Year Four Find Out How to Be Sustainable at Sunnyhills

Today Year 4 had their first Sustainability lesson with Ms Daniel. We were learning how and why Sunnyhills is a GreenGold Enviroschool. 

What makes Sunnyhills a GreenGold Enviroschool?

Nathan "everybody cares about making our school better"

Zara "picking up rubbish"

Mila "Because we have ahot compost bin"

"Planting lots in the Edible Garden" Emma

Aelene "We have Eco Leaders"

Luca "We have a bee hive"

Mila "We plant trees"

Kayla "We have lots of plants and trees at school"

Himeth "We water the plants with a rain water tank"

What choices can we make to help Sunnyhills be sustainable?

Maya "Put your foodscraps in hot compost"

Ivy "Don't have plastic in your lunchbox"

Renee "Pick up rubbish even if it's not yours"

Richard "Bring a litterfree lunch"

"Plant some more trees"

Nicolas "scooter and bike to school"

We mapped all the places around the school where we practice sustainability, then went off on a fun scavenger hunt in teams. 

We spotted giant gourds growing in the Edible Gardens. Next time we are going to learn all about these useful fruit. 

Room 6 thought about what else they'd like to learn and do this year:

Isabel H "I want to plant trees and learn more about bees and do nature crafts"

Touma "I want to cut down and pull out weeds and do another scavenger hunt"

Kaiden "Iwant to know how to plant plants"

Lucy "I want to try some more food"

Bridie "I want to do more cooking"

Indigo "I want to do Kahoots"

Look at the giant gourd or hue!

Year Five Find Where We Shine GreenGold

 Today Year Five rediscovered all the spots around the school that help make Sunnyhills a GreenGold Enviroschool.  We brainstormed the actions we can take everyday to help create a sustainable world: walk and bike as much as we can, pack a litterfree lunch and put all our food scraps in the hot compost bins.

Ruby "I heard all the birds chirping in the pohutukawa"

Veda "I saw a tui"

Yumi "I noticed that the bees don't go far unless they are collecting pollen and nectar"

Ben " I noticed that apple tree and the pear tree in the orchard and they look yum!"

Blake "There were lots there were heaps of plants in the Trees for Survival seedling house"

Taryn "I noticed birds were chirping alot and they were happy in the trees"

Hazel "The plants in the Bugs and Butterflies garden were gone"

Evie " I saw a bumblebee covered in pollen. It was drinking nectar" 

Vienna "When we were in the nature trail there was a tui right above my head"

Evie "I heard a tur"

Maddie "I smelt flowers"

Laela "when i was at the bee hive i realised how magnificent bees are"

Aiden "I smelled a lot of fresh air"

Olivia "I noticed that there wasn't much rubbish at all"

Fred "On the nature trail it always feels like there is something moving around"

Louisa "i saw a rat in the nature trail"

Samuel " I saw all the amazing trees that we are growing"

Check out the gourds and spaghetti squash we discovered in the Edible Gardens, as well as how much our native trees have grown! Hopefully we'll be able to bake and eat spaghetti squash soon. We wondered what gourds are good for... 

K2 - Invasion of the Tropical Army Worms!

 K2 reviewed the importance of biodiversity and investigated how climate change will look and feel.

One consequence of climate change we discovered in the Edible Gardens. Because of the warm wet weather we've had an invasion of Tropical Army Worms. After our research we went on a search & destroy mission.

Hopefully the cold snap will help keep these manic munchers at bay.

Climate Change - What is the role of science?

Niwa scientists helped us understand the role of science in climate change. Click on the image above to see the online experience we followed.

We set up a fair experiment to test the effect of water saltiness on water density.  

Predictions - 

Oscar - the water is going to turn blue

Charlie - one will be lighter and one darker

Mason - one might be heavier and one might be lighter

Ella - the ice will melt slower in the salt water

Zach - the salt might rise to the top

Ashton - The salt water ice cube will melt faster

Cayley - the salt water is thicker

Kavya - the saltwater will rise

Dylan - the freshs waterwill rise and the saltwater will rise more

Edward - salt melts ice so the ice will melt quicker

Phoenix - the ice won't melt in the salt

We found the fresh water sat on the top of the salt water as it is less dense.  That means as the polar ice caps melt the fresh water will sit on top of the ocean and could change the currents.  Fresh water is also more acidic.  A more acidic ocean will effect the sea creatures with shells.

Knowing that CO2 levels were 400ppm 4 years ago, we predictedt the Co2 level today:

Brian - 800ppm

Vihan - 900 ppm

Nicholas - 600 ppm

William - 700 ppm

Edward - 300ppm

Dylan - 480ppm

The actual level is 424.78 ppm.  This means that despite knowing C02 causes climate change it is still rising.

Lastly we created posters to show the future we want to see and took action to help our native trees.

Slide Deck Showing the Future We Want to See

Next time we see Mrs Daniel we'll be reminding ourselves of the carbon cycle and exploring how it effects biodiversity.  We'll also look at the possible effects of climate change, especially on our Pacific neighbours.

Room Rua Understand, Know & Act

 Room Rua began Term 2 with Mrs Daniel.  We shared what we were grateful for in the holidays and what we're looking forward to this term.

Next we discussed the state of the environment and what different people are doing about it to remind us about why we study Sustainability.  We watched this video to reflect on the power of protest:

We aren't protesing but we are working towards a sustainable world by gaining knowledge and acting.  

This term Year Five are focussing on using energy sustainably. Using energy unsustainably is causing many harmful effects to the planet. 

We learnt about different types of energy and how they transform.  We had fun creating static energy at the end of the lesson.

Lastly we acted for the environment by tending to the Bird Corridor.

Climate Change Break Out

 K3 began learning about Climate Change today.  We started by talking about what we already knew:

Joey - climate change happens when you burn fossil fuels

Ivanka - it will make the arctic melt

Ethan - burning fossil fuels makes carbon dioxide

Gavin - the sea levels will rise

Damon - the planet gets warmer

Ethan - there will be more storms

Joey - the greenhouse effect means heat gets trapped in the atmosphere

Next we did a Climate Change breakout provided by Live Lightly at the Eye on Nature Event.  We timed ourselves and are going to compete against the other Year 6 classes for the grand prize.

K3 thought the break out was challenging and fun.  We learnt to work together, how we can live more sustainably, and to yell out answers so everyone knows. We wonder if we'll be the quickest ...

The times:

K3 - 16m 36s

K2 - 

K1 - 15m 15s

Before morning tea we went out to trim the kikuyu grass from around our baby trees.

Year Six are using Keep New Zealand Beautiful's new Climate Ready Classroom Resource. Today we learnt:

- what climate change is

- about trustworthy sources

- the importance of carbon

- about gas givers and gas takers

Next we learnt about pest plants and the actions we can take to protect our trees. Enter the moth plant competition here: https://pfhw.org.nz/events-projects/moth-plant-competition/ 

Lastly, fresh snow peas from the Edible Garden for afternoon tea: