What have I learned about this Term in Kaupapa Matua?
I have learned about reasons to look after our ocean. Half the class made posters about why we should protect the ocean from plastic and how we can help. I learnt a lot about how we can not pollute the ocean. Did you know that about 70% of the Earth is covered by water, most of this is the ocean, and if this gets too polluted that is 70% percent of the Earth that has become a wasteland.
What have I learned about being a Kaitiaki so far?
I have learnt that being a kaitiaki means doing what you can to help or protect something. I have also come to understand that to be a kaitiaki you don’t need to be a company that donates trees to parks, or run a volunteering day, you only need to do something small to show kaitiakitanga. You can be a kaitiaki by simply showing up to a workday, or even just trying to recycle your trash. Even if everybody just did something small to help, the change in the world would be phenomenal. At the start of the term I learnt about being ready for learning and then learnt about being kind to myself and the classroom. After that we learnt about being kind to our playground, we then went out and cleaned the bike track. After that we went out on day trips and cleaned the beach and Thompson Park. We learnt about conservation of the ocean, and NZ birds by learning how to trap them at camp.
What have I learned in class this year about conservation?
I have learnt that you have to be the change you want to see in the world, so instead of littering this beautiful planet, instead decide to make a change and start recycling more. I also wrote about why I think honey bees deserve to be protected. Did you know that even though they are not on the endangered list, scientists think they will be extinct soon.
What have I learned in class this year about the ocean?
I have learnt that the ocean provides many medicines and resources that are in many things we use in our daily lives. I also learnt that the ocean provides more oxygen than the trees. The trees survive because of water, so technically all the oxygen is created by the ocean. The ocean also is the sanctuary of a lot of the planet’s animals, so we must be careful, or the rubbish we carelessly throw on the ground gathers in storm drains and is washed out to sea. There they will continue to kill marine animals and damage marine ecosystems. That is why we need to change our ways and stop littering.
If I could relearn something I did this year in Kaupapa Matua. What would it be and why?
I would like to relearn about animals in trouble and how we can save them, which we slightly covered by learning about how to save the honey bee. The Yr 7/8s also covered this by going to camp by making trackers, seeing how they helped, how to work the traps, what they catch, how beech trees help, and lots more. This was really interesting as I learnt so much.