A morning of observations and wonderings!

Room 1 tamariki had an interesting morning observing and discovering what Matua Arthur had caught in his nets this morning. They were observing the eels he had caught-there were two types of eel, the long fin and the short fin eel. The tamariki could see two different types of shrimp, Inanga, Cadflys and an unknown insect we were having difficulty classifying.

It was observed that the long fin eel’s skin wrinkled as it slithered and bended, and the top fin started much closer to the eel’s head. The short fin eel’s fins started from the same position both on the top and bottom of its body and its head was flatter then the long fin eel allowing it to burrow their heads in the mud when droughts are present.

Matua Arthur sliced open an eel to see if it had eaten any whitebait. What arose from this was that it is possible for a science group in our class to look at the diet of the eels and compare the typical NZ food chain of an eel to that of an eel in our Whangawehi River.

There are many opportunities for Room 1 tamariki to carry out science investigations down at our Whangawehi River. So watch this space!!

Thank you also to Whaea Jenni for coming into class and talking to room 1 tamariki about what is required in a science investigation.