August 2011

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?