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Enviroschools stories

Enviroschools Marlborough / Enviroschools stories (Page 11)
Pine Valley Stream
November 28, 2017
Enviroschools stories

So many students studying streams!

Students from Riverlands School and Witherlea School have been making the most of the summery weather, by getting out of the classroom and into the river. Year 6 students from Riverlands School investigated the health of the Taylor River upstream of the High Street bridge.  Their measurements of water temperature, clarity, and flow, and their samples of the community of insects and other creepy-crawlies living there, suggested that the river was 'moderately healthy'.  They were excited to find upland bullies and some little trout living amongst the aquatic plants, and they enjoyed watching caddisfly larvae poking their heads and legs out of their stony cases.

Witherlea students in Year 4 are on...

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by Enviroschools Marlborough
Chemical reactions at Bohally
November 21, 2017
Enviroschools stories

Chemical Reactions at Bohally Intermediate School

A number of Bohally students used their ‘chemical reactions’ topic in Term 3 to explore sustainability issues. They connected their developing knowledge of chemical compounds and how they interact, with global and local issues in the real world. Students worked on a range of topics that included the chemicals used in salmon farming, the hidden dangers of cosmetics, what microbeads are made of, oil pollution, nuclear energy, and recycling.  They were encouraged to apply their new knowledge to think about solutions that might help with these issues.

...

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by Enviroschools Marlborough
November 16, 2017
Enviroschools stories

Action projects at Canvastown School

Students have been busy taking ACTION at Canvastown School this year.  Here are two great descriptive stories written by the students about two student-led construction projects.  It is so fantastic to be able to share writing that students have done about their projects - please send us yours too! A brand new bug hotel What we did:We rebuilt the Bug Hotel Why we did it:We rebuilt the Bug Hotel because it was old and it was rotting. How we broke it apart: Shianne used her muscles, a hammer and a crowbar to break it. Charlie helped as well.They tore it apart wood from wood. We also dug up pittosporum tree saplings, to use for our next project. (The Living Hut). Problems we encountered:The...

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by Enviroschools Marlborough
Fantastic farmers
October 31, 2017
Enviroschools stories

Rai Valley’s Fantastic Farmers

The Year 13 Enviro Class at Rai Valley Area School made this poster (and scones!) to highlight the wonderful work that local farmers are doing to improve water quality in the area. The class has been studying water quality in the local rivers throughout the year.  They have spoken to scientists, joined them to test water and river health, and examined data on water quality for themselves.  They have been highly impressed by many of the awesome things that farmers are doing to improve the health of Rai Valley's rivers, such as fencing off waterways, building bridges or creating underpasses for stock to cross rivers, growing plants for riparian and wetland plantings, and building barns...

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by Enviroschools Marlborough
riverlands cloches
September 5, 2017
Enviroschools stories

Kids’ Edible Gardens Update

Riverlands School Children at Riverlands School began last term’s ‘Edible Gardens’ sessions by introducing both themselves and their garden to Mrs A: their new gardening facilitator!  While walking around the garden and showing Mrs A the vegetables growing in it, they also checked for seeds that could be saved for future plantings.  They found some bean seeds inside their dried-out pods.  Together they picked them, and put them into a bag to store for planting out in the spring. Having not been used for a number of weeks, the garden needed tidying.  While the students were weeding, they discussed the topic of composting, and learnt that it was all about putting goodness back into the...

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by Enviroschools Marlborough
Tuamarina School Pollard Park
September 4, 2017
Enviroschools stories

Tua Marina School visit Pollard Park

Last week, the children in Room 4 at Tua Marina School spent a fabulous sunny day visiting Pollard Park in Blenheim. The park curator, Brad, met the group, and showed them the huge flower beds.  Next they delved into the potager garden, where they learnt about growing fruit trees, herbs, and vegetables, and the importance of growing flowering herbs to attract bees into the garden.  The students were very interested to learn how a large garden and park is cared for, and they also had the opportunity to discover some of the history of the park.  After lunch, the children chose a plant and made their own botanical drawings, successfully using their artistic and observational skills to create informative and...

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by Enviroschools Marlborough
Fairhall School Kids Edible Gardens
August 30, 2017
Enviroschools stories

Kids’ Edible Gardens Update

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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by Enviroschools Marlborough
Gardening at Blenheim School
August 18, 2017
Enviroschools stories

Kids’ Edible Gardens update

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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by Enviroschools Marlborough
Bottle compost at Witherlea School
August 10, 2017
Enviroschools stories

Kids’ Edible Gardens update

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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by Enviroschools Marlborough
Grovetown School planting
August 1, 2017
Enviroschools stories

Stream-side planting at Grovetown School

Hard-working students, teachers and whānau at Grovetown School came together on the last day of Term 2 to plant nearly 600 native shrubs and trees alongside the school creek. Most of the plants were donated by Champion Freight, and some were grown at school.

The planting project followed a ‘School Creek Day’, when the whole school spent time learning about the creek, and thinking about questions like: ‘Where does the water in our creek come from?’ 'What would we have seen here if we stood here 400 years ago?’ ‘How healthy is the land beside the creek?’ ‘Where does the creek flow to’, and ‘What creatures live in and around our creek?’ Once they get...

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by Enviroschools Marlborough