Oceans are Taonga
2020 Term 1 Year 4 to 6
Our learning this term
This term our focus is “Our ocean is taonga". What we want our learners to understand at the end of this term is that. We have a right and responsibility to protect those things that are special to us. Below you will find examples of what is happening in our Year 4 to 6 classes. We have a schoolwide goal of increasing the voice and involvement of our community in the learning of our tamariki so every class will have a slightly different focus.
21 Day Challenge Welcome Video
The incredible Hauraki Gulf
Riley and Steve hitch a ride on a helicopter, taking us on a spectacular above and below journey of New Zealand's incredible Hauraki Gulf Marine Park
Kaitiaki
We all know there is only one planet Earth, so how can we look after it? Quiz with 3 parts
Māngo & Mau rākau
Riley's dad Steve is back to take Tiki and Riley for a swim with Mangō. Will Tiki swim with his first shark? Then it’s back on land for a Mau Rākau training session with modern-day Māori warrior, Eds. Thanks to Dr Simon Pierce for allowing us to use his incredible hammerhead shark footage!
Stop plastic!
The oceans need our help but it can be really hard. Plastic is a major issue facing our oceans and we can all do something about it - watch this video to find out a way you can help keep plastic out of our oceans.
10 Facts You Didn't Know About Bryde's Whales
Hope story - Brydes whales saved!
Riley meets Associate Professor, Rochelle Constantine to talk about how she orchestrated saving Brydes whales from being killed by ships in the inner Hauraki Gulf. Such an incredible story!
Tohorā / Whales
This assignment supports learning for Day 2 of the 21 Day Challenge. Learn all about the amazing whales that live in the Hauraki Gulf!
Taonga or taoka refers to a treasured possession in Māori culture. Due to the lack of a direct translation to English and the significance of its use in the Treaty of Waitangi, the word has been widely adopted into New Zealand English as a loanword.
Taonga now is interpreted to mean a wide range of tangible and intangible possessions, especially items of historical cultural significance. Tangible examples are things you can touch like pounamu, artefacts and natural resources such as rivers, mountains or oceans. Intangible examples may include language, myths or legends, recipes, shared knowledge and beliefs.
For you and your family...
The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2 and lies between, in anticlockwise order, the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula, and Great Barrier Island. Most of the gulf is part of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.
Hauraki is Māori for north wind. In 2014, the gulf was officially named Hauraki Gulf or Tīkapa Moana. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation for Tīkapa Moana as "the mournful sea"
Can you find the Te Reo names for these locations?
Cathedral Cove
Auckland
Can you find the English names for these places?
Te Tai-o-Rehua
Motu Kōkako
When the ocean makes its way into the land it is called a gulf (marked in blue to the left). Many gulfs around the world are used as harbors and trading stations. The Hauraki gulf is part of the Pacific Ocean, which it joins to the north and east. It is well protected against all but northern winds. There are numerous beaches along the shores of the gulf, many of them well known for swimming and surfing.
At the southern end of the gulf is the wide, relatively shallow Firth of Thames. Beyond this lie the Hauraki Plains, drained by the Waihou River and the Piako River. The Hunua Ranges and hills of the Coromandel Peninsula rise on either side of the Firth.
If a gulf is the opposite of a peninsula, how would you explain what a peninsula was to someone who didn't know what a gulf was?
Why do you think a gulf would be used as harbors and trading stations?
Can you find 3 other gulfs from around the world?
What is the Pacific Garbage Patch?
90% of the garbage floating in the Earth’s oceans is plastic and less than 5% of all plastic is recycled. The patch mostly consists of plastic bags, plastic water bottles, bottle caps and styrofoam. Plastic does not biodegrade, the sun breaks these down into smaller and smaller pieces through photodegradation, which is why it is so difficult to judge the size of the patches, since these pieces are not visible from satellites or planes.
Rubbish patches are constantly being moved by gyres. A gyre is a large system of rotating ocean currents. Wind, tides, and differences in temperature and salt level drive ocean currents. There are five major gyres: the North and South Pacific Subtropical Gyres, the North and South Atlantic Subtropical Gyres, and the Indian Ocean Subtropical Gyre.
Where Does All the Plastic Come From?
10 percent of the world’s annual 200 billion pounds of plastic produced winds up in the ocean. It is estimated that 80% of the plastics in the garbage patch come from land-based sources (rivers and sewer systems emptying into the sea) and the other 20% from ship and ocean sources, (cruise ships, fishing vessels). A typical 3,000 passenger cruise ship produces over 8 tons of solid waste a week, much of which ends up in the ocean.
Every New Zealander last year used 31 kilograms of plastic. There are 550 students at Manurewa Central School and 10% of all our plastic found it's way to the ocean last year. How many kilograms of our plastic found it's way to the ocean?
What Effect Does the Garbage Patch have on Wildlife?
These patches also contain chemical sludge and other debris and the plastic can absorb organic pollutants from the seawater. Fish and birds eventually eat the plastic once it has broken down to small enough pieces, which humans then eat.
Water skater insects (Halobates Sericeus) lay their eggs on bird feathers, pumice and seashells and both insect and egg are important to the marine food chain. The accumulating microplastic has caused them to alter their habits and are now laying their eggs on the floating plastic carrying them out of their natural ecosystem.
Halobates Sericeus produce 8 eggs every 5 days. How many eggs would be produced in a 30 day month?
Giant Water Bugs make 20 eggs every 8 days. How many eggs would be made in 28 days?
As you read this, a strange object that looks like a 2,000-foot floating pool noodle is drifting slowly through the central north Pacific Ocean. This object is designed to solve an enormous environmental problem. But in so doing, it brings attention to a number of others.
There are an estimated five trillion pieces of plastic floating on and in the world’s oceans. The massive pool noodle will move through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, driven by the wind and currents and picking up the plastic it encounters along the way. Ocean Cleanup, the organization that developed the device, promises “the largest cleanup in history.”
If it works, the device – named System 001 – could make a dent in the enormous amount of ocean-borne plastic. But once that plastic is collected the options are not good. The ocean is better off without it, of course, but the plastic problem is more complex than it first appears.
From around your bubble, can you design a use for your plastic? Share your efforts!
Ngā manu / birds (mulriwt)
This assignment supports learning for Day 3 of the 21 Day Challenge. Learn about some of the birds around Tikapa Moana (the Hauraki Gulf).
Seabirds and whales!
Did you know sea birds and whales like to hang out together? Join Riley as she watches false killer whales and black petrel feasting on fish together.
Catch fish not birds
Learn how we can protect seabirds from being caught in fishing lines when Riley and Steve go fishing with Clarke Gayford - the presenter of TV show 'Fish Of The Day' and partner of the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
What is a bird?
Birds are verterbrates (animals with backbones) with wings and feathers. Most birds can fly, using powerful muscles to flap their wings. But a few bird species do not have strong enough wings to fly, and so these birds are flightless. Birds' bodies are covered with a light, tough layer of feathers and they have very light skeletons. Instead of teeth, they have hornlike beaks, or bills. Birds hatch from eggs, and many species build where their eggs and young can develop in safety. Only 40 species of bird are flightless or unable to fly.
New Zealand is famous for its land birds like the kiwi and kākāpō. But just as remarkable and unique are the seabirds. More than a third of the 80 or so species of seabirds that breed in New Zealand are endemic, or found nowhere else. New Zealand is known as the seabird capital of the world and is also home to a number of forest birds that live nowhere else on Earth.
There are many reasons why the birds of New Zealand are remarkable and special. Flightlessness is only one characteristic contributing to the uniqueness of our birds.
Many New Zealand birds live longer than most, and have slow breeding rates, as well as small clutch sizes and large eggs. Several species are nocturnal, and others have a large body size. All these features have contributed to their extinction or decline.
A third of the 80 seabird species in New Zealand are found nowhere else. How many bird species is that?
There are 206 kākāpō in New Zealand. Half of their diet is fruit and seeds and they eat 70 grams of food per day. How many grams of fruit and seeds would all 206 kākāpō eat per day?
Department of Conservation (DOC) is responsible for New Zealand's marine reserves and marine protected and threatened species.
Marine protected areas are an important tool in ensuring that our marine biodiversity is maintained in a healthy state. Our marine protected areas are special places offering spectacular opportunities to see marine life, thriving and abundant in their natural environment. Activities such as sailing, kayaking, snorkeling and diving are just some of the ways you can explore what is above and below the surface.
Protected marine species include all marine mammals and reptiles; sea birds (except black-backed gulls); seven species of fish; all black corals, gorgonian corals, stony corals and hydrocorals. These species face a range of threats such as climate change, sedimentation, disease, pollution and bycatch in commercial and recreational fisheries.
Marine reserves are our highest level of marine protection established under the Marine Reserves Act 1971. DOC is responsible for the implementation, management and monitoring of New Zealand's 44 marine reserves.
The main aim of a marine reserve is to create an area free from outside influences to marine habitats and life, providing a useful comparison for scientists to study. These influences may include pollution, overfishing, etc. Marine reserves may be established in areas that contain underwater scenery, natural features, or marine life of such distinctive quality, or so typical, beautiful or unique that their continued preservation is in the national interest.
Marine reserves are also special places and can be enjoyed by everyone, offering spectacular opportunities to see rare and abundant sea creatures and environments. Activities such as sailing, kayaking, snorkeling and diving are just some of the ways you can explore what is above and below the surface of our marine reserves.
Why do you think Marine Reserves are so important for all New Zealanders?
Create a new activity for people to do on water. It has to involve at least one person and can use any equipment you wish. Share it with Mr P.
Virtual Reality Tour of the Hauraki Gulf
NZ-VR IS A project undertaken by New Zealand Geographic, Sir Peter Blake Trust, The Pew Charitable Trusts and Foundation North’s GIFT fund, using virtual reality to connect New Zealanders with their environment and inspire social change at scale. The team is in production on five wild places of a proposed 20 that, together, will provide a virtual experience of every biome in New Zealand—from our mountain peaks to our deep seas.
The Virtual Reality video to the left is one of the Hauraki Gulf.
Where did all the kelp go?
Find out how the balance of the ocean reefs in northern New Zealand have been upset, and what we can do to correct it.
Kina - Rangatahi
Kinda cool Kina. What is prickly, green and can be eaten as kai? A kina of course! Do you know how to say kina? This is a quiz with 3 parts
Kelp, help!
Discover what all that slimy green stuff that washes up on the beach is for ...
What is a kelp forest?
Discover why kelp forests are a favourite place to hang-out for sea creatures - small and large.
What is a food chain?
Follow an underwater food chain from bottom to top. He aha tēnei mea te tāhūhū whakapeto? Whāia tētahi tāhūhū whakapeto mai i raro ki runga. Click the [CC] icon in the video player to view Te Reo subtitles.
Why are these creatures here?!
Can you create a food chain for the last thing you ate?
The term food chain describes the order in which organisms, or living things, depend on each other for food. Every ecosystem, or community of living things, has one or more food chains.
Most food chains start with organisms that make their own food, such as plants. Scientists call them producers. Organisms that eat other living things are known as consumers. A squirrel that feeds on plants is called a primary consumer. A hawk that eats the squirrel and other primary consumers is called a secondary consumer.
Decomposers are often the final link in a food chain. Decomposers are bacteria and other organisms that cause decay. When plants and animals die, decomposers break down their tissues. This adds nutrients to the soil so that new plants may grow. Then the food chain begins again.
A food web is a group of food chains within an ecosystem. Most living things eat more than one type of animal or plant. So their food chains overlap and connect. For example, the hawk that ate the squirrel also may eat fish. This makes the hawk a part of two food chains, or a food web
Facts about the Food Chain
The food chain is the transfer of energy from one species to another.
All living things need energy for growth and health.
Within a food chain, some living things create the energy (producers) and some use the energy (consumers).
Plants are producers of energy, as they make their own food (using sunlight, soil, and other elements).
Animals are consumers, because they have to eat other animals and plants.
There are four different types of consumers in the animal kingdom. A carnivore is an animal that only eats other animals. An herbivore is an animal that only eats plants. An omnivore is an animal that eats both plants and animals. A scavenger is an animal that eats dead animals.
A food chain usually begins with a plant (which gets its energy from sunlight and nutrients from the soil). The plant could then eaten by an insect. The insect is eaten by a bird. The bird is eaten by a large mammal. The mammal dies after being hit by a car. It decomposes and is broken down and used as food by bacteria and fungi.
There are more than 100,000 different types of decomposer organisms. These simpler nutrients are returned to the soil and can be used again by the plants. Then the energy chain begins all over again.
If one level is removed from the food chain, it can have disastrous results. For example, if there is a dramatic fall in the number of aphids, the ladybirds who feed mainly on the aphids will also suffer.
Humans are at the end of the food chain. They eat both plants and animals that have consumed other forms of energy.
Food chains can link together to form food webs. This happens when creatures may follow more than one pathway (or eat more than one plant or animal).
In a food chain, energy is passed from one link to another. When a herbivore eats, only a fraction of the energy (that it gets from the plant food) becomes new body mass; the rest of the energy is lost as waste or used up by the herbivore to carry out its life processes (e.g., moving around and digesting the food). Therefore, when the herbivore is eaten by a carnivore, it passes only a small amount of total energy (that it has received) to the carnivore. Of the energy transferred from the herbivore to the carnivore, some energy will be "wasted" or "used up" by the carnivore. The carnivore then has to eat many herbivores to get enough energy to grow.
In a food chain, each species occupies a certain position in the chain. This position is called a trophic level. For example, owls eat mice, so if a food chain contains an owl and a mouse, the owls will be at a higher level. The number of trophic levels is the same as the number of species in the food chain. The same species may occupy different trophic levels in different food chains.
Green plants, and some kinds of bacteria, are the most important producers. They harness the sun's energy to make food by photosynthesis.
A predator is carnivorous. This means that it lives by eating other animals, which are known as its prey.
Try this quiz!
calories – a unit of energy-producing potential in food
carnivore – an animal that eats other animals
consumer – an organism that feeds on other organisms. Consumers include herbivorous animals which feed on plants and carnivorous animals which feed on other animals.
decay – to rot away
decompose – to break something down into smaller or simpler parts, or be broken down in this way
energy – a supply or source of power, used to work or make an effort
food chain – a chain of different living things, each of which feeds on the one below
food webs – interlocking food chains
herbivore – an animal that feeds only or mainly on grass and other plants
mammal – warm-blooded animals which feed their young with their own milk
microbes – a microscopic organism, especially one that transmits a disease
nutrients – a substance that provides nourishment
nutrition – the process of absorbing nutrients from food and processing them in the body in order to keep healthy or to grow
omnivore – an animal that will feed on any type or many different types of food, including both plants and animals
photosynthesis – a process by which green plants and other organisms turn carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates and oxygen
population – all of the people or creatures who inhabit an area, region, or country
predator – a carnivorous animal that hunts, kills, and eats other animals in order to survive, or any other organism that behaves in a similar manner
prey – an animal or animals caught, killed, and eaten by another animal as food
primary consumers – an animal that eats plants, considered in terms of its position in a food chain
producers – an organism that manufactures its own food from simple inorganic substances, e.g. a green plant
scavenger – an animal, bird, or other organism that feeds on dead and rotting flesh or discarded food scraps
secondary consumers – Carnivores that eat herbivores are called secondary consumers
tertiary consumers – Carnivores that eat other carnivores are called tertiary consumers
transfer – to move from one place to another, or cause somebody or something to do so
How many words to the left can you explain to people in your house without prompting?
Meet the loggerhead turtle
Meet the loggerhead turtle and discover how they travel from place to place.
Riley rescues a turtle!
Join Riley and Steve as they meet a special turtle who is being released into her new home and discover the problems that plastic can create in our ocean.
Do you have the mana of an orca?
The importance of the sea
Māori and their Polynesian forebears have been island peoples for many generations, so it is not surprising that water, particularly the sea, figures prominently in their world view. In some traditions the oceans’ depths are considered to be the origin and source of all life. The islands are believed to be fish, pulled up from beneath the sea, and humans are thought to have evolved from aquatic beginnings.
The sea dominated traditional Polynesian and Māori life for many practical reasons. It was an essential source of food and other resources. A number of Polynesian islands become covered by the sea once a year, causing those who lived there to fear and revere its waters. After Polynesians settled in New Zealand, life was centred less around the sea, but it nevertheless retained its mystery and power.
Traditional knowledge
Traditional Māori knowledge includes genealogies of fish and other creatures that live under the sea. Numerous legends and stories are dramas of underwater life. One of the most well known explains the enmity of Tinirau, ancestor of all the fish, towards the tohunga Kae, who killed Tinirau’s favourite whale.
Types of water
Māori noted different types of waters. Seas could be calm and refreshing, boisterous and masculine, or extremely dangerous. Water was considered to be an energy possessing myriad characteristics, shapes and natures. It upheld life, yet was also able to bring terrible destruction. This energy with all its forms, moods and expressions is called Tangaroa. The common translation, ‘god of the sea’, does not adequately convey its meaning.
Creation
Tangaroa – son of earth and sky
In the most well-known version of the Māori creation story, Tangaroa is the son of Papatūānuku, the earth mother, and Ranginui, the sky father. He is one of the 70 children who, when earth and sky were separated, went to live in the world that was created.
The Maori creation story has been passed on from generations to generations. Ranginui and Papatūānuku, Tāne, Tangaroa, Tāwhirimātea, Rongomātāne, Haumietiketike, Tūmatauenga and Rūaumoko are Maori Gods who are inextricably linked to te Ao Māori. They are our whakapapa, our guiding stories that form the foundation of Aotearoa.
Every culture or civilisation has its traditions about how the world was created. Māori have many, but the foundational stories are those that tell how darkness, the long night, became light. Nothingness became something, earth and sky were separated, and nature evolved. Our ancestors passed down this kōrero to generations and we have put them into the context of the world we live in.
The Māori Gods and the Māori Creation Story
The sons held a long debate exploring how they would get out of the dark cramped space they lived in. How might they see the world beyond the confines of their parents’ embrace?
Tāwhirimātea said, “Leave them be” This would simply stay the same. Then, another brother said, “Let’s separate our parents”. This was a viable option. Tāwhirimātea strongly disagreed. Rongomātane and Haumietiketike did not add anything more to the discussion. The brothers made a decision and tried to separate their mātua. Finally, it was Tāne who lay on his back with his legs facing up. With total focus and strength, he pushed and pushed. Ranginui and Papatūānuku didn’t want to be separated from each other or their tamariki. In this crucial time of separation, te wehenga, the tamariki spoke with respect to their parents while helping. Rangi and Papa wept for each other rather than being angry with their tamariki.
The whakatauki “Kei te heke ngā roimata o Ranginui” (The tears of Ranginui are falling) is said when it is raining, as these are Ranginui’s tears about their separation.
In the end, the brothers became Māori Gods, guardians, or atua of particular domains.
Tāne (God of Forest) finally separated his father who rose above. His father grieved for his love Papatūānuku. In response to this, Tāne turned his mother downwards so that she would not see Ranginui’s sadness. He then clothed her in trees and plants. He clothed his father in the sweat of his brow to become the stars that adorn the sky.
Tāwhirimātea (God of Weather)confronted his brothers. He was unhappy about the separation. After a battle broke out the brothers backed down from him. All except Tūmatauenga. Tāwhirimātea was so angry. He gouged out his eyes and threw them into the sky. These became the stars of Matariki-‘Ngā Mata o te Ariki o Tāwhirimātea” The Eyes of the God Tāwhirimātea.
The youngest of the siblings, Rūaumoko was still within his mother when she was separated from Rangi. His unhappiness shows itself through earthquakes and geological and geothermal activity. His name also means ‘the trembling current that scars the earth’.
