Orokonui Enviroschools Hui

Liam Hewson, Zoe, and Britten Clarke went on an Enviroschools Hui at Orokonui Ecosanctuary.  The focus for the day was Ecological Buildings.  That means a building which works in harmony with the water and land around it, that can harness the energy from the sun and which enriches the lives of creatures, plants and people. We were inspired by the schools that shared their work on Eco Huts.  We also went to Purakanui School to see their hut that encouraged life to grow amongst it and to enjoy its presence.  

We braved the wind, rain and hail to visit the birds' habitat and examine their feeding stations. It was a very interesting day where we met super people from other Enviroschools and we heard about their fantastic Enviro-projects.  We felt so inspired.

Vegetable Market

At the beginning of Term 1 2010 we harvested our crops that had grown over the summer holidays.  We sold our vegetable produce in a Children's Vegetable Farmers Market.  We sold Maori potatoes and courgettes, new potatoes and lots of leafy lettuces.  Everyone was delighted.  We hope to buy a wheel barrow with the money we raised.

Courgette and Corn Fritters

We had lots of courgettes in our school garden that needed eating up, so last Friday Room 5 made some delicious Courgette and Corn Fritters. Room 5 enjoyed the help of Amanda Brown, Denise, and Shona. Some of the fritters were made with potato too. It was so yummy!

Davina Tells Stories of Enviro Heroes

Davina visited our school on the 8 June, to tell us about some Enviro-Heroes.  She told us about David de Rothschild who made a yacht out of plastic bottles.  He was inventive and he thought of a new way to use old plastic bottles. 

Davina also told us about Kamo High School in Whangarei, who were the first school in the world to create a Marine Reserve.  

Another hero is Sophie Smith.  When she was 10 years old, she wrote a letter to a conservation group telling them about the endangered Takahe bird and that they needed help to save them.  Mitre 10 heard about Sophie and her letter, and so they gave $200,000 to help save the Takahe.   

Davina also told us about Susan Smirk who went to Otago Girls High School.  Susan won a competition for her documentary video about eels.  Her Prize was to go to Greenland.  Jinty MacTavish filmed their trip to Greenland and it's environment and she also won a prize for her film.

Davina taught us that heroes identify a problem, they think about different ways to solve the problem, they choose a way to take action and they reflect on their actions like, telling others about it.  She helped us to know that anyone can become a hero for the environment.  

Our Compost System

We have 3 garden compost bins near our gardens.  Every classroom and the staffroom have compost buckets in them, where children and teachers can throw away their food scraps. Every Friday the enviro-group, World Savers, empty this food waste into the garden compost heaps.  We have fun cleaning out the buckets!  The scraps are covered by garden rubbish or dirt or leaves to keep the pests away.  The food rots down into beautiful, healthy soil.  Then we can spread the rich soil around our plants to feed them.

Macandrew Bay School Edible Garden

Our school edible garden has many vegetables in it, such as, cabbage, potatoes, silver beet, zucchini, beans, bok choy, spinach, broccoli, and beetroot.  We have fruit, such as strawberries, berry bushes, apple, pear, and plum trees.  We grow lots of herbs, too.  The Room 1 children collect rain water off the school swimming pool roof and we use this water to water our gardens.  

Caring for our school edible garden

This is Room 5 out in our school edible garden.  We like to care for it. We pull out weeds.  We have planted broccoli, cabbage, spinach, silverbeet and bok choy to grow throughout the winter. We can see how well they have grown, already.  It is fun to see the plants growing well.