St+Christophers+Holsworthy

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__**WEEK TWO**__ :
 * As a grade we read the book The Lorax By Dr Seuss. We discussed some of the issues raised within the story making links to sustainability. Our teacher.

__** WEEK THREE: **__ __ [|CSIRO Website] __ __ [|Biodiversity] __ __ [] __ __ [] __ __ [] __
 * This week, we have been looking at biodiversity. We found out that **bio** is a **Greek** word, meaning **life**, and **diversity** means **variety. Biodiversity** means a **variety of living things.**
 * ****Here are some links to websites that we found in the Biodiversity:**

This week we read an article in a magazine called Saving Tasmanian Devils. We learnt that the Tasmanian Devils are facing extinction from a disease called Devil Facial Tumour Disease. This is a type of contagious cancer that can kill a Tasmanian Devil. It is passed from one devil to another by biting or scratching. After that they usually die within about six months of the tumours appearing on their face.
 * __ WEEK FOUR: __**

This week we read an artical called "Focous on Frogs" in a magazine called "Biodiversity". We read that out of the 6000 amphibian species 120 may have been already been extinct. One of the species that is endangered is the Southern Corroboree Frog, it was listed as endangered in 2000 it's rapid decline in the wild now means that it is facing extintion. __** WEEK 6: **__ __** What makes it Endangered? **__ There is a disease caused by the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus that is killing it. The southern Corroboree Frog is only found in The snow Mountains region of the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. -Samantha Riel 6SR __** Biodiversity Audit: Mill Park Secondary Collage: **__ Today in guided reading groups we looked up the definition of Audit and some of the examples are: -critical -Judging -examination -investigation -inspection [] [] [] __**Questions we have:**__ Chad The lizards To create a grass land and to attract native wildlife. To see the percentages of buildings and wildlife. [] [] We are now writing a letter to greening australia and we are asking them to help us with biodiversity. Michelle, Tia, Max, Daniel S, Daniel Sl
 * __WEEK FIVE-Southern Corroboree Frog:__ **
 * References: **[] and the australian pocket oxford dictionary.
 * For more information:**
 * What was the yabbies name?**
 * What is the environmental groups name?**
 * What was the point of the project?**
 * Why would they do a biodiversity audit?**
 * Who could we ask to complete a biodiversity audit**

Term 3 week one: We had a look at the "ORIGIN: Sustainability DR" competition winners. We thought that the NSW entry was inspiring! We have been in contact with one of the competition winners who is very keen to tell her sustainability story and help us with our own research. We have devised some questions to ask her: 1. How did you find out about sustainability drive? - Ben S 2. What gave you the idea of planting vegetables in your footpaths? - Samantha 3. How long did it take to complete the sustainability competition? - Joshua 4. How did you get your whole street involved and how long did it take? - Brodie 5. Were there any disadvantages in this experience? - Amy 6. What inspired you to do this? - Liam 7. How did you feel when you found out your street was the winning entry? - Andrew B 8. How many types of vegetables did you plant? - Kendall 9. How did the street react to these changes? - Shay 10. How long did it take for the produce to fully grow? - Coby 11. Who did you consult before starting the project? - Declan 12. Where did you get the chickens from? How do you look after them? - Maddie 14. How can our school implement some of these ideas? - Bradley 15. What is involved in setting up a worm farm? - Tia 16. Why did you choose to enter in the Sustainability Drive competition? - Mitch. A

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__Week 3 T3:__
Earlier throughout the week, Year 6 went on an excursion to visit one of our local environments, Harris Creek Reserve. Throughout our "nature walk" we observed many of the following:
 * Wildlife
 * Litter/Rubbish
 * Roads/Pathways
 * Trees
 * Flora & Fauna

Many of which include invasive species and weeds. The major influence was human impact. Whilst bush walking around the reserve we found litter almost in every direction of the creek we looked in. It was a little dissapointing seeing we are learning about how to help our environment by picking up rubbish and so on.

Although there were lots of badly influenced human impact amongst the lake. There were some beautiful flora & fauna that the grade was lucky enough to spot. Two Lorikeets,

This is Samantha and Kendall's Word Doc about HOW TO TAKE CARE OF HARRIS CREEK RESERVE

So yesterday, Lisa Upton came to talk to year 6 about how her street won the Sustainability Drive, a competition run by Origin Energy. Her street has thought of many ways to be sustainable. These incude plants and the parents taking turns to walk all the kids to school. Watch clip above for more details :)
 * Tuesday, 18th August : Eliza**

HARRIS CREEK PUBLICATION 1 HARRIS CREEK PUBLICATION 2

Tuesday 6th of September: Jela, Amelia and Caitlin. We were asked to find newspaper articles on Sustainability.

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= Using Less Water to Grow More Potatoes = When potato production started in Idaho more than 100 years ago, farmers seeded their crops in ridged rows and watered their plants by channeling surface irrigation to flow through the furrows between the rows. Even though most commercial potato producers in the Pacific Northwest now irrigate their crops with sprinklers, they still typically use ridged-row planting systems. But this planting configuration allows irrigation runoff to collect in the furrow and percolate below the crop root zone. This means that the water is unavailable to the crops, and can also lead to increased nitrate leaching from the soil. King and his partners conducted a series of studies on planting potatoes in flat beds instead of ridged rows. One two-year study compared ridge-row planting systems, a 5-row planting configuration on a raised bed where the plant rows were 26 inches apart, and a 7-row planting configuration on a raised bed where the plant rows were 18 inches apart. Another 5-year study on approximately 6,900 acres only compared ridged-row systems and 5-row raised-bed systems. The researchers found that using the flat bed system increased yields by an average of 6 percent, even though 5 percent less water was used for irrigation. This meant that using flat beds instead of ridged rows for potato production led to an overall 12 percent increase in irrigation water use efficiency. The gains were attributed to several factors, especially the probability that planting potatoes in flat beds improves water and nitrogen use efficiency because more water reaches the potato roots. These findings, which were published in 2011 in the //American Journal of Potato Research//, could help commercial farmers increase yields and profits, save valuable water resources, and reduce nitrate leaching.

MY FACTUAL RECOUNT NEWS REPORT : ELII MAGNUS