Food Miles: How far did my snacks travel to reach me?

 As we have been watching the FIFA World Cup, we have been learning about food from all around the world. We tried some snacks from different countries too. 

To start with we looked at my lunch to see what country each item had come from.  

We then thought about how far our snacks travelled to reach us. 

We were surprised to  find out that the tuna in my sandwich was from Thailand. 

We found out that most of our fruit is grown in New Zealand.

  

   

We guessed that many of our snacks would come from Asia.  We found that: 

*   Seaweed snacks are from Indonesia

* Really Fruity sticks are from China

*  Mini Oreos are from Indonesia

* Shapes crackers are from Australia

SO WHAT? 

We talked about the further food travels the more fuel is used and more pollution is produced. 

We watched a video about greenhouse gases and talked about 'Food Miles' and how much carbon is produced by aeroplanes. 

WHAT NEXT?

We discussed the other benefits of buying food locally: 

💚 cheaper

💚 fresher 

💚 healthier 

Food Trip Around the World!

 Over the last few weeks we have loved watched the FIFA Soccer World Cup. 

Next month is another great international sports event -  the Commonwealth Games. 

To coincide with this the whole school has been learning about different countries around the world. 

We decided going on a FOOD TRIP around the WORLD would be a great match with this topic! 

During the first lesson we talked about our own cultures and heritage - what countries we had an association with and what foods were special to these countries. Throughout the whole school we covered many, many different countries and foods! 

These included:

• Sri Lanka - 'hoppers'

• South African - milk tart

• England - Yorkshire puddings 

• Samoa - sapasui

• Spain - chorizo sausage

Do you know what county these foods are from? 

We drew food on a plate to represent a typical meal. We tried to think about food that was linked to our own unique cultures. 

We then chose 4 different countries to research. We had to find out what their flag looked like and some food that was typical to that country. 

To finish the session we went on a 'eating trip around the world' and tried food that are famous in 4 different parts of the world. 

Can you tell which countries they were from? 

We tried pita bread, hummus, pretzels and persimmon.

Garden to Table with Room 3 & 6

 When life gives you lemons... make LEMONADE! ... and lemon muffins, lemon bliss balls and lemon cake!  Or just cut up and eat the lemons as they are! 

Room 3 and Room 6 have had a wonderful 5 weeks of Garden to Table making many different dishes using the lemons and the winter veggies from the garden. They have made: 

• Chop suey 

• herby breadsticks

• pumpkin curry 

• air fryer cauliflower 

• corn fritters 

• kumara scones

Growing and decorating gourds was also a new, interesting experience for the students. 

Our most popular recipes can be found on this blog under the 'Garden to Table & Recipes' tab.  

There's more recipes linked in the text too. Can't find the recipe you're after? Just ask Victoria or Miss Long for it. 

Moth Pod Celebration Outing to PARADICE

 Every year we enter the HOWICK LOCAL BOARD MOTH POD COMPETITION. 

Every year we have huge school-wide interest in this event and tally up a massive number of these invasive weeds. 

This year was no different; with nearly 60 different students and teachers helping collect up and bring in pods and many students helping to count them at lunchtimes. 

We loved the addition of finding a GOLDEN pod this year!

All our hard work paid off - not only did we have a huge, positive impact on the environment removing these invasive weeds but we came SECOND school! 

To celebrate we had a fun outing to PARADICE MINI GOLF with our top 4 most active 'podders'. 

PARADICE supports our enviro initiatives at school by regularly donating vouchers for laser tag, mini golf and ice skating. 

We had lots of fun trying out all the unusual parts of the mini golf course. We also enjoyed some treats to keep us going while we played! 

Get Active to Get to School!

 Every Wednesday we are encouraging & celebrating everyone who comes to school in an active way! 

That can be walking, biking or on your scooter. 

Live too far away?  

You could also get dropped off and join one of our WALKING SCHOOL BUSES! 

This Wednesday we had MAX the Pukeko come along in the morning to encourage everyone to get active getting to school!  

WHY Walk to School?

> Great exercise

> Social

>  Less cars = safer roads

> Less cars = better for the environment & less car fumes 

AND you can WIN prizes in the Wednesday Challenge too! 

We were very excited to see so many students walking to school on Wednesday. 

We have had a 34% increase in walking school bus journeys this term compared to Term 1! 

We are about to start a second walking school bus from Angelo Avenue - near Pakuranga Highway end. 

If you are interested please get in touch: b.long@howickprimary.school.nz