Summary Page: Kea - our threatened mountain parrot
Term 3 starting 8 September 2015.

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Our Kea is the world's only mountain parrot. They are sociable, curious and highly intelligent which makes them well adapted to their harsh environment. While these characteristics have helped them survive, they have also created conflict with humans. As a result kea are nationally endangered. Did you know there are fewer kea alive today than bengal tigers? Kea, like kiwi, kakapo, takahē and mohua are an endangered New Zealand bird species. So this trip will fit perfectly with big ideas like heritage, our world, kiwiana, conservation, connectedness, threatened species and environment. This field trip will get you up close to an adorable New Zealand treasure that is sadly under real threat. A possible action outcome for this trip would be a student activity that enhances the survival of kea.

Teacher comments about previous native bird field trips.

"This is a fantastic programme. The field trips are well organised and highly informative. The field trip catered to the learning needs and abilities of my diverse year 3 class. Special needs students were able to access the same information as their classmates, using listening tools and videos so that they could take part in class discussions. My higher ability students were able to complete their own online research". Shelley Galloway from Mt Somers Springburn School.

"LEARNZ field trips are a good tool to provide a context to a Science programme at the Y7-9 level. Our topic was focused on L4 of the curriculum, looking at NZ birds with regards to conservation. Used one activity for national standard assessment". Rachel Mortimer from Columba College.

Go to more comments from teachers about similar field trips.

Where you will go

Your kea encounter will be in the mountains of the South Island where kea are sometimes seen. Arthurs Pass Village is a kea hot spot. It is on the main road between Canterbury and the West Coast. The car parks of nearby ski fields are also a popular place for kea to look for food and trouble!

To prepare for this field trip, LEARNZ content will support inquiry into:

• Kea - national kaitiaki and taonga
• What is a bird/what is a parrot?
• Habitat, lifecycle, behaviour
• Kea threats
• Simple rules to protect kea
• Kea and humans
• Helping kea

During the field trip you will:

• Go in search of kea in the mountains
• Sneak up on a kea nest
• Keep an eye on growing kea chicks
• Visit ski fields and observe kea interactions with tourists
• Do a health check on an adult kea
• See how clever kea really are!
• Follow the work of kea scientists
• Find how to keep kea safe from the 3 ps

Kea are a lot like kids - they are curious, like to play, have families, and sometimes even get into a little bit of trouble (without meaning to!); and often, they are misunderstood. This trip will be an excellent context for learning about behaviour, empathy, social order, personal responsibility and heritage.

Learning Areas/Levels

Science: Living World Levels 2-5; Social Studies: Place and Environment Levels 2-4; Technology Levels 1-3

• Vision, Values, Key Competencies, Principles, Literacy and Numeracy

  By their nature, LEARNZ field trips integrate with the higher levels of the NZ Curriculum. Participation encourages development of the Key Competencies around Thinking, Using language, symbols and text, Managing self, Relating to others, and Participating and contributing. Teachers indicate this in testimonials. LEARNZ field trips have support and activities for Literacy, with opportunities to develop skills in Listening, Reading and Viewing and in Speaking, Writing and Presenting. More about LEARNZ as a Reading Resource and student writing opportunities with LEARNZ. Select LEARNZ field trips have support and activities for Numeracy, encouraging the development of skills in Number and Algebra, in Statistics and in Geometry and Measurement.

• ESOL

  As well as providing visual and audio material and access to real experiences, LEARNZ links well to ESOL Principles, especially Principle 3 Maintain and make explicit the same learning outcomes for all the learners. How can I make the lesson comprehensible to all students? How can I plan the learning tasks so that all the students are actively involved? Do my students understand the learning outcomes? Principle 4 Begin with context embedded tasks which make the abstract concrete. How can I put these concepts into a concrete context?

• What's in a Field Trip

  Every LEARNZ field trip has its own newly-built, self-contained web site ready for integration into your teaching and learning programme. Teacher Support has curriculum integration, resources, newsletters, support and evaluation. Prepare Students provides opportunities for student inquiry on two sets of image-rich background pages at reading levels 2 years apart, (students can click to have those pages read to them out loud), online interactive and other activities to check students' understanding, and a glossary. During the field trip there are live tweets on twitter, and daily additions such as a diary, video clips, profiles of the experts (ideal careers education), a photo gallery, and ambassador (mascot) page updates. Live web conferences via Adobe Connect enable teachers to managed students putting prepared and spontaneous questions to experts (recorded for replay). After the field trip, teachers are encouraged to take further action with their class in the community or to go on a related field trip, or to invite a guest speaker, or to present what they have learned to a wider group. Teachers also fill in an online evaluation (more about reflective practice), the field trip prize winner is drawn, and the final newsletter is sent. Content remains online for continued use.

• How teachers use LEARNZ

  View teacher comments in testimonials and in the LEARNZ Group on the VLN. There are two main ways teachers use a LEARNZ virtual field trip with their class. Firstly, a LEARNZ field trip is ideally an immersive, engaging, synchronous, online learning experience with real-time components and a myriad of opportunities for teachers and students. Secondly, and less ideal but still effective, a LEARNZ field trip can be used as a retrospective experience where the resources such as photos, text, activities, videos and audioconferences/web conferences comprise a unique collection of authentic, contemporary New Zealand teaching and learning material.

• What Now

  Not Registered with LEARNZ? Are you a New Zealand Registered or Provisionally-Registered Teacher? Register free with LEARNZ Now.

  Already Registered with LEARNZ and activated your account? Log in to your personal MyLEARNZ Control Panel and then enrol your classes at no cost in field trips. Note: Enrolment is only needed for the current and future year's field trips.

  Registered but need help? Check your email for activation instructions - contact us if the message did not make it to your email inbox. Log on to MyLEARNZ. Go to Getting Started.

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