Forest Explorers- Science learning outdoors

On Monday we walked to Centennial Reserve to enjoy some learning in the outdoors. We used a lot of Resilience and Perseverance to get there!

At the reserve we practised our scientific skills by using our senses. We did careful observations of what we noticed in the bush. Scientists can tell how healthy the bush is by observing the environment. We listened to the birds to find out if there are lots of birds. Most of us could hear four different bird calls and even some cicadas. Scientists can tell the different types of birds that live in the forest by listening, too.

We built nests with materials and tested them to see if they would work. This was lots of fun and we enjoyed learning about what things birds might be looking for when they try to build their nests.

At school, we wrote about our experiences. Here are a couple of our stories:

I hiked to Centennial Reserve with Tautoru and Autahi. We passed some houses with Halloween decorations and rain started to dribble. When we got there, we put out the tarps and put our bags on them. We said karakia and the ate morning tea. We made some nests out of sticks. I was so excited and happy. It was much quicker to come back. It was still spitting when we were hiking back to Tautoru. We passed more houses with Halloween decorations. By Callum.

On the walk, we saw a bird's nest in a tree. We saw the mummy bird sitting on the tree looking after the eggs. We enjoyed looking at the wetā hotels. Also, there was another bird's nest with no bird and no eggs. When we were walking I felt tired, hot and my feet hurt. We heard the birds chirping as crunched through the leaves. I really liked the walk because we got to go to the forest and get out and about. When we got there, we split into groups and I went with Jess and Hayley. First we built nests out of twigs, leaves and mud. Then we tested them with toy birds.  By Ava-Jean.