NZ Bird Report

Yesterday I finished my New Zealand bird report. I chose the kingfisher because it reminds me of my gran. I enjoyed doing it because I liked doing the research. This is my piece. 

Do you know what New Zealand bird name sounds like a fish name? It’s the Kingfisher. The Kingfisher is one of the best known birds in New Zealand.

APPEARANCE

A Kingfisher is 23 centimeters long and weighs 55 grams. It’s back is a blue-green colour and it’s stomach is a shimmery yellow. The Kingfisher has a pointy beak so it has more of a chance of catching fish because when the beak enters the water it wouldn’t make a splash and skewer the fish. If it had a blunter beak it would make a splash and probably scare the fish away.

DIET

Kingfishers that live near coastal waters eat small crabs and fish. Those who live near freshwater eat tadpoles, crayfish and small fish. When on land with no water around they would eat earthworms, cicadas, weta, stick insects, dragonflies, beetles, spiders, lizards, mice and small birds. Kingfishers have to eat 60% of their body weight each day to survive.

HABITAT

Kingfishers live in a lot of different places. They like to live near water such as lakes and rivers but can also be found in forests. Humans using heavy machinery to smooth the river banks and drain the land can destroy Kingfisher nests on the lowland rivers.

THREATS

Only half the Kingfisher babies survive more than one week. Most Kingfishers die due to the cold or lack of food in a very cold winter. The main predators are cats and rats. Kingfishers also die when they fly into windows or collisions with cars. When humans disturb the nesting birds this can be a serious problem as the shy birds might not enter and the chicks become too weak to call for the parents who then think they are not hungry, so the chicks stave to death.

In conclusion now you know what a Kingfisher is I hope you will point them out or maybe even care for one if it is hurt. I hope they will make kingfishers a pet soon. I want them to become a pet because they are cute and they remind me of my gran.

Habitat Diorama

Today I finished my habitat diorama. I was proud of myself because I worked really hard on it. I chose to do the Oasis. An oasis is a source of water in the desert and around the desert there is some plants and maybe even a house if someone lives there. Animals don't live in oasis, they just stop there for some food and water. This is my diorama:

Crosses

Over the last few weeks we have been working on painting a cross. We did this because we would hang them over the school. I liked doing it because I really like painting. My design had the earth in the middle and some Good Shepherd School symbols around it.

Maungawhau visit

This morning some of Maungawhau school came to Good Shepherd to do some performances. They came because it was cultural language week. The performances were a Haka, a Pacific drumming and a Sasa. My favourite was the Sasa because I liked all the different sounds they used. The Sasa was amazing because they said they only had 2 or 3 practices. 

Author Visit

This morning we had an author visit. He was Raymond Huber
 His favourite book he has written was Peace Warriors. He talked about some of his books and at the end he said some writing tips. Some of his other books are Flight of the Honey Bees, Sting and Wings. I enjoyed it because I can use his writing tips in my writing.

Cross Country Inter-schools

Yesterday the people that came 1st, 2nd or 3rd from Year 3 and up went to the inter-schools cross country. It was at Monte Cecilia Park. The course was really hard because it was very hilly and there was a hill called Killer Hill because it was so hard. The day was pretty boring because your race would be around 15 minutes and the rest of the time you had to cheer and chill out. The Year Three and Fours had to do 2 laps and Year Five and Six had to do 3 laps. I liked it because I got to hang out with some of my friends. 

Maths fractions Pattern

On Monday the class did Maths fractions patterns. We had to pick 8 to 10 colours and colour it in. After we coloured it in we had to count the squares and write them in percentages, decimals and fractions. There was 100 squares and sadly we couldn't do 10 squares for each colour because it would have been to easy. I enjoyed it because I like colouring and it was very peaceful.   

Komodo dragon slide

 
For writing we have been doing information reports. We had to pick a reptile and write a slide about it. I chose the Komodo Dragon. I enjoyed it because I got to learn lots of facts that I didn't know.