Term+2+Topic



TOPIC WORK FOR TERM 2!

Field Trip to Smith's farm. What animals do you have on your farm? 2400 ewes 312 ewe lbs 300 fat lambs 30 rams 25 cows 45 heifers 350 bulls 40 steers What does the farm need to grow good crops? Warm soil. Right level of soil nutrients (fertiliser and lime ) Soil moisture Protection from weeds Protection from pests ( like beetles, aphids etc ) What does the farm need to grow good stock? Warmth Clean water Good grass and clover Supplements for when feed is short ( hay balage silage crops ) Good animal health programme ( drench etc ) How did the recent drought affect you? We sold as much stock as early as we could ( lambs to works, cull ewes to works, cattle to works ) We had crops to put stock on to ( pasja and lucerne ) We fed out hay and balage We found grazing on a neighbours farm We made sure stock were healthy We sold older ewes We sold lambs at lower weights than usual We delayed buying in replacement stock We fed out grape skins from a winery Can you plan for this? Long range forecasts are an indication only, not hugely accurate We plant summer crops ( pasja and kale ) We make sure we have hay and balage on hand We try to sell as many lambs as possible at weaning We aim to have all our bulls gone by Christmas What benefit is the forecast? The forecast gives an indication of what might happen. I like to watch the Sunday night one to get an indication for the week. The dominion forecast is good to see what will happen for next 5 days They are not hugely accurate for timing but if they say it will rain it generally will at some stage. This is useful for planning shearing and hay making etc. Do you irrigate? No we don’t. All the water allocation in our area is used up Main types of irrigation are K line which is lots of pods or sprinklers in a line joined together. They are towed around with a motor bike to shift them. Big guns which travel slowly shooting water around in a circle as they move. Centre pivots. A big irrigator that travels round in a circle. Do you create microclimates on your farm? No we don’t but we plan too. We want to plant shelter belts of trees to protect paddocks from the wind and to provide shelter for stock What is the extra expense for drought properties? The cost of supplying supplementary feed ( balage and hay ) Selling animals lighter and sooner and for less money Having lighter stock which produce less ( less lambs and lighter lambs ) Having to put weight back on animals rather than being able to fatten other animals Extra animal health requirements ( more drenching ) More thistles grow in bare ground Pasture takes a long time to fully recover Usually higher stock losses from weaker stock Table of Contents Field Trip to Smith's farm. What animals do you have on your farm? What does the farm need to grow good crops? What does the farm need to grow good stock? How did the recent drought affect you? Can you plan for this? Do you irrigate? Do you create microclimates on your farm? What is the extra expense for drought properties? Weather Experiments Making A Wind Vane. Making A Rain Gauge. Making A Barometer. Making a Cardboard Thermometer. Weather Keynote. Weather Experiments Making A Wind Vane. WALT: We are learning to make a wind vane so that we can learn from what direction the wind is coming from. MATERIALS: Stiff cardboard cut to 20 cm x 16 cm. An enlarged photocopy of the arrow diagram. Scissors. Sticky tape. The cap of a felt tip pen. A kebab skewer or a knitting needle that will fit through a cotton reel. A piece of cardboard cut 20cm x 20cm. A pencil. Felt tip pens. A ruler. A magnetic compass. Two cotton reels. Blu-tack. A terracotta pot. METHOD: Fold the 20 x16cm piece of cardboard lengthways in half. Trace the photocopied arrow onto the card and carefully cut it out through both layers of cardboard. You should now have two cardboard arrows. Tape the arrows together, fixing your pen cap between them midway along. The open end of the cap should face towards one of the long sides. Insert the tip of the skewer into the pen cap. Check that the wind turns the arrow freely on it. Take the arrow off again in the meantime. Mark North, South, East and West compass points on the 20 x 20cm card. Stand the non pointed end of the skewer inside the cotton reel, using Blu-tack to fasten it in an upright position. Place the terracotta pot upside down over the compass card so that the skewer is poking up through the hole in the base of the pot. Place the arrow back onto the point of the needle or skewer and put your wind vane outside in an open space. Use the commercial compass to find north and align the compass card accordingly. Stand back and watch which way the wind is blowing.

Making A Rain Gauge. WALT: We are learning to make a rain gauge to determine the amount of rainfall we have and to draw conclusions about rainfall at this time of year. Materials: Plastic drink bottle. Scissors or craft knife. An ice-cream container. Sand or pebbles. METHOD: Cut off the top of the plastic bottle just below the shoulder, turn the top upside down to make a funnel, and push it back inside the the cut-off rim of the bottle. To stop the gauge from falling over, place it in an ice-cream container and fill the surroundings with sand or pebbles. Leave your gauge in the school grounds for a week. Each day, use the ruler to record the amount of water collected. Make sure you collect your data at the same time each day. In this way, you will be gathering results from an exact 24 hour period. Remember to tip out the water and dry the rain gauge each day after you have recorded your data. Display your results in an attractive way...charts, graphs etc.

Making A Barometer. WALT: We are learning to make a barometer so that we can measure atmospheric pressure and understand the weather that comes with high/low pressure. MATERIALS: A balloon. Scissors. A large jar. A rubber band. Sticky tape. A long, narrow straw. cardboard. Felt pen. Ruler. METHOD: Cut a piece from the balloon and stretch it over the neck of the jar. Secure the piece of balloon in place with the rubber band. Use sticky tape to attach one end of the straw to the middle of the stretched balloon. Make sure the straw is horizontal. Stand a piece of cardboard behind your barometer. Mark an appropriate scale on the card to show when the air pressure is high, average or low. Stand the barometer somewhere away from the direct sunlight.It can be indoors or outdoors.

Making a Cardboard Thermometer. WALT: We are learning to make a cardboard thermometer. TIB: We need to be able to read and understand thermometer readings and especially degrees below zero. MATERIALS: A photocopy of a thermometer; glue; cardboard; scissors; hole punch; piece of white string twice as long as the thermometer, plus 10 centimeters;red felt tip pen. METHOD: Glue photocopy of thermometer onto cardboard. Cut out thermometer. Punch a hole at each end, in the bottom of photocopy and above the 50 degree mark. Use felt tipped pen to colour half of the string red. Thread the string through the holes, with the red colour at the bottom of the thermometer. Behind the thermometer, knot together the ends of the string. Change the position of the red string to show: 0 degrees, 10 degrees, 35 degrees and minus 15 degrees.

Weather Keynote. We looked at some of this keynote a couple of weeks ago. I have added a little more information that may be handy to those people looking at the weather and the water cycle as part of their inquiry.

This term we are doing climbate and agriculture. We are going to visit lots of different places like farms and vineyards and an apple orchard down Papawai. We are going to these places on tuesday the 13th.

We have done that trip and it was very interesting and we had to take notes which is in my topic book.

I have enjoyed this terms topic and next terms topic will proberly be just as challenging!

Awesome work Noemi. You have achieved the objectives and ended up with an attractive display. Next time remember to relate it to the topic.