School year 2021
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 terms 2-4 of 2021.
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.
Examples of 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.
Project 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...
