The Matariki public holiday will be celebrated on the 28th June 2024 this year. The lunar period is 29th June till 2nd July 2024 "The Matariki public holiday is based on the winter rising of the Matariki cluster in the early morning sky during the Tangaroa period of the lunar month of Pipiri." https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/discover-collections/read-watch-play/matariki-maori-new-year/dates-for-matariki-public-holiday ...
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Our term two Sustainable Action Ideas newsletter explores the Enviroschools Guiding Principle of Respect for the Diversity of People and Cultures. It highlights some up coming awareness dates that support this guiding principle as well as shares ideas to celebrate other cultures in your school or centre. There are also a number of workshops happening this term. Click here to access our online Padlets to view this newsletter and previous ones....
Read MoreMatariki is the Māori name for a group of stars also known as the Pleiadea star cluster, or The Seven Sisters, Te Iwi o Matariki (the nine stars of Matariki) are referred to as the traditional Māori New Year. The Matariki holiday for 2023 is on Friday 14th July....
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Take a look at our list of ways that your students could take action towards sustainability this term. Click here to link through to the list in our Enviroschools Marlborough google drive....
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Fairhall School The focus for Term 2 was compost making, starting with the critters that help with that process – the ‘Recycling Gang’! The children laid out samples of compost onto tarpaulins, then used their observation skills to look for and identify some of the bugs living in their compost heap. They found worms, slaters, centipedes and slugs. Next, they watched a video clip on a bug that we don’t want in New Zealand: the brown marmorated stink bug. Now that these students know how to identify insects, they will be able to be super sleuths in our gardens, protecting our fruit and vegetables from unwanted invaders. The next topic explored was winter pruning. The...
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Blenheim School It was a very wet Term 2 at Blenheim School – it seemed to rain every gardening day! The children found plenty to do inside the classroom. They investigated how plants talk to them and what it means when the leaves of some plants turn yellow. Their citrus trees had yellow leaves, and the children discovered that the trees were probably suffering from a lack of nitrogen or iron. Between showers, the children gave them a good feed with layers of lawn clippings, blood and bone, compost and mulch. Back inside, they talked about replenishing the soil and resting beds. Having planned to build another compost heap, it rained yet again. Instead, the...
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Although it has been cold and wet outside, Marlborough students have been keeping up with their winter gardening tasks. Over the next few weeks, we'll be sharing some of the learning that went on in Term 2 at schools in Marlborough's 'Kids' Edible Gardens' programme. Witherlea School While the growth of vegetables slowed with the onset of winter, the children kept busy by investigating composting. Before getting started, they looked at soil with very little organic matter or compost and compared it to soil in their vegetable garden. The soil from the vegetable garden was darker, fluffier and had lots of insects living in it. It was a good way to learn how compost improves the soil. After talking about what goes...
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Marlborough Kindergartens celebrated Matariki with a special event at Monkey Bay early last Sunday morning. Children and teachers from kindergartens throughout Marlborough were welcomed to Monkey Bay by the sound of the putatara. They sang waiata, enjoyed shared kai, listened to korero about the Matariki story, and were treated to a bonfire and a beautiful dawn at the beach. The celebration, which is in its third year, was the culmination of all of the learning and celebrations that have been going on at individual kindergartens throughout June. It is wonderful to see our tamariki, whānau and kaiako coming together for this very special New Zealand celebration. We would love to hear about other celebrations that happened around Marlborough...
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