Thinking Critically About "Green" Events - Paris 2024

 

Year Five thought critically today about how green the greenest Olympics can really be.  Firstly we worked in groups to unscramble a tricky definition of sustainability:

Sustainability is about

meeting the needs of

current generations without

compromising the needs of

future generations, while

ensuring a balance between

economic growth, environmental

care and social well-being.

In our groups we brainstormed the possible environmental impacts of the Olympics.  These included waste, transport emissions, food waste, space for new buildings, smoke from fireworks.

Gracie even thought of this: "Mining for gold, silver and bronze for the medals is bad for the environment".

We researched in groups how Paris 2024 is mitigating these impacts and recorded in our own words. It's great to hear the River Seine has been cleaned up so competitors can swim in it.

Lastly, we critically analysed the strategies and ranked them in order of effectiveness.

We can't wait to watch the Olympics!

Next time we'll be getting back to looking at how we can travel to and from school sustainably. 

Sustainability at Paris 2024 Olympics

 We are so excited about the Olympics in Paris 2024, but are they sustainable? We began by discussing what we already knew about the Olympics:

Aavin "The Olympics are happening in France".

Milana "The Olympics are all sorts of sports competitions."

We also recapped what sustainability means:

Alonso "Sutainability means good quality"

Karuna "Sustainability means resusing things and not just throwing them away".

Luke "Keeping the world clean and taking care of it"

Lakyn "Looking after the environment" 

We discovered all the ways the Paris Olympics has said they are being more sustainable like planting a forest in Africa, using plastic bottles to make seats and water cooling instead of air conditioning. 

Lastly, we thought about what we could invent to make the 2028 Olympics even more sutainable: Camelia created a carbon dioxide sucking machine.  Annabelle thought of a airplane made of plastic bottles that is wind powered.  Coby suggested more electric helicopers.

What are you looking forward to watching at the Olympics? 

Next time we'll start our new topic looking at native birds.

Our Annual Garden Bird Survey 2024

 Today Year Four conducted our annual garden bird survey.  We'll share the results with Landcare as part of their citiizen science project.  Did you know bird numbers are an indicator of the health of our environment?  Check out our comparitive results here

You can take part at home too:

The survey introduces the concept and practice of carrying out simple surveys, which are important for scientific inquiry and a basic tool of conservation (you can’t look after wildlife properly unless you know what’s there and how much of it there is)

We observed 15 different species of bird at Sunnyhills today and the numbers were steady compared to last year, which is great news. Our planting and pest trapping may be having a positive effect.

Our Year Three's are starting an inqiry into our native birds next term. We can use this data to help come up with some actions to encourage more manu at our kura.

Hangi - Hot Compost - Mara Kai - Kumara - Hangi - Our circular economy

 Today Room 3 had the gross job of composting all the waste from our school Matariki Hangi.  As we opened the hot composters, we noticed steam rising.  All the fungis, bacteria and invertebrates generate heat that helps the waste breakdown even faster. First we needed to empty some of the compost that was ready into the mara kai.  

Next, we layered up the vegetable peelings and chicken drumstick bones with mulch in the hot composters.  Luckily our hot composters can take ALL organic waste, as they are are completely sealed from pests and get up to temperatures as high as 70 degrees.

It was fairly stinky and hard work, but all this waste will make AMAZING compost for growing more kumara in Koanga for our 2025 Matariki hangis.  It's a circular economy- Hangi - Hot Compost - Mara Kai - Kumara - Hangi 

Mrs Daniel kept four big kumara from the last harvest.  She'll use these to grow new tipu for our next planting.

A massive thank you to Room 3 for your hard mahi.

"Ready Steady Go!" with Year Five Continued

Today Year Five focussed on how active travel is good for our bodies and the environment.  We completed our second giant puzzle.  Just for fun we timed how quickly each class completed it:

Room 2 : 8min30sec

Room 3: 5min

Room 1: 6min42sec

We flagged the puzzle with green environmental facts and yellow health facts.

Next we used Google Maps to work out the distance from home to school and planned safe travel routes. 

Next time we're going to learn about how active travel is good for our hearts. 

2024 Trees for Survival Planting Day - 880 planted!

 Sunnyhills Eco Leaders Plant 880 Trees for Survival

Today, thirty keen Sunnyhills School Eco Leaders and parent volunteers, planted 880 native trees. Their work will protect waterways and mitigate climate change, as part of the Trees for Survival programme, which empowers children to nurture and grow natives and be active in environmental restoration. This is Sunnyhills’ sixth year with the program. Annabelle, a Year Six student said it was great to be  outside planting trees and getting muddy. Christine Daniel, Education for Sustainability Teacher said the planting was particularly pleasing this year, as not only was it a record number for the school, but the planting will offset more than half of the school’s annual carbon footprint, according to new Ministry of Education data.

A massive thank you to everyone involved!

Planting Day Report

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/WhctKLbFTwqMxrHFKHtJWPljPNrjCcfCRJkfsmMKlZHFzqLRQJCcKVvMdQgwRgHjWSwwWFl?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1 

PLANTING DAY SUMMARY:

21 Jun 2024 at 581 Clevedon Kawakawa Road, Clevedon

It was such a delightful day of planting with Sunnyhills School. We had wonderful parent

support and the learners were such determined planters. They worked collaboratively

in teams alongiside the parent support and made short work planting 880 plants with

care and attention to detail.

It was a great fit with recent learning around sponge cities and carbon sinks. The new

plants will provide a wonderful habitat whilst increasing biodiversity and improving

water quality. What a wonderful plant signature to leave on the landscape for future

generations to enjoy.

Special thanks to Carol and Chanel in the stable kitchen. Also thanks to Christine for

all of the work supporting the growing of such strong healthy plants and for all of the

background organisation. Thanks to Kirsten for all of the hard work on the planting site

and finishing off the rest of the planting. On site there will be 1006 plants as we used

extras left over from another school planting. Team work truly does make the dream

work.

TfS Facilitator: Kate de Groot Teacher: Christine Daniel

No. of Students: 30 No. of Teachers: 1

No. of Parents, Landowners & Others: 13 Length of waterway planted: 100m

200 x Mānuka

(Leptospermum scoparium)

Manuka is great for restoration projects as it is common through NZ, hardy

and tolerant of a range of habitats from wetlands to dry slopes. It is a good

nursery crop, food source for birds and insects and honey produced from its

flowers has strong antibacterial qualities.

180 x Karamū

(Coprosma robusta)

Common throughout NZ and easily recognized by its bright orange ripe fruit,

This bushy shrub grows to 6m tall and provides food for birds in winter. It

easily self-seeds which makes it a great plant for many restoration projects.

146 x Tī Kōuka

(Cabbage Tree / Cordyline australis)

One of our most iconic native plants. Ti Kouka trees prefer open wet areas

and swamps and their large taproot helps stop soil erosion. Flowers are

enjoyed by insects and birds. It has the fastest growing root system over 5

years than any other species. It belongs to the lily family.

120 x Harakeke

(Flax / Phormium tenax)

Found throughout NZ, flax grows well in a wide range of habitats but

favours wetlands and open riversides. Its flower stalks can grow up to 4m

tall and tui and bellbird are especially fond of the nectar.

20 x Upokotangata

(Giant Umbrella Sedge / Cyperus ustulatus)

Abundant throughout NZ, it grows well in damp open areas like stream

sides or wetlands where it makes great nesting habitat for aquatic birds.

Growing up to 2m tall dark brown seed heads makes it easy to identify.

180 x Pukio

(Carex virgata)

This sedge is widespread in swamps and damp locations in lowland forest

throughout NZ. It can grow to 1m in height and long dropping leaves and

flower spikes.

160 x Purei

(Carex secta / Pukio)

This sedge is widespread in wetlands throughout NZ and grows into distinct

tussocks with a trunk like base. It can grow to 1.5m in height and has long

dropping leaves and flower spikes. It prefers still water and can grow in water.

Year 6 - Estuaries and Te Ao Maori

 Today Year Six explored how Maori are connected to the whenua and whakapapa back to estuaries, rivers and maunga.  We talked about how Maori have a relationship of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) rather than ownership. This strong connection is shown in the mihimihi/pepeha introductions. Tai was able to share his pepeha with us.

We revised our knowledge of Te Reo Maori terms with a quiz

Next we explored the idea of kaitiakitanga by reading Kaitiaki of the Stream We discussed the challenges Maori face preserving their estuaries and streams with issues such as bush clearance, fertiliser run off and stormwater.  Our Eco Leaders are being kaitiaki tomorrow when we go to plant 800 trees we have grown to protect waterways in Clevedon.

Estuaries traditionally were places to gather kai and offered important transpor links for waka.  To end our lesson we created paper waka and tested if they floated.