Kia ora all
The East Taieri Enviro Action Group have been busy over the Winter months participating in the Annual Bird Watching Survey, where we had to identify and record sightings of birds in the school. We saw tui, ducks, starlings, blackbirds, wood pigeons, sparrows and more...
We have also worked hard to involve the whole school: individual classes, teachers and support staff, in our Vision Mapping for our school environment. If you haven't checked out our big new tree in the office, do so, because it has our Vision for 2011 and beyond, There were so many valuable ideas for developing and continuing to grow as a school on our enviro journey that it will be difficult to pick just a few a year! We certainly won't be short on ideas!
We have also come up with a new School Care Code which is displayed in the Owhiro Centre and also a copy for each class to display and refer to.
We will be starting our new Enviro Awards at Assembly soon. This will be a special certificate given out to classes or syndicates who are making a special effort to look after and develop their classroom environment, including the gardens and cloakroom areas. Some weeks we will give the award based on the class that has the most children walking or biking to and from school, showing their effort to reduce car usage.
This week is Keep Dunedin Beautiful Week and we will be once again cleaning up our adopted area of Cemetery Rd and the dog exercise park. The children love picking up litter and are always astounded at how much they find hiding in the bushes and gardens. It is a great way to teach them that the actions each individual takes can make a huge negative or positive effect on our environment. Perhaps you could adopt an area near where you live to take care of and keep litter free?
Monday 29 August 2011
Monday 11 April 2011
April
With senior swimming taking out 3 weeks of the term, it's been a bit disjointed on the enviro front.
In the first part of the term, enviro kids enjoyed harvesting plums, apples and pears from the orchard. Mrs Morrison brought in some plum jam and pikelets for all to enjoy. Children took home plum jam recipes to try out with their produce.
We have also spent time orienting ourselves with the edible gardens, orchard and school surrounds, so that we can think about ways of using these in our enviro group. We talked about our worm farm and compost and how we use these in the gardens.
Mrs King came in last week with special guest Mr Johnstone (Sarah & Cam's grand-dad). They judged the annual pumpkin contest as well as talking and discussing all things pumpkin!
With Autumn well established, our edible gardens have slowed down considerably and harvesting produce is nearly complete. Room 7 artists enjoyed picking and sketching carrots last week - but most of all enjoyed eating them afterwards :)
I was honoured to attend the Keep Dunedin Beautiful Awards late March, and received a Very Highly Commended for the school's beautiful and creative murals, as well as our adoption of a spot to keep litter free (Cemetery Rd).
Speaking of litter and waste, Rooms 1&2 enviro kids discussed our new DCC recycling system and made posters to show what goes in the yellow lidded bins and the blue buckets. We all agreed that reducing the packaging we buy and use is the best step, but recycling the packaging and litter is the next stage.
Over the next while, we will be learning more about Waste reduction within our school, community and beyond. We hope to educate and motivate our whole school community on best practice with regard to Waste Minimisation. Already, Mrs Horgan has taken the initiative to remove rubbish bins from the playground so that rubbish can be taken home, sorted and recycled. Each classroom has paper recycling bins which get emptied every day also. The enviro group will be monitoring these systems and reflecting very soon on progress, problems, and any modifications needed.
To finish off the term, Room 3&4 enviro kids will be heading along Cemetery Rd to have a clean up and enjoy the good weather while it lasts! Hopefully we'll get a couple of parents along this week to have a bit of a weed in our edible gardens too.
I was priviledged to attend the Enviroschools Reflection/Awards Process day last Tuesday. I enjoyed learning more about Enviroschools in Otago, and about where our school fits into the Awards Scheme as a Silver School. I came away with lots of exciting ideas and can't wait to share these with the rest of our school community.
Have a great rest over the Term 1 holidays, and don't forget Earth Day on 18 April. Go to www.gdrc.org/doyourbit/18_4-heritage.html or http://www.earthday.net/ for ideas on how you can participate.
In the first part of the term, enviro kids enjoyed harvesting plums, apples and pears from the orchard. Mrs Morrison brought in some plum jam and pikelets for all to enjoy. Children took home plum jam recipes to try out with their produce.
We have also spent time orienting ourselves with the edible gardens, orchard and school surrounds, so that we can think about ways of using these in our enviro group. We talked about our worm farm and compost and how we use these in the gardens.
Mrs King came in last week with special guest Mr Johnstone (Sarah & Cam's grand-dad). They judged the annual pumpkin contest as well as talking and discussing all things pumpkin!
With Autumn well established, our edible gardens have slowed down considerably and harvesting produce is nearly complete. Room 7 artists enjoyed picking and sketching carrots last week - but most of all enjoyed eating them afterwards :)
I was honoured to attend the Keep Dunedin Beautiful Awards late March, and received a Very Highly Commended for the school's beautiful and creative murals, as well as our adoption of a spot to keep litter free (Cemetery Rd).
Speaking of litter and waste, Rooms 1&2 enviro kids discussed our new DCC recycling system and made posters to show what goes in the yellow lidded bins and the blue buckets. We all agreed that reducing the packaging we buy and use is the best step, but recycling the packaging and litter is the next stage.
Over the next while, we will be learning more about Waste reduction within our school, community and beyond. We hope to educate and motivate our whole school community on best practice with regard to Waste Minimisation. Already, Mrs Horgan has taken the initiative to remove rubbish bins from the playground so that rubbish can be taken home, sorted and recycled. Each classroom has paper recycling bins which get emptied every day also. The enviro group will be monitoring these systems and reflecting very soon on progress, problems, and any modifications needed.
To finish off the term, Room 3&4 enviro kids will be heading along Cemetery Rd to have a clean up and enjoy the good weather while it lasts! Hopefully we'll get a couple of parents along this week to have a bit of a weed in our edible gardens too.
I was priviledged to attend the Enviroschools Reflection/Awards Process day last Tuesday. I enjoyed learning more about Enviroschools in Otago, and about where our school fits into the Awards Scheme as a Silver School. I came away with lots of exciting ideas and can't wait to share these with the rest of our school community.
Have a great rest over the Term 1 holidays, and don't forget Earth Day on 18 April. Go to www.gdrc.org/doyourbit/18_4-heritage.html or http://www.earthday.net/ for ideas on how you can participate.
Monday 28 February 2011
Upcoming Events of Interest
Composting Made Easy Workshops
Hands-on workshops run by Michelle Ritchie, Organic By Design. Workshops 12 March in Mosgiel; 26 March - venue to be comfirmed. Workshops run from 1 - 5pm, maximum 12 participants, $10.00 cost per person includes afternoon tea. Regular composting, Bokashi and worm farms included. For more information contact jneilson@dcc.govt.nz
Dunedin Seaweek Coastal Cleanup - 6 March
It’s time to get your group together and join the Coastal Cleanup! Pick up free bags and gloves from DCC Service Centre or DoC Office (77 Lower Stuart St), or use your own. Bring rubbish you’ve collected, from an estuary, river mouth, beach, rocky shore, or harbour, to Hancock Park car park (beside Pirates clubrooms) corner Victoria Rd and John Wilson Dr, for disposal into the Seaweek skip bin, between 12pm and 3pm. Giveaways courtesy of NZ Marine Studies Centre & Aquarium. Please let Liz or Renee know where you’d like to clean up so that we get a good spread around the coast. You can also take bags to the special Seaweek wheelie bins at: Waikouaiti – waterfront car park, Beach St, by 1pm, Northern beaches –Warrington Reserve (behind surf club) by 1pm, Southern Beaches – Brighton Beach car park (next to surf club) by 1pm
Living Legends – Rugby World Cup restoration
Living Legends brings together rugby heritage and conservation. The project is committed to planting 5000 trees at each site in 2011, and will make a 5 year investment to plant 10,000 trees at each site by 2015. It's a joint venture between Project Crimson and The Tindall Foundation - DOC and Meridian are major sponsors.
DOC is pleased to announce that Orokonui Scenic Reserve (Orokonui Estuary at Waitati) is the chosen site for this restoration project for the Otago/North Otago rugby region. You can read about the site and the project, and register your interest at http://www.livinglegends.co.nz/. We’ll need all the help we can get for the massive planting day scheduled for Sunday 25th September. A public meeting will be held in Waitati in March for those who want to be involved or want to know more – contact Liz Sherwood for details 03 477 0677 or lsherwood@doc.govt.nz.
Bokashi Composting System:
Bokashi buckets and Compost-Zing are available from DCC Customer Services Agencies:
15 litre bucket and one bag of Compost-Zing $36.00
10 litre bucket and one bag of Compost-Zing $33.00, Compost-Zing costs $6.00 per bag. http://www.blogger.com/www.bokashi.co.nz for more information on this highly effective, convenient method of disposing organic waste on-site.
Seaweek 2011 Feb 26 - March 6
A variety of events are being planned for Seaweek to celebrate this year's theme “Back to the future – the culture, history and traditions of the sea; Kia kaha tangata moana!”
- Saturday 26 Feb – Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust is holding a field day at Okia Reserve, Otago Peninsula (http://www.yellow-eyedpenguin.org.nz/)
- Sunday 27 Feb – Otago Museum opens their new Otago’s Ocean Exhibition with a family gala day (10am-4pm) (http://www.otagomuseum.org.nz/)
- Sunday 6 March – Get a group together and join the Coastal Cleanup! Contact Liz lsherwood@doc.govt.nz or Renee rgordon@dcc.govt.nz for details
- During Seaweek, DCC launches its popular Seaweek Poster Competition (contact Renee rgordon@dcc.govt.nz)
- Throughout Seaweek, you can take a special tour of Portobello Aquarium for half-price (http://www.marine.ac.nz/)
- Take your class on a virtual field trip through Leigh Marine Reserve (www.seaweek.org.nz)
Please get in touch if you’d like to organise your own Seaweek celebration. You’ll find info and resources on the website www.seaweek.org.nz, and event details will appear shortly.
You can follow Seaweek on Facebook (Seaweek-2011) and Twitter (@seaweek2011) or you can contact the Seaweek team at seaweek2011@gmail.com.
SEAWEEK POSTER COMPETITION
Design an A3, 2D, landscape poster that describes what Dunedin’s dune vegetation used to look like, the cultural importance and uses of some of these species, what has happened to these dune plants and why it is important to protect and restore these native plants for the future. Entries must be submitted with a completed entry form. Forms can be collected from the DCC offices or found online. For more information contact Dunedin City Council Parks Officer Renee Gordon on 477 4000 or for full details visit: http://www.blogger.com/www.dunedin.govt.nz
Run by the Dunedin City Council. In keeping with 2011’s Seaweek theme, Back to the Future, the poster competition theme is Dunedin’s Coastal Dune Vegetation – Past, Present and Future.
The competition opens on the 6th March, Children’s Day, and posters should be returned to the DCC Coastal Parks Officer by 15th April.
We will be looking for A3, 2D, landscape posters that describe
- What Dunedin’s dune vegetation used to look like
- The cultural importance/uses of some of these species
- What has happened to these dune plants
- Why is it important to protect and restore these native plants into the future
There are great prizes to be won both for the students and the schools. The winning poster will be displayed at one of the Dunedin City Council’s coastal dune reserves. The school with the greatest number of entries will receive native plants for the school grounds. An information package will be sent out to all Dunedin schools by 11 Feb. Contact the Coastal Parks Officer, Renee Gordon, rgordon@dcc.govt.nz or 03 474 3846 if you have any questions. We look forward to your entries.
Thursday 24 February 2011
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