students at Bushy Point, as part of their Year 7 community break out days. The day included learning about pests, seed collecting and planting trees, and learning about birds in our forests. While it was a bit wet at times, the girls were interested and enthused and had a lot of fun. Big thanks to those that helped with this day, and to the Year 7 girls for helping with the restoration of Bushy Point. OLG Chair Barry Smith did a great job overseeing the planting of almost 200 native plants and Lloyd took nature walks while Walter and Neville from ES took pest control groups. A few students are looking forward to the annual planting day at Bushy Point on Saturday September 11th – check out www.otataralandcare.org.nz/news-events/
Posted: 21 April 2021
“Ehara taku toa, i te toa takitahi, Engari he toa takitini” “My success is not from the work of one, but from the work of many”
Today the Kōwhai (New Entrants) and Tarata (Year 5/6) classes visited the nursery to contribute to the legacy that Otatara school gifts to leaving families. At the end of 2020 an initiative between the Southland Community Nursery and Otatara School began with the gifting of Kōwhai trees to those families whose yougest or only child was leaving after having completed their primary schooling. The classes today began the growing of these special taonga for subsequent years gifting. Seed that had been collected was prepared and sowed, and seedlings growing from previous seasons were potted up to allow them to grow into bigger plants ready to be gifted. It was great to see the New Entrant students start alongside the tiny Kōwhai seedlings - they will both grow through to leaving at the end of Year 6. Many of the Year 6 students were excited to find out that their family would get a Kōwhai tree to plant at home on their leaving Otatara School.
Bronwyn
Posted: 12 April 2021
Following on from my outing with the Tōtara class of Otatara School to the Ōreti Tōtara Dune Forest (see 31 March), I was privileged to go on another outing to the adjacent Otatara Scenic Reserve with this class of tuned in learners. We learnt all about the significance and use of this tree species by Māori and European. Māori used this strong timber for waka, building and carvings and we pretended to sit in a waka made from Tōtara and tried to imagine a waka 27 metres long that was capable of carrying up to 100 warriors. The strength of the wood also saw it used for fenceposts, bridges and railways. Picking up on finding the fruit on the previous excursion and answering questions the students had, we pretended to grow from a tiny seedling found on the forest floor, up through the sheltering species, until we reached the forest canopy (or ceiling), fruiting with the seed on the outside, the fruit being eaten by a tui or kererū and pooped out ready to grow again… This group of learners loved that the seed was on the outside of the fruit and added this information into their nature journals. Lots of learning about and in the forest today.
Bronwyn
Posted: 12 April 2021
Out I went with the Tōtara class of Otatara School to visit the Tōtara trees at the Ōreti Tōtara Dune Forest where the Native Forest Restoration Trust is restoring an historic treasure. How special to have this significant Tōtara forest in Otatara. Maurice Rodway the honarary ranger led us on a journey through this remarkable area. The tamariki interpreted what can and can’t be done in this area, counted tree rings of felled pines, looked at the leaves and bark of lots of Tōtara (and we even found a fruit!), found heaps of fungi types, removed some Chilean Flame Creeper weed (giving back to this wonderful Tōtara forest), spotted and listened to birds, noted new Tōtara growth, went on a treasure hunt, drew in nature journals and looked at even more Tōtara. Some Tōtara were straight and tall, and others were twisted and knarly. A wonderful day learning about the tree their class is named after. I look forward to more Tōtara learning with this group.
Bronwyn
Posted: 1 April 2021
