Who had a great day with Nuhaka?

Today was our 4th annual Nuhaka Sports Exchange.  We played Rugby, Netball and Chess.  It was stiff competition but we all had a great time!  It concluded with a shared lunch.

Here were the scores:

• Rugby:  85 - 5 to Makaraka
• Chess:  16 - 24 to Nuhaka
• Netball:  13 - 10 to Makaraka

It was so neat to see familiar faces from last year and play exciting games together.  They are also lucky to have their very own School Bus - and a fab teacher to drive it!  

Comment below and let us know what your favourite part of the day was!

Check out our new Netball dresses! (And our wonderful boy players!)

The pH of different soils - Why it matters!

This week we have had 2 visitors to Seeds R us.  Part of our job is to be able to assess problems and work out how to solve them for the land owner.  Mr Wiliams (aka James) taught us about different grasses and fertilisers.

                      Urea - Nitrogen                    Super Phosphate                      Sulphur

Why do we use them and how do they work?  He mentioned this term pH - the potential of Hydrogen.

Different soils and plants like different pH's.  Some are acidic and some are basic.  Wow - what does this mean?

What an array of colours in the different soils.  Which ones are neutral? 

Sooo Mr Pollock (aka Nick) came in and taught us about soils and where they come from.  We were able to look at them under the microscope and test them for pH - acidity levels.

Mr Pollick AKA Nick is an Agronomist.  Here he is talking about different soils!

Why do we need to know this?  Can you comment below what you think this information helps with?

What has Seeds R Us been up to?

Comparing colour charts to make a judgement on Medium or Low Phosphorous. 

"Mary and Bob" Interviewing Seeds R Us employees about the safety witnessed on our farm trip!

Being Interviewed by Government officials on farm health and safety. 

Interviews on farm safety. 

A tough interviewer - Charlie made sure he got honesty buy asking questions carefully. 

Microscope work!  Hunting for nodules on the clover. 

Seeing clover nodules with our new microscope. 

Plantain seed germinating and close up of Sub clover and the hairy leaves! 

Germination test to see the percentage of geminating seeds. 

Measuring the growth rate! 

Whangara Farm B5 Station Agronomist visit

Our second farm study was a huge success despite the weather!  It was cold but the rain held off till we were back at school!  Whangara is a hive of activity for research!  They study everything they can!  From the weather and soil temperatures to grass growth rate, seed trials and drought resistance, erosion control and pole nurseries to breeds of sheep  - merino cross!  What an adventure.  

I really enjoyed seeing the pole nursery and how that worked with cutting off the branches and ramming them into the ground.  Evidently they just grow - put down a root and off they go!  Amazing.  No chemicals needed!  A really sustainable and cheap way of helping the environment.  It was a pleasure to see Kaitiakitanga in action.  

The seed trials were interesting and gave us some great tips for how to measure our own trials but cutting and weighing.  We also found out a great germination test to have a go at!  

Work work work!  So much to carry on with now! 

Matariki 2018

Matariki - Papa Pura

Ko Matariki te timatanga o te tau

Ko Matariki te hurihanga o te tau

Ko Matariki he taonga toku iho

Ko Matariki he tohu kotahitanga e   e e

Tuturu whakamaua kia tina    TINA

Haumi e,  hui e, taiki e

The beginning of the year

The changing of the seasons

A treasure to be passed down

A sign to be together

This is Matariki

Our whole school had a rotation around 6 activities to do with art, taonga and being together.  At lunchtime we had a Hakari - feast to celebrate in the sharing of food.  Matariki is a time to share stories, be together and pass on traditions.  Every year we learn about what this means and reflect on how it feels to remember our culture in this way.  

A fun day!  Thanks Mrs McPherson for organising our groups!  Thanks all the teachers for fun activities to help us learn by doing!  

Kung Fu with Meixia June 1

During our Friday Programme Makaraka School are learning Chinese language and culture.  This Friday the Year 5's were doing Kung Fu!  What fun the they had learning the actions and commands.

Here is the video of them practicing! Each week we are getting better at pronouncing the words and understanding another culture.

Dr Lisa Hulme-Moir veterinary pathologist visit

Seeds 'R Us had a visit from a vet who works in a lab that tests animal samples for diseases.  We were very lucky to be able to hear how she does her job and what sorts of things she tests.  Mainly blood! We learnt that red blood cells are the cells that take oxygen around the body and the white blood cells are the ones that fight bacteria and diseases!  White blood cells are much bigger than red ones.

Not all diseases are the same and don't get transferred the same.  For example diseases that effect cows mostly don't effect sheep or humans.  There are some that do though!  We got to look at some microscope slides and see some close-ups of blood cells which are in the powerpoint below.

We were very interested in the mycoplasma bovis bacteria and how that is spread.  It is effecting many farms around NZ particularly dairy farms.  Dr Lisa was able to clarify for us how this is happening.

Lisa thought she was going to talk for 30 mins but ended up staying 1 hr 20 because of our questions!