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Enviroschools Marlborough / Posts tagged "local stories"
Writers walk

Writers Walk Poem Unveiling

On a cool Spring day on the Taylor River the 21st poem was unveiled. Written by Mia Lasenby from Wairau Valley School, this new poem forms part of the Writers Walk. Springlands School students who were passionate about the environment start the project in 2009. The students had been learning all about the Taylor River including its water quality and came up with an idea that would make a difference then and in the future. With support from Marlborough District Council, who provided the large rocks. Sowmans Funeral Home who set the poems on plaques. Cathee Wilks and Ali Kay, teachers and project champions. 14 years on, the project is still going strong. They have...

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Tanemahuta

Enviroschools and the NZ History Curriculum

Hear how Enviroschools resources and activities can be used to support you in teaching the New Zealand History Curriculum. Explore links and activities that are place based, experiential, and grounded in local Wairau spaces, landscapes, and stories. Open to Principals, Curriculum and Enviroschools Lead Teachers. Thursday 18 May 3.30 – 5 pm Join us from 3.15 for coffee and cake before hand. Venue: REAP 65 Seymour street, Blenheim. RSVP Friday 12 May angela@wenties.nz...

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Linkwater School's sustainable outdoor classroom

Linkwater School wins regional Lions award

Linkwater School is celebrating winning this year’s Lions Youth Environment Award for the upper South Island and West Coast region. Linkwater School is a small rural Green-Gold Enviroschool in the Marlborough region, so named because it sits between Tōtaranui/Queen Charlotte Sound and Keneperu Sound. Students and teachers at the school are passionate about their environment. Much of their curriculum is based on students’ learning about and taking action for sustainability, supported by their wider community. Linkwater School is also part of the Marlborough District Council's “Kids’ Edible Gardens” programme. Earlier this term Linkwater submitted their Sustainable Outdoor Classroom development to the Lions Youth Award for District 202E (upper South Island and West Coast) supported by the...

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‘Save the fantail’ project

Grovetown School’s Waihi class has embarked on a special project this year to save the fantails in their school forest. Identify The project came about as part of an inquiry: ‘How is our place unique?’. The class began by exploring and learning about the native, endemic and introduced animals and plants in their school. During this exploration, some of the children found empty fantail nests which prompted thinking about why the nests might be empty. Some of the students’ ideas were:  “rats have eaten them" - "it is too cold for the eggs and chicks so birds don't lay eggs in winter" - "the fantails think it’s too dangerous because of the rats and possibly stoats so they won't...

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Springlands Kindergarten Silver

Silver for Springlands Kindergarten

Springlands Kindergarten successfully reflected at Enviroschools Silver this term, the day before the national lockdown in August! It was fantastic to see all the great work that kaiako and tamariki have been doing at Springlands Kindergarten, especially linking to the Enviroschools guiding principle of Sustainable Communities. They are a green-fingered group and have been growing and making lots of things to share. We especially loved the relationship they have formed with a local rest home. They collected and made plum jam and then shared it with the residents at the rest home. How cool is that? There were some other clever sustainable ideas like homemade natural glitter, hand-dyed shirts using natural plant dyes and some special activities...

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Butterfly house Seymour Kindergarten

Butterfly house a special space

Seymour Kindergarten's new butterfly house has become a cherished space, with tamariki and kaiako benefiting from the opportunities it provides. The different life stages of monarch butterflies have long been an area of fascination for tamariki at Seymour Kindergarten, and kaiako have supported their learning in a variety of ways over the years. Their latest innovation has been the construction of an impressive butterfly house.  Tamariki have experimented with different methods to find the best way to capture caterpillar eggs and transfer them into the butterfly house.  They tried taking eggs from the swan plants outside and raising them inside before transferring them.  Sometimes this was successful, however, it took a lot of work as...

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Grovetown School_Bird scavenger hunt

Grovetown School students create bird hunt resource

Students at Grovetown School have created a ‘bird scavenger hunt’ resource for use at Grovetown Lagoon. Grovetown School has had a long-standing connection with the nearby lagoon, being involved in regular whole-school tree-planting days and hosting a shade house where lagoon volunteers propagate and grow native plant seedlings. This project was part of a student inquiry looking at connections with the local community and local places.

Students in Waverley class came up with the idea of creating a resource during a class visit to the lagoon when they photographed and observed the birds that they saw. Students worked in pairs to research one of the birds that they had seen and to make a...

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Renwick Kindergarten strawberry wall

ECE centres take part in Enviroschools pilot

This term, kaiako from ECE centres taking part in an Enviroschools pilot attended a workshop and visited kindergartens to see the programme in action. Four ECE centres are currently taking part in the pilot, and they visited two kindergartens that are very active in the Enviroschools programme: Seymour and Renwick. Renwick shared the pepeha, karakia and tiriti that they have developed to connect to their special places and values. Outside, they showed the group their strawberry walls and multi-purpose hut area. They also shared their learning around energy and the newly installed solar panels. Seymour showed the group their bike track, new composting area, butterfly house and the beautiful community-created mural that represents the things...

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Picton Kaitiaki group at Shakespeare estuary

Kaitiaki group visit Shakespeare Bay

Picton School's Kaitiaki Group visited the Shakespeare Bay estuary for NZAEE Seaweek. Picton School's Kaitiaki group were invited by Port Marlborough in conjunction with Cawthron Institute to visit the Shakespeare Bay estuary as a focus for NZAEE Seaweek in March. The Kaitiaki group were smaller in stature and younger in age than usual as the group's senior students were away on camp.  However, their levels of excitement and enthusiasm were just as high! The Kaitiaki group and Cawthron scientists, smiling in the rain! Despite the rainy day, scientists from Cawthron had set up a range of activities to help the group study the estuary. Anika, Dana and Robyn each took a group...

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Energy mahi at Renwick Kindergarten

Kindergarten powered by Tama-nui-te-rā!

This term, Renwick Kindergarten staff, students and whānau celebrated the installation of their new solar panels. After Renwick Kindergarten reflected at Green-Gold in 2019, the kindergarten community was inspired to investigate renewable energy sources: both as a way of future-proofing for generations to come, and minimizing their environmental impact. After lots of meetings and discussions, the decision was made to go solar. Making use of Tama-nui-te-rā (the sun) - who nearly always shines on Marlborough - seemed such a natural option. The kindergarten partnered with Harrisons Solar to install the panels. As a local, family-owned business, Harrisons are a past whānau for the kindergarten, and they were actively involved in raising the funds well before...

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