Monday 14 March 2016

Tracking and Trapping

I was fortunate to go along with two of the Zealandia educators to Glenview School in Porirua.

The students had already spent some time in Zealandia getting to learn all about the birds around the valley and what had happened in order for them to flourish within the predator proof fence.

 The school's wonderful surroundings

The school's vege patch!

When we arrived, it was wonderful to see the kids come out to greet Anne and Kerry.  They were very proud of their school and were excited to show us around and point out their amazing vege garden and incredible school grounds.  They were a lovely bunch of kids.

Once the bell rang, Anne and Kerry were teaching the students all about tracking pests within their school grounds and why we should first monitor what pests they have.  The students then got to help construct the tracking tunnels and ink up the sheet of paper.





The next stage was to learn that rats and stoats love food like peanut butter so the students then placed some peanut butter in the tunnels to attracts the pests.



Then, using their new knowledge, in groups, the class worked out where they were going to put their tunnels.
We then gathered back together and Anne showed everyone a simple trap to use in their school grounds.  Once they had gathered some data about what types of pests they have, there were then going to put the traps around the school grounds.  We talked about where might be the best place, how often to check them and what to do if the trap caught a rat or stoat!



I'm looking forward to going back to see how the students are getting on.
Thank you Glenview School for having me to visit.

No comments:

Post a Comment