Room 3's Helping Hands with Trees For Survival

On Thursday Room 3, along with Lynda Wylie from Auckland City Council and Mrs Daniel, put in a mammoth effort to replant over 250 seedlings, as part of the Trees For  Survival project.

Eventually these native seedlings will be planted out into the community to form new habitats. What a fabulous legacy for our graduating Year 6's to pass on to future generations.

With it being such a rainy day, we were all very glad of the new covered senior court yard. What a great learning space.

Special thanks goes to Lynda for all the time she has put into helping Sunnyhills School begin their TFS journey this year. And a big well done to Room 3 for our biggest planting day yet.

Links to: 'Green Fingers Get Busy at Sunnyhills' - article in Howick and Pakuranga Times and Mother Earth Website

Links to: 'Green Fingers Get Busy at Sunnyhills' - article in Howick and Pakuranga Times and Mother Earth Website

Link to the Article in The Howick and Pakuranga Times
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/eastern-courier/86435762/green-fingers-get-busy-at-sunnyhills

Link to Mother Earth Website
http://www.motherearth.co.nz/congratulations-sunnyhills-school/

Planting the New Planter boxes

Planting the New Planter boxes

On Monday the 14th of November people from Mother Earth visited our school to see the new planter boxes that they had payed for.  Our fabulous parents had put them in place at the working bee on Sunday. We planted the plants that Mother Earth gave us and they took photos for their website. There was also a photographer from the newspaper.  It was very exciting

Weeding the Camellias

On Friday the 4th of November, Room 15 weeded the camellia hedge.  It is a big job and we didn't get it finished.  We are going to ask our buddy class to help us later in the term

Tread Lightly Caravan

The Senior School had a visit from the Tread Lightly Caravan in Term 3. Students participated in activities about sustainable practices. At the end of the session, students chose a pledge. Back in the classrooms they learnt how they could implement the pledge into their daily lives.

How does this help the environment? If you reuse things less resources are used and there will also be less rubbish. Cathy

How does this help the environment?
This will save energy which means less pollution for the environment.

How does this help the environment?
If e-waste goes into landfills the poison in them goes into the environment and also e-waste never breaks down.

How does this help the environment?
Soft plastics are things made from plastic that you can scrunch up and they go in a soft plastic recycling bin, bottles and jars go in the recycling bin and they then can be made into something else.

We Know Have An Orchard!

We Now Have An Orchard!

The senior members of the Enviro Group planted our fruit trees at lunch time today.  They've been in our vision for a long time, so it's great to finally get them in the ground.  We hope they feed Sunnyhills for years to come.

Experiments to test the soil to see if it is suitable for planting fruit trees

On Wednesday the 7 September the Enviro group conducted experiments to test the soil in the area where we are proposing to plant the fruit trees.  Fortunately the soil passed.  The next job is to work out exactly where to plant them so they get the maximum amount of sunlight and enough space to grow

                                                          Setting up for the experiment

                                                       
                                                             Collecting samples of soil

                                                               Discussing the results

                                                                      The results

Building Our Enviro Vision - The Project Completed in our August Working Bee

What a super successful working bee we had again at Sunnyhills.  A beautiful fine day and many willing hands.  Thank you to all the wonderful parents who came along and helped.

The Projects worked on were:
Our new sculpture garden at the end of Room 2.
Removing the pile of top soil from the car park 
Filling the Junior Adventure Playground with soft-fall 
Stacking the bricks ready for sale
Planting a camellia hedge along Room 14 and 15
Back-filling along the pathway to Fordyce.
Painting the seating at the end of Room 14 
Applying the first coat of stain to Tree Island

Our School looks awesome!

Working Bee - Tree Island - Soft Fall for Adventure Playground - Colourful Seating

August Working Bee Car Park Tidy Up

August Working Bee Planting of the Camellia Hedge

August Working Bee Sculpture Garden

Senior Members of the Enviro Group Inquiry About Fruit Trees

On Tuesday the Senior members of the Enviro Group meet with the Enviro facilitator and started an inquiry about the fruit trees we have been gifted by Kings Plant Barn through the 'Fruit Trees for Schools Programme'

The children saw the benefits of a school orchard as
1. Fruit could be given to students who didn't have a healthy lunch
2. Give fruit to people in the community who need it
3. Study the fruit to see how it grows and its life cycles
4. Planting trees is good for the environment as it reduces carbon dioxide
5. They could sell excess fruit as a fundraiser

During their next session the students will do some experiments to check soil type and drainage and possibly plan the trees

Howick Fruit Trees in Schools Project launch at Kings Plant Barn

Finn and Georgia represented Sunnyhills Primary School at the Howick Fruit Trees in Schools Project launch today at Kings Plant Barn in Botany Road. This is part of the Healthy Howick initiative.

David Collings and Katrina Bungard from the Howick Board gave a short speech and a local Minister blessed the trees. 

Our very own Mrs Driver also spoke about how the students and staff at Sunnyhills Primary School feel that Education for Sustainability is very important. The students planting fruit trees is one way of leaving a legacy for future students to utilize and enjoy.

  

Setting up a new Middle School worm bin

Wonderful Wriggly Worms

Room 20 had an Enviro Day with Mrs Daniel. They learnt all about worms, in a very hands on way. Next they set up a new Middle School worm bin; complete with 2 000 wiggly, squiggly worms to munch our lunch scraps and make worm tea food for our edible gardens. Room 20 can't wait to feed, water and care for our wonderful worms.

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More Replanting Our Trees For Survival

Replanting Our Trees For Survival

Room 18 had a very important job today; we "pricked out" and replanted over two hundred tiny flax seedlings, as part of the Trees For Survival programme.

We worked so carefully as a team. Mrs Daniel was also very impressed with our problem solving skills; we worked out with 16 crates and each crate holding 52 seedlings, Senior students, Room 17 and 18 together, have replanted 832 seedlings. WOW!!

Why are we doing all of this? Well, in 12 months time, we'll have over eight hundred plants to create new habitats, prevent errosion and help fight global warming in our local area. We're doing vital work to create a sustainable future!

Planting Trees for Survival

Planting Trees for Survival

Room 17 and Mrs Daniel, with the help of Lynda from Auckland City Council, repotted TWO HUNDRED & FIFTY seedlings, as part of the Trees for Survival programme. The children were such enthusiastic and careful botanists.

Did you know Sunnyhills Senior School students have already repotted over 300 seedlings? We're looking forward to our tiny seedlings growing 30 cm in a year, then we'll be replanting them in a  local reserve for our native fauna to enjoy.

What a fantastic project; a wonderful learning experience with a really positive environmental outcome.