Kahlo and the Whio

Our Weka Iti whānau grew a little wiser this week thanks to a very special story shared by Kahlo and her mum about one of our most precious local treasures—the Whio.

Becoming Nature Detectives with Tiaki Taiao

If you want to find a creature, you have to think like one! That’s what we learned on February 18th when Leigh from DOC and Laura from Enviroschools visited our Tiaki Taiao group. We spent the session learning how to use tracking tunnels to see what animals live around us. To get our "detective eyes" ready, Leigh showed us some real footprints that had been found in tracking tunnels. We had to look closely at the shapes and toe marks to see if we could guess which animals they belonged to! We found out that tracking tunnels help us see the footprints of the creatures we usually can’t find during the day. We even learned that some animals are "claustrophobic"—they won't go inside if there is only one door! They need an entrance AND an exit to feel safe enough to walk through the ink. After learning how to bait and position the tunnels, we set one up right by our school garden. We are so excited to take these skills to Lake Kaniere soon to see who is living in this area. Thank you, Leigh and Laura, for helping us become kaitiaki of our environment. We can't wait to share our new knowledge with everyone in our Rōpū!

Rimu Planting

 

Rimu had an wonderful time planting seedling along the bike track of our lovely kura. We talked about why it is important to grow trees and look after them. We also designed signs for the rimu tree we will plant.

Kōwhai Kaitiaki! - Guardians of the Kōwhai!

This week, Kōwhai, along with other rōpū, planted some of the plants that have been growing strong in our propagation tunnel. We worked together to dig holes and plant them along the fence line and bike track, to build up our beautiful native bush around the kura. 

We also spent time in Kererū as a rōpū, creating a draft image and idea for what we want our Kōwhai sign to look like, which will be displayed next to the Kōwhai tree that has been planted. We had specific requirements and outlines, which we used to guide our planning process. 

Enjoy a few pictures below from our awesome afternoon!

Our Planning.

Max getting ready to help Jackson dig a hole for his plant.

Lydia and Stella choosing a tipu to plant.

Totara Planting Acivity

Today Tōtara were planting out some of the seedlings that we have been growing.  We planted them along the bike track in the gaps that needed to be planted.  We buddied up with another student and planted them on the pink dots .

Recognising Rubbish

 Check out our blog post about what we have been learning about rubbish.

https://kanrm3.edublogs.org/2025/05/23/week-4-enviro-schools/

Taking Action

We found out that we had a problem in the school, as lots of sycamore trees were popping up in the old playground. We thought that if these stayed here, we wouldn't be able to play on the playground, as it would be filled with trees. We went outside for 10 minutes, and we had to pull 10 plants out. We worked out that it would be 200 plants. We ended up pulling out 1055 plants in 10 minutes.  We went out and did another 5 minutes and pulled out around another 700.