April 5, 2022
Sustainable Action Ideas / Term one 2022
Take a look at our list of ways that your students could take action towards sustainability this term. Click here to view on our Padlet...
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Author: Enviroschools Marlborough
December 21, 2021
Kids Edible Gardens at Redwoodtown School
Redwoodtown School have been busy redesigning their Kids Edible Gardens Like many schools around Marlborough, Redwoodtown School is a construction zone of new classrooms. As part of the renovations, a decision was made to shift the Kids Edible Gardens and update the garden area. The Envirogroup took up the challenge to investigate where the best place would be and design a new Kids Edible Garden. Although it was tempting to rush in and build a new garden, they wanted to engage the whole school and seek feedback on how all the students would like their gardens to be. “It took a lot of time and effort. We thought it would be something that was quick and...
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December 13, 2021
Kaitiaki at Fairhall School
Te Rūma Rātā and te Rūma Pōhutukawa - kaitiaki of birds and habitats at Fairhall School Whare wētā At the beginning of the year te Rūma Rātā and te Rūma Pohutukawa made a kaitiaki pledge to be guardians of birds and habitats at Fairhall School. We first set out to learn in particular about New Zealand birds, lizards and wētā so this could help inform how we could make a difference to their habitats around our school and local community. We also worked with local environmental educators and our Enviroschools facilitator to deepen our understanding of the native bush that is in our ngahere and what plantings might encourage more wildlife to...
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December 10, 2021
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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November 29, 2021
‘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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October 26, 2021
Sustainable Action Ideas | Term 4 2021
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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October 1, 2021
Kids’ Edible Gardens: benefits beyond gardening
We know that being outside connecting to nature in a green space is good for us: we feel refreshed and energised, but relaxed. Is the same true for children when participating in the Kids’ Edible Gardens (KEGs) programme? Absolutely! This is why, in a time when our children’s hauora (wellbeing) and mental health is so important, KEGs is a great resource for schools to have available for their students to participate in. Te Whare Tapa Whā model Te Whare Tapa Whā is a wonderful model that many of you will know of and have perhaps used in your classroom as a way of explaining what hauora means. Each part of a person’s hauora - their emotional, mental,...
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September 30, 2021
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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September 30, 2021
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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August 31, 2021
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.
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- Shadehouse at Grovetown School
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- Grovetown Lagoon
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- The ‘hide’ is a great place for bird-watching.