Eco Leaders Set Out Tracker Tunnels

 

Today, the Eco Group set out a tracker tunnel to monitor which pests might be in our Mara. Standby for the results!

Year Four Take Action Against the Yellow Legged Hornet

 

Today Year Four learnt about the problem of the yellow legged hornet.

What does it look like?

Ciara "They are 3cm.  They have yellow tipped legs"

"They are blackish" Hunter

Why is it a risk?

Marcus "It can kill our honey bees and the bees pollinate"

Ranger "If you get stung enough times you can die"

We walked about the Edible Gardens and saw the flowers that were out waiting for the bees to pollinate - cucumbers, zucchini, feijoas, spaghetti squash and strawberries.  If the hornets kill the bees we won't have this kai.

We brainstormed in groups what we can do to help stamp out the yellow legged hornet before it spreads:

"If we see one we can stand back and take a photo. Send it to MPI" Payton

Flynn "Build an indoor bee garden"

"Make traps and put them everywhere" Octavia

"Capture them and study their weaknesses" Milana

"Bug spray" Coby

"Send out informations so everybody knows to take a picture and send it to MPI" Jessica

To spread the word about these invaders we created "WANTED" posters. See them displayed in the library. 

Sharing & Shining with Year Five

 

Year Five continued our picture books today to 'Share & Shine' our learning about how to get to school safely and why active travel is good for our bodies and the environment.We're looking forward to reading our creations to Year One buddies next time and taking a summative quiz to show what we have learnt in the 'Ready, Steady, Go' program.

Beehive Glow Up

 

Making our beehives more colourful, was a suggestion from our 2022 GreenGold Reflection and today it became a reality.  Mrs Daniel and the Eco Group glued on the wooden flowers that Year 5 painted last year.  Just in time for the Jubilee celebrations!

Year Six - What Makes SHS a GreenGold Enviroschool?

 

Year 6 - How are we a GreenGold Enviroschool?

Aiden - we turn food scraps into compost

Yumi - we plant trees

Olivia A - we grow vegetables 

Evie - we plant hundreds of trees every year

Alexandra - we have litterfree lunches

We took part in a scavenger hunt to remind us of all the places we have created around the school to help us be more sustainable.

Afterwards K1 helped compost the Mara Kai so we can plant onions and cabbages for the Matariki Hangi,  K3 created a digital map of our Enviroschool and K2 watered the Mara Kai with worm tea to help it grow.

We are empowered learners!  This year in our sustainability lessons we would like to:

- go outside more

-do more cooking of food

- plant more trees

- eat more kai

- learn about the ocean

- learn about plants around the world

- be an Eco Leader!

- make an Enviro song

- learn more about NZ sea animals

- learn more about native animals

- learn about carniverous plants

- try new veges and fruit

- more scavenger hunts

- grow more fruit trees

- pick up litter around the school

- help trees and birds

- walk to school

Year Four Launch 2025 - Reflect & Get Thinking

 

Today Year Four launched 2025 by going on a scavenger hunt to reflect on all the places that make us a GreenGold Enviroschool.

Then we got thinking about what we want our sustainbility year to look like. At envrioschools we have empowered learners that lead the way :)

What do you want to do in our sustainability lessons?

- Max - plant more trees

- Harvey - less buildings and more plants

- Alice - eat stuff we have never heard of before

- Ella M - pick up rubbish

- Juanito - grow watermelon & cabbages

- Lakyn - eat vegetables

- Ciara - go bird spotting

- Constance - have a trip out of the school 

- Alonso - have a lot more exploring in the nature trail

- Payton - make a tree house

- Ranger - water the plants

- Eloise - do some more art about sustainability

- Flynn - plant flowers 

- Ruby - look after the bird house

- Annie - plant more fruit trees

- Coby - learn about litter

- Ocatavia - make more art for around the school

- eat food from the garden

- more scavenger hunts

- learn about our favourite animals

- make herbal tea and drink tea

Year Five Prepare our Mara for Raumati

 

Today Year Five had an important job preparing our mara (garden) for raumati (summer).  

We put the hot compost and worm farms to sleep by feeding them up, watering and putting the equipment away.

We weeded the mara kai and collected the wild flower seeds.  

Next we planted kumara tipu and sunflower seeds.

Bonus for Room 3; they found cucumber, strawberries and kohlrabi ready to pick and eat.

Over the summer a new irrigation system is going in.  Hooray that will help the sunflowers, kumara and all the other plants to grow.

Lastly we made origami seed packets so we can grow our own phacelia at home.

Well done Year Five this was excellent mahi for our future Eco Leaders!

Sharing Our Estuary Mahi at the Tamaki Environmental Expo

 

Check out this video showcasing all the work our tamariki have down to study and promote the Tamaki Estuary.

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.

Year 4 Dive into the Hauraki Gulf

 Today Year 4 continued their Moana studies.  We're celebrating being part of the Hauraki Gulf.  We learnt some of the many sea creatures that live there: 

Warren "Sharks, turtles and fish"

Renee "Sting rays, octopus and orca"

Hunter "Marlin, sprats, and kingfish"

Richie "Bronze whaler sharks, whales and seals"

Then we used our mapping skills to locate Sunnyhills School in the Hauraki Gulf. 

Maori were here first.  We learnt the meaning of some of the names they gave the places in the Hauraki Gulf.

How can we protect our moana?

Maya "Don't fish"

Kayla "Use less plastic"

Aelene "Be a tidy kiwi"

"Put rubbish in the right spot"

We took action by going on a litter hunt.

Room 5 found 106 pieces of litter on the field and edible garden! Room 4 found 30 pieces of litter in the native bush walk.  And Room 6 found and incredible 152 pieces of litter around the school after lunch. Wow! That's 288 pieces of litter collected in just ONE day.

What did we discover about the litter?

Ambrose "It's coming from food and juice"

Zachary "There were lots of plasters"

What could we do about it?

Brayden "some of it can be recycled"

Zara "through it in the bin"

Luca "stop using plastic"

Caitlin "bring litter free lunches" 

PLEASE BRING A LITTERFREE LUNCH.  PERHAPS WE CAN ASK THE OFFICE TO BUY BIODEGRADEABLE PLASTERS ...

Year Six Sample Squash & Celebrate Seaweek

 It's Ngahuru (autumn) so just like Soha and Manushree suggested last time, we're harvesting and eating from the Mara Kai. K3 picked a fatty spaghetti squash and roasted it with olive oil and salt. K2 ate honey roasted squash. Unfortunately all the spaghetti squash were gone by the afternoon, so K1 ate a pumpkin baked with Sunny Honey. The pumpkin was less popular than squash. 

While our kai cooked we celebrated Sea Week by reading a KCC magazine and exploring the Young Ocean Explorers Website.

After eating we tested our memory with a quiz based on the KCC articles. 

What did you learn today? 

Arta "pukeko live in the wetlands"

Albert "pukeko fight for their territory"

Frida "lots of vegetables and fruits are harvested in autumn"

Katara "In the wetlands the plants' roots grow up and down for air"

Carlos "The skin of spaghetti squash tasted nice but feels like cardboard"

Samuel "Eels live in wetlands"

Zoha "Pukekos eat grass holding on with their feet"

Robyn "You can use spaghetti squash instead of pasta"

Carina "Pukekos fight for territory"

Maia "The inside of a spaghetti squash looks like pineapple"

Monique "They used to use gourds to hold water"

Andrew "pumpkins taste alright"

Melody "When pumpkins are yellow they are not ready"

Tai "Wetland trees' roots grow up and down"

Ella "Pukekos start to fly when they are 3 months old"

We saved the seecds for planting in Koana (spring)

Year 4 Ngahuru Harvest & Seaweek

It's Ngahuru (autumn) tomorrow, so Year 4 harvested and ate spaghetti squash from the Mara Kai. 

We also began our moana inquiry by reading a Kiwi Conservation Club magazine and looking at the Young Ocean Explorers Website while our kai cooked. 

Seed savers

More seed savers

Our whare kai experience:

Emily "Spaghetti squash tastes like sweet potato" 

Nathan "Put olive oil and salt on spaghetti squash to bake it" 

Himeth "Spaghetti squash feels like spaghetti" 

 Isabelle "I learnt how a squash looks inside and how it grows"

Isabelle J "We learnt how to take the seeds out so we can grow some more in spring"

Lucy "Spaghetti squash has a texture like spaghetti and I liked the butterness"

AVA "Squash takes 30minites to bake"

Indigo "I like eating things in class"

Maya "When you roast it there are spaghetti strands in it"

From our research we learnt:

Fiona "Pukeko fight with their feet"

Fae "A turtle comes up to the surface to breathe"

Emma "Turtles use their back flippers to to steer" 

Kayla "Some fish poo makes sand" 

Luca "Orca are apex predators" 

Harry " Birds can eat plastic" 

Next time we're going to continue our Sea Week exploration of our local area by mapping and looking at the meanings of local place names.

Ivy "how do sharks and fish breathe underwater?"

Hunter "why do whales have to come up to breathe air?"