We're so lucky at Sunnyhills to have a supportive PTA; hardworking parents who help fund raise for the school, so we can have all the extras that make this such a special place to learn, so I was super eager to help when Kylee Long approached me with a query....
How could we make the school disco more sustainable? Plastic water bottles are easily improved by using drink bottles, but glow sticks are the problem. They're glowy fun for a few hours and then complete trash - they can't be recycled and contain chemical nasties.
I'm stumped. What is a sustainable and fun replacement for glow sticks at our next disco? Comment below if you can help or have other ideas for making our next school event more environmentally friendly.
My name is Max. When my granddad passed away mum said he had a worm farm. I really wanted it and my aunty did too. Mum got it for me.
We told Mrs Daniel and she gave me some worms. I can look after the worms and have more pets than just my cat. They're useful because they eat our food scraps. I will put worm castings on our garden too.
Max Year 4
Well done Max. I'm so proud of you! What do you do at home to be sustainable?
The Going Gold Enviro group walked to Wakaaranga School on Thursday to check out how they are working for a sustainable future.
We saw that we have lots of things in common like compost heaps, worm bins, edible gardens and a native bush trail.
We were really excited to see the differences - soft plastic recycling, bees and chickens. Going Gold are going to investigate how we can do these too.
Thank you to Mrs Scoggins and the Waka Eco Warriors for an inspiring visit!
A massive thank you to Mrs Trembath and Room 14 for our sturdy new worm buckets for kids to put their lunchbox scraps in.
Room 14 do an amazing job feeding and watering our worms each week, so we can return nutrients to our edible garden. You rock!!
Special thanks to Sticky Bambam for the sicker labels!
THE WIGGLY WORRY
Today, while Year One were learning about what to put in our worm farms and why we have worms at school, Cameron noticed a problem; the bins children put their lunchbox scraps in are all cracked and broken. Also, they don't have any labels or instructions. Sounds like an issue for our Going Gold group to resolve. Good spotting Cameron! We're always reflecting on ways we can keep our sustainable practices running smoothly.
IDENTIFYING THE CURRENT SITUATION
Animal Hunt - Our Year 2's and 3's spotted skinks basking in the sun this morning.
Brainstorming - We already knew a little bit about them:
We wanted to find out more about these cute backyard buddies. What do they eat? Where do they like to live? What can we do to help them?
EXPLORE ALTERNATIVES
We found a Youtube video and journal article to answer some of our questions:
Did you know the Maori word for skink is mokomoko?
Room 22 worked out what we'd need to make a skink habitat:
Wouldn't it be great to create a Sunnyhills Skink Suburb?
Ben drew a super skink. You can see its long pointy body and four legs.
TAKE ACTION
We created artwork and a display to share our plan. You can see it at The Green Room. We wondered how we could buy the materials and who would build the skink suburb. Perhaps we should ask Mrs Driver...
UPDATE - Mrs Driver likes the plan and shared our ideas in the school newsletter. Some Kauri Whanau Enviro Monitors created a video application for a $10000 Treemendous Trees Makeover, so we can build the skink suburb! Fingers crossed we get it.
Watch the video below:
UPDATE - We're through to the next round of the Treemendous Trees Makeover :)
This year Road Safety Week focuses on seat belts, child restraints and distractions. Sunnyhills is supporting Road Safety Week in lots of different ways. There have been a lot of class discussions around all aspects of road safety. The Year 1 and 2 classes were able to revisit all the wonderful messages that they received from Constable Merv and the other Auckland Transport staff who visited the school last term
Thank you Room 22 for sharing your fabulous work
Most classes have a display relating to Road Safety Week using the awesome resources supplied to us by BRAKE.
This year Road Safety Week focuses on seat belts, child restraints and distractions.
