Adopt a Park visit Term 4 2026

On Tuesday our year 2 / 3 enviro students had their final visit of the year to WILLIAM GREEN DOMAIN. 

It was lovely sunny day and after lunch and a quick visit to the playground we set to work picking up rubbish! 

Sadly there always seems to be a lot - plastic bottles and food wrappers being the most common trash we found. 

Next we did some river monitoring with Abi the park ranger. 

We learnt about the 5 C's of the stream - coolness, clarity, creatures, clean and current.

We took some measurements: 

* Coolness - we used a thermometer to measure the temperature - it was about 20 degrees which is a good temperature for the creatures there to live in. 

* Clarity - we put the stream water in a special tube and used a tool to see how far down the tube we could see. 

* Creatures - we looked at water Abi had scooped up from the stream and used a magnifying glass and some cards to try and work out what was in there. Some of the creatures were so tiny it was hard to see them! 

We spotted some tiny river worms, snails and amphipods (side swimmers) as well as a mayfly nymph that tried to escape! 

We hoped to find more creatures and wondered if the next C - clean (how clean the stream is) was affecting the amount of creatures there. 

Next time we would like to repeat some of these measurements to get a picture of the streams health. 

Trip to Motuihe Island

 As part of our enviro initiatives some students were selected to attend a special enviro day on Motuihe Island. They were chosen to attend as a result of their outstanding commitment to the moth pod competition this year. 

Ava and her Mum shared about their experience on this special day. 

Ava had a wonderful time on the vintage sailboat and learning about Motuihe.

We went on the boat Ida. It is a racing sailboat that was built in 1896. Edward Prince of Wales rode in this boat in 1920. On the way back our boat suffered engine troubles and made for an interesting experience.

Ava learnt that there is a whole different language for what things are called on a boat. Left - port, right - starboard, ropes - lines, skipper is the person in charge of the vessel, the helm is where the boat is steered from.

Ava loved seeing the birds. We managed to see oyster catchers, dotterel, saddle backs, tui and California quails. We could hear a few others too.

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Pumpkin Carving

 This year we have, again, successfully grown some giant pumpkins. 

We saved them for a special occasion and Halloween seemed like the perfect time.  

Students that were interested in helping to carve them submitted an entry showcasing their ideas for designs. 

A group of 8 - 10 students then set to work.  

The finished products were displayed on Friday 31st October for the school and families to see. 

Ready, Steady GO! Active Travel

We are gearing up for better weather and getting active by walking, biking and scootering to school. 

We are now focusing on a new enviro topic; ACTIVE TRAVEL. 

Room 7 

Our first session kicked off by thinking about what we already know and the benefits of using active travel to school. 

We loved trying the GIANT puzzle! The students worked really well as a team to complete it. Room 1 have the fastest time yet, 5 minutes and 27 seconds! 

Room 1

Room 5

Room 2

Room 2 - new record - 4 minutes & 50 seconds! 

We are now running two WALKING SCHOOL BUSES during the week, a great way to reduce cars on roads, get active, walk with friends and spot some wildlife. Oh and WIN some great prizes! 

Get in touch if you would like to join us! b.long@howickprimary.school.nz

  

Planting in our native garden

This week we have been busy planting more natives at school. 

A huge THANK YOU to the sponsor

 Cargo Plus and the nursery Te Whangai Trust for giving us these trees. 

We planted:

* lemonwood

* koromiko

* ribbonwood

* rewarewa

* akeake

Our team of enviro students were excited to see how all the other native trees we planted during the last year were doing. 

We made sure we checked the best growing conditions and what space each tree would need.