Year Four School Litter Audit

How do you think Sunnyhills School is doing when it comes to litter?

James - 8.3/10 -  because whenever I walk around the school I normally see some litter around.  There’s always that tiny bit of littering but not that much.

Joeric - when I was in year 3 and four I always saw plastic bags in drains, but now I don't.

Anvay - 9.9/10  - I only see very small pieces of paper on the field and deck.

Harry - 8.5/10 I still see not that much rubbish but I still see some.

Lucas - 7/10 - OK but some around.

Georgia - I saw a Gatorade bottle on the ground that still had energy drink inside.  I think when the playground has been blocked off people have put it there and the wind have put rubbish down there.

What types of litter do you predict we’ll find?

Jayden - I think we will find muesli bars and candy and bits of plastic because some people are cheeky and break the school rules.

James - around the deck where we eat lunch is the most dirty part of the school.

Stefanie - there’s ice block wrappers and candy wrappers outside room 17.  I don’t know how it got there.  Maybe the builders.

ACTION RESULTS

We sorted the litter into 3 groups - food related, paper and miscellaneous.

The biggest group by far was food related.  

Mrs Daniel - paper is biodegradable.

We found balloons from Kelly Club - we could ask them to stop using them as they can’t be recycled - Joeric

The biggest amount we found was food and drink wrappers - we could do naked lunch - Joeric 

Use resusable lunch containers - James

Stefanie - don’t use glad wrap - there was lots - it’s very light and can float around.  James - it’s very convenient.  Joeric - it looks like jellyfish.

Mrs Daniel - lots of miscellaneous litter was from the building site. I wonder how we could make renovating and building more sustainable... biodegradable hazard tape?

How might we stop so many food wrappers around school?

Marco - make food wrappers heavy so they don’t fly away

Annie - take the food wrapper off at home

Abigail - put food wrapper straight in your bag

Lachie - eat inside

HImanshu - if you see rubbish pick it up

Mailia - put foil on your food

Jayan - Close your lunchbox when you unwrap something

Hayley - not bring any plastic wrapper to school

Hamish - don’t take any food with wrappers on it

REFLECTION - Naked Lunches would stop most of the litter around the school.  

NEXT STEPS - How could we get more Sunnyhills families doing naked lunches?

Hayley - yell in their face that plastic is bad

Jayan - make an advertisement - YouTube

Abigail - tell people about using plastic containers instead of wrappers

Chloe - make a poster

Hamish - send an email to the parents

Marco - have stickers that tell people not to use plastic and put them on windows and doors

Ashley - do a plastic treasure hunt and the people who collect the most get a prize

Anastasia - Hold a competition and who ever has a rubbish free lunch box wins something

Sam - Encourage people to bring more fruits or take off the wrappers at home

Lachie - Everyday a person from each class picks up rubbish

Aston - do a nude food challenge - no wrappers allowed

Zoe - give people with nude food house points

Theo - when you get a lunch order put the wrappers in your bag to take home

Which suggestion do you think is best? Perhaps the Sunnyhills Eco Leader could implement a new initiative in 2021

Reducing our Carbon Footprint - Investigating Electic & Hybrid Cars

 

We considered our low carbon options when upgrading our family vehicle. We needed to consider price, size, range and features. Here are some possible choices we found:

He Mara Kai with the Eco Leaders

 

Today our Eco Leaders harvested greens, herbs, fruit and kawa kawa leaves from our Mara Kai (Edible Garden). We made kawakawa tea and garden pesto. Yum! Of course we composted all our waste.

Recipes:

KAWAKAWA TEA

Kawakawa leaves 

Boiling water

Sunnyhills Honey

Cover kawakawa leaves in boiling water.  Brew for  3 minutes. Drain. Sweeten with honey if desired. Can also be cooled and drunk cold.

GARDEN PESTO

Broad beans

Mint 

Sorrell

(or any garden herbs available)

Lemon juice

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Blend in a processor until smooth. Eat as a dip or sauce.

Baseline Data for our Bird Corridor

We are taking action for climate change and enhancing biodiversity by growing and planting more trees in our Bird Corridor. We needed baseline data to relect on when we plant next year. 

 How could we calculate how many trees were in a large area? 

 Room 3 & 2 had some ideas: 

 Use a clicker - Betsy 

Section off areas - Ruby 

Take a photo and then count - Rebecca 

Your mind - Andreas 

Use an aerial view - Baxter 

Count in fives/two’s - Poppy 

Count and take notes - Sara 

Count the trees and then count the bushes and then add them up - Amelena 

Baxter - use tally marks 

Predict and use rounding and estimates - Poppy 

Count the trucks and stems - Daniel 

Use a drone from above - Sara 

Arrange in rows and use timetables - Kardia 

Split into sections and everybody gets a section then add together -Harry 

 Split it into sections - Billy 

Everybody count then add - Erin 

Tally them up - Brodie 

Make a graph to show how many birds and trees there were - Ellie 

Estimate by seeing how many in one area then multiply - Eric Go in groups and have a certain tree to find and tally up that tree - Sienna We split into groups and used skipping ropes to divide off sections. We counted recorded then added together. These are our results:

We also collected bird survey data:

Greenfingers Gang Go Nuts For Beans

Today the Greenfingers Gang harvested broadbeans to take home. We left some to dry on the plants so we can replant broadbeans next winter.

It was great to see that Liam brought his little brother Noah along on his first day at school. 

Travelwise Leaders take Bike skills for the Year 2 and 3 Students

 At lunchtime today the Travelwise Leaders took bike skills for the Year 2 and 3 Students. Everyone had fun and at the same time had the opportunities to practise their bike skills at the same time. 

Climate Action - Baseline Data for our Carbon Footprint

 In Year Five we've been focusing on Sustainable Energy.  We're now calculating our carbon footprint so we can measure the impact of the action we are taking to reduce our negative impact on the world.

You can work out our carbon footprint too and find out how to help fight climate change at https://www.futurefit.nz/

This is Mrs Daniel's carbon footprint.   Room 15's average Carbon Footprint was 5.6.  Room 14's average carbon footprint was 5.83. And Room 16's was 6.9. We found regular international travel pushed up our foot prints.  I wonder how we can offset this.  

What's your Carbon Footprint? Comment below ...

TAKING ACTION - we looked at livelightly.nz and decided to pledge these actions to reduce our carbon footprint:

Cimone - Saving water - turn the tap off when I brush my teeth.

Isabelle - walk to the local shops instead of drive

James & Aayush - plan my holiday within a four hour drive of my home instead of driving

Chloe - think before i buy and get second hand clothing

Amelia - plant flowers and vegetables at home

Caleb - plant more strawberries and fruit with my my mum

Taking Action to Fight Climate Change

 Year Five & Six have been focusing on Sustainable Energy & Climate Change this year. We've identified the current situation and explored alternatives. Now it's time to take action! We're planting hundreds of native trees to sequester carbon from the atmosphere and offset our carbon footprint. Thanks to Trees for Survival for supplying the seedlings and potting mix!

When we ran out of seedlings Room One found Kowhai seeds in the native bush trail and we planted those.

Te Taonga nei te Kumara

Kumara is a gift from Rongomatane. 

We love growing and eating it!!