School year 2024
Working with Auckland Council's Schools Liaison team, we are currently talking with a number of local schools in and around the project area to develop a range of exciting activities for the 2024 school year.
As these activities occur with schools we will provide updates on this page.
If you are involved with a local school, such as a teacher, feel free to contact us to discuss your interests and how we can support you and your students.
2023 initiatives
Onehunga High School
In 2023 the year10 wood work students at Onehunga High School undertook a project to design and build weta motels.
On Saturday 2nd December the fruits of their hard work come to bear with over 50 motels planned to be handed out to members at our resource handout event.
A huge thanks to Keith Crawford, wood work teacher, for your massive support of this project.
St Cuthbert's College
In term 4 of 2023, Year 8 students doing Technology at St Cuthberts College created an amazing exhibit of Lasercut Songbird pins/brooches to fundraise for Maungakiekie Songbird.
Our appreciation to Sam Langatuki, Head of Faculty - Technology for driving this fantastic project.
Check out these samples from the huge variety made by the students.
2022 initiatives
Onehunga Primary School
Maungakiekie Songbird were happy support a insect project undertaken by the students at Onehunga Primary School in October and November 2022.
The students each received a swan plant to take home so that could observe the life cycle of monarch butterflies visiting their plants.
Royal Oak Primary School
Maungakiekie Songbird were happy to support a class visit from Royal Oak Primary School to Butterfly Creek in August 2022 so the students could study the lifecycle of butterfly's.
Robyn McConnell, the teacher leading the class, commented that the students "got a lot out of it, we are reviewing what we learnt and hope to be building enclosures soon ready for late spring early summer, and we will also be trying to trap wasps" .
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Examples of projects/initiatives we can support
Monitoring pests
If a class is looking to learn about the impact of predators/pest on native species then what better way to allow the kids to setup monitoring points to see if they can find any predators. We can support classroom activities by providing various monitoring tools such as monitoring tunnels (with ink pads), chew cards and wax tags. The students can then assess the various foot or teeth prints to determine the pest species.
Monarch butterfly lifecycle
A classroom project on the lifecycle of an insect.
Using a swan plant to attract Monarch butterflies, students can study and follow (as a group at school, or at home) this insects lifecycle from the egg, hatching into a caterpillar, then into a butterfly. A wasp trap can also be provided so as to keep these pests under control.
New Zealand's native birds
4 native species commonly sighted around Maungakiekie are Tui, Kereru (woodpigeon), Fantail (Piwakawaka) and Waxeye (also called Silvereye). What other species can you find ...?
Undertake an activity learning about these birds, including what native trees they use for food and shelter, what threats they face (predators and habitat loss) and then make a field trip to the parks of Cornwall Park and One Tree Hill to see them in their natural environment.
Borrow our digital SLR camera with 250mm zoom lens to take photos to print off back in the classroom to allow kids to add to their project worksheets.
Wētā
Wētā have been around long enough to see dinosaurs come and go and to evolve into more than 100 different species, all of them endemic to New Zealand.
Wētā have become icons for invertebrate conservation in New Zealand because many species are threatened or endangered. There are more than 100 species of wētā in New Zealand, 16 of which are at risk.
There are five broad groups of wētā:
- Tree wētā
- Ground wētā
- Cave wētā
- Giant wētā
- Tusked wētā
If your school would like to run a learning activity on Wētā then we are happy to provide resources including a Wētā motel so students can see Wētā in a protected home.
Read more about wētā on DOC's website; https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature...
