Garden to Table APRIL update

Our Garden to Table sessions for Term 1 are well under way.  The students are doing so well and have remembered many kitchen and garden skills from last year.

A huge THANK YOU to Fresh Choice, Half Moon Bay who generously gave us $150 to buy some pantry items. We bought flour, sugar, butter and cleaning products. 

In the garden the students have cleared the garden beds and done heaps of planting; lettuce, beetroot, spring onions, cauliflower, carrots and herbs to mention a few. They have also been busy collecting the compost. 

In the kitchen they have made fritters, salads and feijoa muffins in recent weeks. 

Ask your teacher if you'd like any recipes or search on the blog in the recipe section! 

See if you can spot yourself in any of the pictures below. 

  

 

  

 

  

Moth Plant Pod

 Have you seen THIS naughty weed?

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This is moth plant pod.  It is an invasive pest weed.  It wraps around and strangles other plants. 

It has a poisonous milky substance inside (don't touch it! Or get it on your clothes!) .

Click HERE to find out more about this plant. 

Not to be confused with choko - a yummy vegetable ...  

the leaves look quite different too - moth plant pod has slightly curled leaves.  

 ✅ 

Our school is in a local competition to get rid of as many of the MOTH PLANT POD as possible. 

The school that collects the most pods WINS! 

Last year we came third. We have already made a fantastic start in the competition (which finishes early May) and collected nearly 2000! 

Here is Jade, one of our champion collectors! (Also in the 2021 team!) 

If you see any of the Moth Plant Pod weeds let us know - email Miss Long b.long@howickprimary.school.nz 

Garden to Table 2022

 Today saw the long-awaited return of Garden to Table! 

We were very impressed with the knowledge the Year 6 students has retained from last year about knife safety and use. 

In the kitchen they made bread sticks and veggies with dip. This proved very popular and there was no breadsticks left for Miss Long to try!  See below for the recipe. 

In the garden there was a huge amount of clearing and planting going on - what a transformation! What a shame I forgot before and after photos! 

 

 

HERBY BREADSTICKS

INGREDIENTS

• 1 loaf sliced bread

• 1 cup fresh herbs, such as thyme, rosemary, oregano, parsley

• 1 cup oil (olive oil/canola oil)

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

HOW TO MAKE

• Preheat the oven to 200 deg C

• Wash and dry herbs. Pick the leaves off any woody stems, put the stems in the compost.

• Chop the herbs finely (using a rocking motion, with one hand flat on the top blunt part of the knife)

• Combine the oil with the herbs in a small bowl, add the salt and mix together

• Taking 4 slices of bread, cut the crusts off, cut in half, and then cut in half in again.  Each piece of bread should make 8 pieces.  Repeat until all bread is cut in bread stick pieces

• Place the cut bread in a wide bowl or tray.

• Pour the herby oil over the cut bread pieces and gently mix with tongs until the bread pieces are evenly coated. (You may need to do this in batches)

• Spread on a baking tray in a single layer.

• Bake for 5 to 7 minutes until toasted and golden

• Serve with your favourite dip

The Howick Primary School Whale Tail!

Our school whale tail is now finished and looks 'fintastic'! Check it out for REAL at Uxbridge Centre next week! You can also see it on the 'virtual tour' HERE or get the app on your device and give it a vote. 

The Ocean: Beautiful but Vulnerable

The ocean is full of beautiful and amazing creatures. Our students chose to represent this in our design. However, sea life is suffering and dying from plastic pollution. People need to think about ways to help; by fishing sustainably, picking up rubbish and then putting it in the correct bins. 

In the future, scientists predict there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

One the back we included images of our school 'traffic light' bin system. This shows one way we can reduce waste going into landfill and or the ocean; by putting rubbish into the correct place. 

Other ways include: 

- Having a wrapper free lunch

- Buying in bulk to reduce the amount of plastic you have

- Picking up (3 pieces) of litter when you're out and about

Our school mini whale tail update!

 Our Y6 artists have been working hard to design and paint our whale tail. 

It is looking absolutely amazing! 

Look out for it on the trail next week and Uxbridge Arts Centre and be sure to get the app on your phone and give it a vote! 

Click HERE to learn more about the trail and get the app. 

Wrapper Free Winners!

 A great way to help the environment is to have a WRAPPER FREE lunch.

We are running a competition at school and giving spot prizes out each month to the 'zero heroes'. 

Congratulations to the winners for FEBRUARY: 

* CHLOE (Room 1)

* KAYLA (Room 4)

* KARSTEN (Room 9)

* BROOKLYN (Room 12)

You win a 'cookies in a jar' mix (so you can make yummy cookies for a wrapper free lunchbox treat! ) and a mystery prize!

Bryde's Whales & the Whale Tale Art Sculpture Trail

 Have you seen the huge whale tail sculptures around Auckland? 

Here are some beautiful ones that I have found. 

    

https://whaletales2022.org/

Not only is this an awesome art trail (you can download the app HERE and win prizes and discounts!) but also it's focused on educating us about the Bryde's whale. 

Did YOU know there were whales that live, year round, in the Hauraki Gulf?  

Whale population numbers are a good indicator of a healthy ocean... and, sadly, as this is declining, this suggests the ocean is not in it's best state. 

We had a wonderful presentation from PROJECT JONAH this week which give us some great tips on how we can help:

* Pick up 3 pieces of rubbish each time you're out

* Try and buy less plastic packaging 

* Have a wrapper-free lunch

Thanks to sponsorship from HARCOURTS our school is designing and painting our OWN mini whale tail.  Watch this space for how it is progressing! 

We have also set up our own whale tail trail around the school featuring a whale tail from each class! 

See how many you can find! 

Happy Holidays everyone!

 A huge congratulations to all the year six students as they complete their final year and set off for new adventures in 2022.

I will be particularly sad to farewell my amazing Year 6 ENVIRO KAITIAKI, you guys were just phenomenal! 2021 was a tricky year but we still accomplished a lot! 

* Helping to establish our new TRAFFIC LIGHT bins school-wide, 

* Stepping up to help with waste reduction at every event and opportunity, 

* Confidently presenting our waste minimisation progress at a cluster event, staff meeting and assemblies

* Collecting moth plant pods (and coming 3rd!) 

* Brainstorming wonderful ideas to help us become more sustainable ideas going forward. These ideas will most definitely be useful next year!  

A special CONGRATULATIONS to Jackson Barker who won the Enviro & Sustainability award for 2021. You are a fantastic ambassador for the environment and I can't wait to see what you go on to achieve. 

   

ALSO congratulations to Kaycey for collecting 200 points by completing 4 Enviro distance learning tasks. 

Here are some ideas for a 'Christmas with LESS TO LANDFILL...

Make your own tree or decorations

Make gifts for friends (Cookies in a jar mix) 

Reuse old cans for decorations

SAVE your cards and wrapping paper for crafts in 2022!

Kale Chips!

 Our bubble students have been trying new foods from the garden - kale chips this week! 

Whale Tails or Tales?

 We are super excited to be given the opportunity to design and paint a mini whale tail which will go on display in Auckland City over the summer and come back to our school for us to keep afterwards.

Whales are a sign of a healthy ocean so it is wonderful that we have BRYDE'S whales that live in the Hauraki Gulf.  However, their numbers are in decline so now's a good time to learn about these amazing creatures and how we can protect them. 

To find out more about this amazing enviro- art initiative and see which other schools are creating whale tails click below... 

Enviro Challenges - UPDATE!

It has been fantastic to see the enviro tasks you have completed as part of home learning, well done! 

Traffic Light Bins 

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This week a number of people completed the 'Traffic Light Bin' task and scored a fantastic 33 points on the quiz making them a recycle legend! 

Great job to everyone who completed this task; Aaditya, Tyler, Annabelle, Keira, Linya, Dylan, Arno, Mackenzie, Celine, Elisa, Alice - thanks for sharing it with me. 

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CONGRATULATIONS to ANNABELLE  Room 17, who has now got over 200 points and earned an enviro prize! This will be coming to you in week 7. 

What's growing in the garden?

 It's nearly summer time which means lots growing in the garden. 

At school we've got lots of kale, spinach, silverbeet, spring onions and herbs galore... made for a great pizza! Our bubble had heaps of fun making their own pizzas. Yum! 

  

Hmm... not too sure about our carrots though... 🧐 

I think they were planted too close together... not for next year! 

Aaditya shared some garden photos which are absolutely amazing! Gives me some great ideas for our school garden for Garden to Table 2022! 

I'd love to see what you've been planting - send me some pictures :)