Native Nurturing

The "All Around Us"  Eco Action group went on a trip to Victoria Park. We went to a CCC programme called Native Nurturing. They learned about the pests that can be found in the hills and also learned to recognise pests' foot prints and scat ( poo ). We found out the impact these pests are having on our native plants and animals and what is being done to help control these pests. Here are some photos taken by parents on the trip. Thank you again to all the parents who were able to help on this trip.

How Banks Peninsular would have looked 20,000 years ago

Changes through the years in the amount of native bush found in Banks Peninsula

This activity had us studying pests' foot prints and their scat

Sadly feral cats like this very stuffed one,  can cause devastation to the native birds in the area.

 

What little pest walked through here?

Bite into the wax please!!!

Ensuring plants are protected from pests and have a chance to grow and not get eaten by pests

Looking across into a gully where there has been a lot of native trees planted

Beeee ready!!

The hive is in place, the beekeeping suits are ready and the bees are coming our way next Tuesday!

We have had an eventful Term 4 in the Plight of the bees. We are proud owners of three species of bees, leaf-cutters, bumblebees and soon to be honey bees.

The wonderful Rachel kindly spent her holidays sewing our fantastic camouflage beekeeping suits and designing our cool veiled hats. Thank you so much Rachel, we love them!!

Mr Winter spent the morning with us today, talking about the parts of the hive and how we will look after the hive once the bees arrive. We are so lucky to have him, he is such a bee expert!
He will be joining us again next week to deliver the nuc of honey bees to their new home.

Mr Ivan Lawson, from the Christchurch South Lions Club, also joined us this morning. The Lions Club are sponsoring the Plight of the bees group and we are so thankful for their donation and involvement in our project.

We only have one more Eco Action session for 2017 so next week we will be focusing on housing our bees in their new hive (with Mr Winter's help) and then we will end our session with a shared morning tea- hopefully some honey inspired treats.

 

Be significant!

"Us kids may only be 25% of the world's population, but we are 100% of the future."

This Ted talk made us realise that many of us want to be significant. Check this out with your families.

We are in business!

Yesterday our S'Mart Worms team received their first order for a portable worm farm. They were super excited and so they should be!!

All the groups have learnt so much - creating websites, communicating with adults and businesses via email, designing, making, advertising etc.

We can all take credit for one of our groups getting through to the sharp end of product sales.

Congratulations!!

Power Off!

Our home and school campaigns have kicked off this week- week 8 of Term 3.

The students have been super busy creating things to get ready.

This week Jack, Liam and Minah presented their learning to the BOT on Thursday night.  Check out our page to read more.

Check out our newly designed and created t-shirts with our fancy logo and slogan.

What do you think of our design?  Thanks Dillon and Lewis.  Check out our energy page for more.

Saturday 15 September had an amazing group of eight students turn up at New World (thank you New World!)  to get the word out about saving energy at home.  So many lovely people stopped and chatted with us, that we ran out of leaflets! Minah and George's poster caught people's eye as the came to the supermarket.  Miss Rait was very impressed with their confidence and manners.  If you have found your way here from our leaflet we'd love you to leave a comment below. 

Visit from Emma and Edward

Yesterday we were privileged to have a visit from Emma and little Edward. He is the cutest little baby and so good. He is growing steadily and each time I see him I can see a difference in him. It was lovely to catch up with Emma. She had come in to see the beehive delivered to the school as she and Miss Perry have put a lot of hard work into getting it.

THE HIVE HAS ARRIVED!!

4th October 

The Plight of the Bees would like to announce the arrival of our hive!

At Monday’s syndicate assembly we were lucky enough to have Adrienne and Brian from Beeline, Dunedin come along to deliver our hive. They shared a lot of interesting and helpful facts about how we can care for our bees. They generously donated some vital beekeeping equipment including the Bee Bible, a smoker, a scraper and a bee brush.

The Plight of the Bees are currently organising the arrival of our nuc of bees, and once they are installed in their new home we should be all up and running. We will keep you updated...

S'Mart Tank Updates

Cool Cups

• This group is working with Ben Reid to persuade cafes to use reusable cups rather than adding to landfill.
• Their website is live.
• They have had a meeting with the manager of Fava Cafe to get them onside with their project.

Scooter Mudguard

• This group is working with Dave Green to create a scooter mudguard.
• This group have a live website.
• They are creating possible designs to go on the mudguards that people can select from.
• They are contacting sticker companies to work alongside them.
• Basic Bikes are sending a representative in this Friday to talk to the team about the possibilities of working with them.

Waste Warriors

• This group is working with Catherine Fink to work on recycling soft plastic at St Martins School.
• They have a live website.
• They have communicated with St Martins New World to work alongside them to contribute to their soft plastics recycling project.
• They are looking to use the current school rubbish bins as soft plastic recycling bins from next term.
• They will be running a competition to design a logo for the soft plastic bins.

My Board Mate

• They are working alongside Darrin Gordon to create a magnetic board mate for teachers.
• They have a great prototype.
• Their website is live.
• Last Friday they visited Darrin's work and learned about shipping, costings, spreadsheets etc.
• They have surveyed teachers on their interest in purchasing this product.

Real Paper

• This group is working with Anne Lardner to create recycled paper.
• They will be running their first session with children in Room 2 this Friday.
• They have a live website.
• They have experimented with making paper from pulp.
• They are looking at selling packs of paper or cards, as well as running small group lessons.

Smart Worms

• This group is working with Alison Low to create mini, portable worm farms.
• Last week they visited Mitre 10 Mega and were gifted some materials.
• They have a live website.
• Today they have made their first group worm farm.
• They are receiving worms and soil from our Garden to Table team.
• This group is nearly ready to advertise in our school newsletter and begin selling their awesome product!

TIPS

Recycling Tips 

• Wash out all containers before putting them in the yellow recycling bin

• No food scraps in the recycling bin or the rubbish bin only the organic bin

• Only clean cardboard and paper in the yellow recycling bin. For example if you have a greasy pizza box it goes in the green bin 

• Don't buy the milk bottles that are white and not see through as it confuses the sorting machines at a recycling factory 

• Don't put your recycling in bags keep it loose

• When you are at the supermarket take your own reusable bags 

• Soft plastics go in the New World bin

• Minimise waste by buying in bulk

• Buy fresh fruit not canned or in plastic 

• Instead of glad wrap, use ziplock bags which can be used again, and reusable containers

• All lids and caps go in the red rubbish bin including ice cream lids

Port Hills Ramble

On Tuesday 22nd August the "Local Environment" Eco Action group got to enjoy our wonderful Port Hills.

Starting with a ride up on the gondola and a beautiful panoramic view of Christchurch, we looked at the many wall displays in the building.  Next a trip through the Time Tunnel, before leaving for our walk.
The walk took us along the Crater rim walkway until we got to the pioneer women's memorial where we stopped for a snack and drink.
We then walked along the summit road until we came to the top of Rapaki Track.
After another food and drink break we headed down the track and back to school.

At the Time Tunnel

Top View

At the Pioneer Women's War memorial

Walking along the Summit Road we had to keep an eye out for cyclists also enjoying the day

Thank you to all the parents who were able to help us on this trip.

Bokashi Buckets!

We are going to trial Bokashi buckets in Navigators 3. It is a way of composting but it doesn't stink so we will keep it in the classroom. If it's successful we will use it all around the school. We got given some Bokashi mix and buckets. Here is a video explaining what they are.



PRESS HERE

Websites Live!

Check out our websites.

Scooter Mudguards

Smart Worms

Waste Warriors

Recycling tip of the week

The group working on getting Bokashi Buckets into our school to compost food scraps, went to Kaiapoi North School to check out how the system works there. Kaiapoi North have been using the Bokashi Buckets for a long time. The children came back with plenty of enthusiasm and several buckets. There will be a trial of this system in Room 20/21 for the rest of the term. Huge thanks to Zaneta and Michelle for providing transport and parent help. We couldn't do without you.

 Meeting with the eco person from the Waimakariri area.

 The caretaker showing the larger compost bins the scraps get put into.

 Taiao with her treasure pile of buckets

 They even met the school cat.

A meeting to find out about the bokashi system.

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Have you seen the little triangles made out of arrows surrounding the numbers from 1 - 7 on plastic?

They tell you what type 

The Recycling Factory in Wellington

of plastic it is! - Did you know until now, we had to send our plastic overseas to be recycled, but now... New Zealand has a Recycling Factory all of its own! It is located in Wellington.