Initially organised for the beginning of the year to kick start our focus on Sustainable Communities, it was great to finally see this workshop take place in term 4. Tamanuitera shone, though Tawhirimatea made his presence known, and we were able to start in the Kids Edible Gardens of Blenheim School talking about some of the companion plants we could see growing and nibbling on the new leaves of the prolific broad beans.
Identify
Getting down to the nitty gritty we identified what a Sustainable Community could look like. We found that in building a Sustainable Community we are also building our hauora as we connect with nature and foster relationships with people around us.
Explore
Kids...
Read More Wetland Restoration the theme for 2023 highlights the urgent need to prioritize wetland restoration.
Nearly 90% of the world’s wetlands have been degraded since the 1700s, and we are losing wetlands three times faster than forests. Yet, wetlands are critically important ecosystems that contribute to biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, freshwater availability, world economies and more. It is urgent that we raise national and global awareness about wetlands in order to reverse their rapid loss and encourage actions to conserve and restore them. World Wetlands Day is the ideal time to increase people’s understanding of these critically important ecosystems. https://www.worldwetlandsday.org/about https://www.doc.govt.nz/news/events/national-events/world-wetlands-day/ https://www.wetlandtrust.org.nz/what-we-do/world-wetlands-day/...
Read More 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....
Read More When we started out on our Enviroschool journey in 2013, it started out with wanting tamariki | children and whānau | families to have a sense of belonging here at Renwick Kindergarten. We never envisioned what we would learn, create and change along the way. Our decision to weave the Enviroschools guiding principles into the fabric of our Kindergarten saw us gain Bronze in June 2014; Silver in December 2016 and GreenGold in February 2019.
Bringing in water to water the trees Identifying the current situation:
As part of our mission towards Silver, our practice and thinking evolved. From promoting sustainability within our own Kindergarten, our eyes looked towards the horizon to...
Read More Fairhall School's native garden entrance has a makeover
Fairhall School has a meandering native garden created to grow beside a stream space that only has water in it for part of the year. It has a bridge over this space and is an area the school highly values. Over the years it has been added to and this time it was the native garden entrance that got a makeover. One of the senior classes and their teacher has been busy doing some planning and work to the entrance. They recently overhauled the Marlborough Rock Daisy garden at the entrance to the garden/ngahere. As part of this space they have created a bark mountain to...
Read More What do you get when you cross an elephant with a potato? MASHED POTATO!
Term 3 is a popular time of year in the Kids Edible Gardens. For most children participating, they are chitting (sprouting) potatoes, eagerly waiting to plant them into buckets for class potato growing competitions or planting into their garden beds. There is a lot of discussion as to how they will cook them: mashed with butter and cheese, roasted with summer herbs, added to boiled eggs as a salad or simply boiled with mint and eaten with lots of dipping butter! The most excitement, however, is digging them up before leaving school for their long summer holiday. There is, of course, much...
Read More Paper and cardboard recycling in Marlborough schools and kindergartens is going strong, and is benefitting our region in a number of ways.
Through the Paper4Trees programme, 190 new native trees were earned in the 2016/2017 year, due to the recycling of 38 tonnes of paper and cardboard! These recycling efforts also saved over 300 m³ of landfill space, and prevented over 200 tonnes of CO2 from being produced in landfill. Since Marlborough joined in 2009, more than 1,300 trees have been earnt, through over 300 tonnes of paper and cardboard recycling. Ka mau te wehi, Marlborough! Marlborough District Council is continuing its support of this excellent programme this year, so make sure that your school or early childhood...
Read More 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...
Read More 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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