“Ko au te moana, ko te moana ko au – I am the sea, the sea is me.”
Last week we celebrated New Zealand Sea Week! This special week was celebrated country-wide from 2 to 10 March. We learned about New Zealand’s magnificent marine life through various stories, research, and videos. We also discussed the positive and negative impact of human behaviour on the ocean; completed a range of fun crafts and activities to raise awareness about protecting our sea life; and pledged to be more sustainable.
The Sea Week theme was integrated across all curriculum areas as the children wrote about ways to make a positive difference in our environment, produced posters to raise awareness and read poems and stories about the ocean. Some ideas they had to make a difference going forward included picking up litter (that would otherwise make its way to the ocean), telling others not to litter and participating in local beach clean-ups.
Team 1B read the story “Celia Seagull and the Plastic Sea” written by Nicole Miller. The students went on a journey with Celia as she waded through an ocean full of plastic rubbish looking for various pieces to build her huge nest. Along the way, Celia met other sea creatures (such as a turtle, a seal and a penguin) who were tangled in scrap due to all the pollution. This story really moved our students and it’s been wonderful watching them take action to make a positive difference by picking up litter around the school at morning tea and lunch time. Well done, Year 1s!
Room 8 students shared the important message of looking after our oceans by creating a polluted fish craft to show the effects of littering on our marine ecosystems. The students developed their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, imagination and creativity while completing this task.
