Today Year Five explored the mahi of Hukanui School. They were one of the first enviroschools back in 1998. We read articles about them and explored their webiste. We used this information to reflect on our own enviroschools journey and plan some next steps for 2025. Look at our reflection here. Thank you for sharing and inspiring us Hukanui!
Afterwards we went into the Bird Corridor to release the native trees from the kikuya grass. Look how much the trees have grown!
Year Six spent some time down memory lane today 2018 - 2024. In 2018 when this cohort started school, Sunnyhills became a GreenGold Enviroschool.
We reflected on the changes at Sunnyhills in the time we've been here and the action learning cycles we've been involved in.
Guiding Questions:
What are we reflecting on?
What changes and benefits have come about as a result of our Enviro Programme learning and actions?
What went well?
What didn't go well?
What could we have done differently?
What highlights can we celebrate?
We scrolled the EnviroBlog and selected highlights and photos to share. Check out our mahi here
Today Year Four worked to plant our kumara for the 2025 harvest. At the beginning of the term we learnt about the importance of kumara to Maori and how it was brought to Aotearoa. The kumara we put in water during our lesson then has now sprounted with red stems, heart shaped leaves and white roots, so they were ready to plant out. We watched this video to learn the tikanga of kumara planting:
Room 5 helped to turn the compost and move it into the kumara beds. We also harvested the last of the broadbeans to clear space. We'll dry out the pods and collect the seeds to plant next takurua/winter. We planted some kumara tipu in the beds. The broadbeans help to put nitrogen in the soil, so we'll see if those tipu grow stronger than the other beds.
Unfortunately for Room 4 it was pouring with rain, so we spent our time recording instructions for how to grow kumara at home. Check out their mahi her How to Grow Kumara by Room 4 Just before lunch the sun came out so we managed to sneak out and plant a few kumara tipu.
Room 6 helped to weed the Fordyce entrance and then planted the last of the kumara tipu. We'll done!
We can't wait for next year to see how our kumara have grown.
We began our lesson with this waita and talked about things that grow.
Charlotte "A flower grows"
Harry "Sharks grow"
Primlada "Babies grow. I like babies because my neighnbours have babies"
Bjorn "Trees"
Next we went to the Mara Kai / Edible Gardens to see all the beautiful spring flowers we have grown for the Sunny Honeybees. We picked kale to turn into kale chips in the hall kitchen.
What did the kale need to grow?
Isla "Water and sun"
Violet "And some soil and give it nutrients"
While the kale was roasting with salt and oil we created beautiful spring flower placemats.
Talia "It was salty and crunchy"
Zoey "It was crunchy and green"
Thiweyn "There were yellow and white and orange flowers and purple"
Jake "I saw bumble bees and a white butterfly"
Colt "I saw a flower."
