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

Year 2/3 Adopt a Park

On Tuesday afternoon, a group of very enthusiastic Year 2 and 3 'Enviro students' visited William Green Domain for a planting afternoon.

We began with a quick tour of the park, identifying native trees and collecting rubbish.

Despite the changeable weather, which shifted from rain showers to sunshine, we successfully planted over 100 native trees and plants without getting too wet!

Our planting coordinators, Anna and Levi, demonstrated how to dig proper square holes for planting—we even discovered plenty of worms along the way!

With the support of our fantastic parent helpers, the students worked incredibly hard. We planted a variety of native grasses, cabbage trees, and flaxes, ensuring they were firmly in the ground so the pūkeko couldn't pull them out.

Native Tree Planting with "Trees For Survival"

     On Wednesday a group of enthusiastic year 5 / 6 enviro students set off to plant over 800 native trees & plants on a farm in Hunua. 

For the last 9 months we have been watering and nurturing these plants ready for this day. 

We watched a planting video beforehand and some of us had been last year so we knew what to expect. 

Kirsten, from Trees for Survival, did a great job of starting us off planting and making sure the pukeko weren't going to pull the seedlings out! 

It was a sunny but slightly chilly day when we started planting. But with the help of our fabulous parent helpers and even the bus driver we soon had them firmly planted in the ground. 

Together we planted 835 natives! 

We planted: manuka, karamu, mahoe, ti kouka, harakeke and 2 different types of sedge grass. 

Afterwards we enjoyed relaxing on the lawn, playing in the sunshine and collecting 

grapefruit to take back with us. 

Thank you to Maxine and Hamish, the farm owners, for a delicious lunch and for showing us your beautiful horses.