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living landscapes Tag

Enviroschools Marlborough / Posts tagged "living landscapes" (Page 6)
NZ Biodiversity strategy

Students have their say on NZ’s biodiversity plan

St Mary's Envirogroup students submit on NZ's biodiversity strategy. Can you imagine what our world would look like if there was only one type of tree or bird or one type of apple to eat? The children in St Mary’s Envirogroup didn’t want to imagine that type of environment.  Healthy biodiversity is important to them.  They know that Aotearoa New Zealand’s biodiversity is amazing! About 90 % of our insects, 80 % of trees, ferns and flowering plants, 25 % of bird species, all 60 reptiles, 4 frogs and 2 bats are found nowhere else on earth. The current Government strategy on biodiversity is 20 years old and expires in 2020.  The Department of Conservation is putting...

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Sustainable Action Ideas

Sustainable Action Ideas | Term 3 2019

Looking for some ideas or inspiration for teaching in Term 3?  Take a look at our list of ideas - there's something for everyone! Tracking tunnels & traps: DOC have confirmed 2019 as the biggest mast event in 40 years.  The rats, mice and mustelids are fat and breeding prolifically.  It’s the perfect time to track what is living in or around your school, set up a trapline, or visit a local trapping programme. Take a look at our ‘Animal Pests’ resources here, and look at this workshop that DOC is running later this term for beginner trappers. In the garden: it’s a good term for learning about the soil and worms!  Visit...

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BioBlitz Renwick School

Renwick students lead BioBlitz

Students in Renwick School's 'Green Ferns' enviro-group organised and ran a BioBlitz this term, to find and identify many of the different kinds of living things at their school. The whole school was involved in the BioBlitz, with students ranging from new entrants through to Year 8s scouring the school grounds for living things to study.  The edible garden and school stream area were a focus, after the Green Ferns identified them as potential biodiversity hot spots. The Green Ferns, supported by Ms Tullet, did lots of mahi to prepare for the day.  They planned how the day would run, with different classes taking part at different times of the day and in different parts of the...

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Tamariki share their love of monarchs

Tamariki share love of monarch butterflies

In April a group of tamariki and kaiako from Picton Kindergarten visited the Kuini Harata Kaitiaki (Queen Charlotte College Kaitaiki team) to deliver a presentation about monarch butterflies. The tamariki were very knowledgeable and explained the life cycle of monarch butterflies, their food source, how to protect them, and what predators they are vulnerable to. The QCC Kaitaki students also learnt about the important work happening with the Monarch Butterfly tagging programme, so we all can find out where our Marlborough Monarchs go to 'overwinter'. Picton Kindergarten kindly gifted the kaitiaki group some swan plant seeds and their very own caterpillar who they have named 'Jo'.  Jo is doing very nicely, eating lots and getting big and fat.  The QCC...

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Caretakers trip to Kaipupu Point

Caretakers get together

This year the team from Waikawa Bay School hosted the annual caretakers get together - with a surprise! The school had arranged for the caretakers to travel by boat to see the Kaipupu Point trapping programme.  Rachel Russell from Kaipupu Wildlife Sanctuary gave a bit of background about the project, and then the caretakers walked up the hill to see a variety of traps and the spectacular view.  Waikawa Bay School is part of the Picton Dawn Chorus predator trapping programme, and wanted to show other schools why they were involved in predator trapping. We returned to the school for a delicious lunch and then the students proudly showed off their trap line that runs...

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Bohally Marine Team

Bohally Students Step Up

A confident group of Bohally students helped to run a workshop for teachers at Momorangi Bay during Conservation Week. With support from their teacher Phill Johnson, as well as MDC, DOC, and Richard de Hamel (University of Otago's Marine Studies Centre), this group trained and then ran a number of hands-on science and nature activities at the workshop.  Their job was to help the teachers explore and experience DOC's education kits, for use in forest, stream, and seashore settings.  These kits are available for schools that are camping or day-tripping in this stunning spot. The weather did not co-operate on the day of the workshop, with everyone having to don raincoats to get out and experience the stream, forest and seashore activities...

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MGC and NCG enviro visit

MGC go exploring!

A bus load of Marlborough Girls' College students and their supporting teachers recently travelled over the hill to be hosted by the Nelson College for Girls Enviro Team. Keen environmental leaders from MGC were looking for some inspiration for next steps for their school, and they found it with their enthusiastic counterparts at NCG. The NCG enviro team shared some of their projects including a recycling station, a very cool upcycled clothing shop that opens a couple of times a term, and their school beehives. They also shared their Enviroschools journey to become Silver which included running movie evenings with environmental films, hosting interesting visiting speakers and inviting the public to attend, and running an energy...

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Riverlands School Mural

Vote NOW to support Riverlands School!

Over the holidays, Riverlands School were lucky enough to receive the exciting news that they are one of three primary school finalists in the 'Resene Worthy Wall Campaign' for 2018. The mural art entry was put together by one of the school's amazing parents, Janelle Whippy, who is a talented artist. Janelle worked in conjunction with the school and the school's Enviro Group to develop a plan of suitable places for a mural and some key messages that they wanted to include. There were some amazing entries received this year by the organisers, so to make it through as a finalist has been a huge achievement. The winner of the competition is the school that gets the...

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New garden at Rapaura School

Edible Gardens Update | Rapaura School

Edible gardens facilitator, Angela Wentworth, updates us on what was going on in the Rapaura School garden last term. 'Parts of the plant' salad To start the term, the children from Jellyman Room went on a discovery walk through the garden to look at what was growing; tasting pak choi flowers and picking celery and lettuce for the 'parts of the plant' salad they were going to make that afternoon. Before heading to the kitchen, they sowed some zucchini, pumpkin and corn, learning that growing your vegetables from seed is a lot cheaper than buying vegetables from the supermarket.  Each of the ingredients of the salad came from a different part of a plant: the leaves of...

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Cooking cauliflower rice

Edible gardens update | Blenheim School

Tracy, Edible Gardens Facilitator at Blenheim School, updates us on a busy Term 4 in the garden. Our whenua (soil) needs just as much care as the plants we grow.  The children started their term discussing soil. With pH testers in hand, they tested and compared the soils in each of their garden beds.  They discovered different plants like different soil types and poor soils can be improved by adding organic matter or compost.  Swapping testers for spades and trowels, the children prepared a bed for their summer corn crop, and spread mulch on some of garden beds in preparation for the judging of the Garden Marlborough Best School Garden Awards.  To show the judges how...

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