Outdoor Classroom Day is a global movement to make time outdoors part of every child’s day. On two days of action each year, teachers take children outdoors to play and learn. All year round, the Outdoor Classroom Day community campaigns for more time outdoors every day....
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The students at Richmond View School became Botanists this term as they explored the classification of native plants on the Taylor Awa. People have always given names to things that they see, including plants and animals. So, of course most of us turn to names as the first form of classification. It was a scientist, Linnaeus, that first developed a hierarchal naming structure (of 7 parts no less). This conveyed information about what a living thing was and also its closest relatives. Earlier this term, if you happened to be walking your dog down the Taylor Awa, you may have come across Richmond View School students studying the Tui to Town plantings. Their inquiry for...
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The tamariki at Picton Kindergarten have been learning all about Wētā. This evolved through their exploration of te ngahere and how to care for the native flora and fauna through pest control. It began when one of the tamariki discovered a wētā family in her woodshed. She recognised it as one of our native insects and sent in photos to Kindergarten for everyone to see. Jo, then bought in a real live wētā from her home and they made a habitat for it. This lead to learning about what they like to eat, where they live, how many eggs they lay as well as what predators endanger them. When the tamariki learnt that cats, dogs and hedgehogs endanger wētā, they...
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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 view on our Padlet...
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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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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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It was hard to miss the enormous hot air balloon bobbing up and down above Redwoodtown School last month. The school was visited by the Flying High Charitable Trust, which aims to provide opportunities to inspire and guide young people towards a more sustainable future through its education programme and use of an innovative and positive approach. The hot air balloon created a real buzz and gave children a bird's eye view of their school and community, along with a broader perspective on some everyday problems. Students explored how they could use this different perspective to come up with innovative and practical solutions to problems such as our use of non-renewable energy and single-use plastics. What...
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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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Blenheim students have been loving their river lately: learning about it, connecting with its natural spaces and raising awareness about how we can all take care of it. Whether you visit it as a way to get safely from A to B, to exercise your dog, to enjoy the sunshine during your lunch break or to teach your child to ride their bike: the Taylor River is a much-used and enjoyed part of Blenheim. As well as being a popular spot for recreation, the river is valued for its important role in flood protection, serving as a conduit for stormwater during rainfall events. It is home to a variety of native and introduced freshwater...
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Term 1 has seen plenty of students getting out of the classroom and into a nearby river or stream to learn about healthy waterways. Students from the Home School Co-operative Learners group investigated Pukatea Stream as part of a day out at White’s Bay. They were impressed with the amount of life in the stream, especially the large banded kōkopu found in a shady pool. They got to see the kōkopu’s jumping ability first hand as it leapt from the container and wriggled back to its watery home. Tamariki were concerned that they didn't find any kōura - the group has found lots of them in this stream in the past. Maybe they were...
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