Term 3: Adopt a Park visit

 This week our year 2 & 3 enviro students walked to William Green Domain to do some ACTION to help the environment. 

First we picked up some rubbish in teams of 3 or 4. 

We were shocked how much there was! We found over 25 plastic bottles in just 10 minutes. 

To reduce this we thought visitors to the park could...

"make sure they don't leave rubbish behind"

"take it with them and put it in a recycle bin"

" use reusable bottles so they don't need to keep on buying more plastic bottles. 

Next we had our lunch and explored the playground. 

After that Ranger Abi came and showed us how to remove the weeds round the natives we planted last term.  We learnt the name of some native trees and some interesting facts about them. 

Fact 1: The karo tree was planted from bird poo! 

Fact 2: Cabbage Trees (ti kouka) actually taste like cabbage in the middle! 

Fact 3: Harakeke (flax) has a gel that can be used to sooth sunburn. 

Our very favourite job was WEEDING! We pulled up LOTS of onion weed. All the weeds were stopping the young trees seeing the sunlight. 

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! 

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. 

Moth Plant Pod Celebrations!

At last the day had come; the day we find out where we had placed in the annual 

MOTH POD COMPETITION! 

For the last few months not only had our awesome team been out weekly collecting pods and roots but the whole school community. This year we had a record of 56 students and staff that brought pods and roots in for our school team! 

  

Moth pod is an invasive weed with a very long vine that wraps around trees and strangles them. The flower sap kills butterflies and bees before growing into a pod that contains hundreds more seeds. 

We were very keen to go and remove as many as we could find! 

Our goal: 10,000 pods and roots... Actual number: 15, 909 

nervously waiting to find out the result... 

The prize giving this year was at Bucklands Beach - a beautiful setting. 

We were very excited to finish SECOND school behind Howick College! 

We received some prize money and everyone in our team received an awesome pin badge. 

We also received certificates for being first at the halfway point and being the school team
that pulled out the most seedling plants. 

awesome pin badge