December 17, 2019
Fun with ngā ngata…snails!
This term, children at Kohungahunga Mayfield have been learning all about ngā ngata ...
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Enviroschools stories
December 16, 2019
Student artwork by the Taylor River
Student artwork will soon grace some of the entrances to Blenheim's Taylor River. Some of the Springlands Go MAD (Make a Difference) students came up with an idea to design artwork with messages to remind people to take care of special reserves in our region. The students displayed all the artwork in the staffroom window and then asked the school to vote on their six favourites. The MDC reserves team kindly turned these six artworks into signs that will be displayed on some of the entrances to the Taylor River. This was an exciting project that was totally developed by students with a bit of support. Look out for the signs when you are next...
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November 25, 2019
Renwick School hosts Green Gold Collective
It was a treat for teachers from our three Marlborough Green Gold schools to visit Renwick School this term. Hosted by students in the Green Ferns group with support from their lead teachers, we saw a presentation on some of their actions for this year. These included their school-wide BioBlitz in Term 2 and their Enviro-week in Term 3. Students shared the learning that followed on from the BioBlitz, such as entries into the science fair. The 'Stream Team' took us to see the changes they have been making to protect the school stream, including regular waste clean-ups and weeding sessions. It was exciting to hear they have seen some fish and an eel...
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October 23, 2019
Linkwater School’s Green Gold Review
Linkwater School has now been a Green Gold School for 5 years. Students recently shared what they have done since becoming a Green Gold School as part of their review reflection. There would need to be a lot more pages to share all of the projects that they have undertaken and how they have intertwined sustainability into their curriculum, programmes, and wider community. Led by their awesome students, we got to see their many actions displayed on whole walls around their library. Projects ranged from a hazelnut living hut through to upcycled swings.
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- Linkwater’s Little Library
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- Upcycled swing
October 22, 2019
Students study endangered species
The children in Rooms 3 and 4 at Richmond View School worked hard throughout Term 3 investigating New Zealand’s native endangered species of fish and birds. Each student picked a species to study, researching their habitat, adaptations and the issues that have put the species in danger. Alarmingly, they found that New Zealand has 4000 species currently on DOC’s endangered list. The children also discovered plants, insects and animals are all connected. In te reo Māori, this is called whanaungatanga, and it describes why protecting our native biodiversity is so important. Losing one species has a carry-on effect; if we lose a tree, an insect can lose its home or a bird may lose its...
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October 22, 2019
Enviro week at Renwick School
Ellen Theobald, co-leader of Renwick School's 'Green Ferns' enviro group, wrote this article to tell us about the school's recent Enviro Week activities. Our Green Ferns organised a really fun Enviro Week to coincide with the Climate Strikes and the work done by Climate Karanga and George Varney (Climate Youth Action Team) at the tree planting opportunity that was offered to schools. We also decided that we need to raise the profile of recycling within our classrooms as school systems changed and we needed to educate everyone to let them know what to do.
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- Some of the eye-catching new recycling bins
September 12, 2019
Canvastown kids explore their Living Landscape
The kids at Canvastown School have been fully absorbed in discovering what creatures live in the school’s wild places this year. They have poked under logs and in tree-stumps, crawled through long grass, shaken the branches of trees and picked through the edible gardens, seeking out all manner of living things. They used the Living Landscapes kit to take a closer look at the birds, bugs, plants and fungi, finding names for them and learning about their interesting habits. Angela visited and helped them with some activities from Tiro One One - our Marlborough living landscapes resource.
September 10, 2019
Students have their say on NZ’s biodiversity plan
St Mary's Envirogroup students submit on NZ's biodiversity strategy. Can you imagine what our world would look like if there was only one type of tree or bird or one type of apple to eat? The children in St Mary’s Envirogroup didn’t want to imagine that type of environment. Healthy biodiversity is important to them. They know that Aotearoa New Zealand’s biodiversity is amazing! About 90 % of our insects, 80 % of trees, ferns and flowering plants, 25 % of bird species, all 60 reptiles, 4 frogs and 2 bats are found nowhere else on earth. The current Government strategy on biodiversity is 20 years old and expires in 2020. The Department of Conservation is putting...
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July 10, 2019
Kindergartens shine silver!
Two of our kindergartens reflected at Enviroschools Silver in Term 2: congratulations to Picton Kindergarten and Seymour Kindergarten. Tamariki at Picton Kindergarten have been doing lots of inspiring work in their local environment. They visited Kaipupu Point Wildlife Sanctuary and planted native trees, helped to clean up local beaches, and learnt how to care for the creatures in the ocean. They even upcycled old tee-shirts to make their own carry bags, which they can use instead of plastic ones! At Seymour Kindergarten the vision is 'looking after Papatūānuku, so she can look after us'. Tamariki and their whanau learn about the natural environment in a hands-on way. The kindergarten has a worm farm, compost area,...
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July 2, 2019
Renwick students lead BioBlitz
Students in Renwick School's 'Green Ferns' enviro-group organised and ran a BioBlitz this term, to find and identify many of the different kinds of living things at their school. The whole school was involved in the BioBlitz, with students ranging from new entrants through to Year 8s scouring the school grounds for living things to study. The edible garden and school stream area were a focus, after the Green Ferns identified them as potential biodiversity hot spots. The Green Ferns, supported by Ms Tullet, did lots of mahi to prepare for the day. They planned how the day would run, with different classes taking part at different times of the day and in different parts of the...
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