Are you a teacher or educator who is keen to help your school and your students embrace a culture dedicated to climate action? Does the idea of sustainable behaviour patterns for life appeal to you? Or maybe you’d like to be the person who transformed the way your kura/school or kōhanga/early childhood centre thought about and dealt with waste? More information can be found on the website or Facebook page....
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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