2023 Waste Audit

 

Room 6 were excited to sort and weigh the waste from one whole day at Sunnyhills school.  We were eager to find out if our hot composters, soft plastic recycling and big push for litterfree lunches were making a difference.

First we reminded ourselves that waste is a human invention.  In nature everything is broken down by the FBI (fungus, bacteria and invertabrates) to become new soil. We're trying to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill before there's no more places to dig stinky dumps.

We weighed everything in the general waste bins, paper recycling bins, compost bins, comingled recycling bins and soft plastic recycling bins.

We sorted the general waste to see what it was made up of:

Overall we were so pleased to achieve a 75% reduction in waste at Sunnyhills School.  All our hard mahi is paying off!  But if you look at the food & recycling still in landfill bins, there's room for improvement next year.  We wonder how we can encourage everyone to ALWAYS use the right bin ...

To see how our efforts add to the mahi of other local schools checkout the data and slide deck from Howick Local Ward & Sustainable Schools https://pfhw.org.nz/waste-minimisation/2022-2023/

Room Tekau ma Waru

 Room 18 began investigating uses for the herbs we grow in our Edible Gardens.  We brainstormed the herbs we knew.  Next we added fresh basil to the tomato soup that Mrs Daniel had made from the tomatoes grown over the summer.  We all tried some.  

"It tasted quite sweet" Fred

"It was a little bitter" Semith

"It smelled like tomato sauce" Ali

"It was yucky" Lily

"It was hot" Ben

"It tasted like fresh tomatoes" Ben

Another use for our herbs is making herbal teas.  We brainstormed what we knew about tea and then broke into teams to investigate 10 different fresh herbs from the gardens.  We felt them and smelled them and looked carefully at them.  Lastly we guessed their names to make it a fun quiz.

Just before the end of the day we collected all the waste from around the school, because tomorrow Mrs Daniel is conducting the annual waste audit. 

Afterwards, there was just enough time for a 'Herbs & Spices' Kahoot.

Next time we're learning about the history of tea beginning in China. We'll try Aotearoa's kawakawa tea too. 

Room Tahi Get Thinking & Explore Energy

 

Today Room Tahi got thinking about how humans' transformation of energy is causing climate change.  We backtracked to explore what energy actually is and the forms it takes.  We learnt energy cannnot be created or destroyed, but it can be transformed.  As well as reading and online activities we transferred the chemical energy in raisins into kinetic energy when we danced.  

Before morning tea we had fun creating our own static electricity with balloons and used it to pick up feathers. Because it was a humid day we had difficulty charging up our balloons.

As it was a rainy day we couldn't take action outside, so we pushed on to learning about how electricity is created in New Zealand.  Our use of electricity is changing.  Six Room 1 GEMs have electric or hybrid cars. There was a kahoot to review.  

Climate Change - What is the role of science?

Niwa scientists helped us understand the role of science in climate change. Click on the image above to see the online experience we followed.

We set up a fair experiment to test the effect of water saltiness on water density.  

Predictions - 

Oscar - the water is going to turn blue

Charlie - one will be lighter and one darker

Mason - one might be heavier and one might be lighter

Ella - the ice will melt slower in the salt water

Zach - the salt might rise to the top

Ashton - The salt water ice cube will melt faster

Cayley - the salt water is thicker

Kavya - the saltwater will rise

Dylan - the freshs waterwill rise and the saltwater will rise more

Edward - salt melts ice so the ice will melt quicker

Phoenix - the ice won't melt in the salt

We found the fresh water sat on the top of the salt water as it is less dense.  That means as the polar ice caps melt the fresh water will sit on top of the ocean and could change the currents.  Fresh water is also more acidic.  A more acidic ocean will effect the sea creatures with shells.

Knowing that CO2 levels were 400ppm 4 years ago, we predictedt the Co2 level today:

Brian - 800ppm

Vihan - 900 ppm

Nicholas - 600 ppm

William - 700 ppm

Edward - 300ppm

Dylan - 480ppm

The actual level is 424.78 ppm.  This means that despite knowing C02 causes climate change it is still rising.

Lastly we created posters to show the future we want to see and took action to help our native trees.

Slide Deck Showing the Future We Want to See

Next time we see Mrs Daniel we'll be reminding ourselves of the carbon cycle and exploring how it effects biodiversity.  We'll also look at the possible effects of climate change, especially on our Pacific neighbours.

Room Tekau ma Tahi Take Action

 Today Room 11 took action for the environment.  We found some pesky moth plant climbing over the trees at the back of our classroom.  Kenny put on gloves and  pulled out the vines by the roots.

Next we collected plastic litter. It doesn't break down and can hurt animals. We noticed 19 pieces of litter, out of 26 collected, were from lunchboxes. Well done to the eight children with litterfree lunchboxes today.

After lunch we reviewed how to grow kai & explored the difference between hua whenua (vegetables) & hua rakau (fruit).

We tasted feijoas from the Edible Gardens and planted bok choy.

Next time we see Mrs Daniel we'll make vegetable soup.

Room Rua Understand, Know & Act

 Room Rua began Term 2 with Mrs Daniel.  We shared what we were grateful for in the holidays and what we're looking forward to this term.

Next we discussed the state of the environment and what different people are doing about it to remind us about why we study Sustainability.  We watched this video to reflect on the power of protest:

We aren't protesing but we are working towards a sustainable world by gaining knowledge and acting.  

This term Year Five are focussing on using energy sustainably. Using energy unsustainably is causing many harmful effects to the planet. 

We learnt about different types of energy and how they transform.  We had fun creating static energy at the end of the lesson.

Lastly we acted for the environment by tending to the Bird Corridor.

Room 17 and the Magic Seeds

 Today Room 17 learnt about growing kai with Mrs Daniel. We found out that seeds need space, soil, compost, water and sun. 

Next we harvested snow peas from the Edible Gardens. We could see the pea seeds in their pods. We ate them for morning tea 😋 

After morning tea we put our snow pea scraps and lunchbox scraps into the hot ccompost, so it can turn into new soil for growing more food in.  Plastic packets and wraps can't turn into new soil and just junk up the Earth.  A special well done to all the Room 17 tamariki who have litterfree lunchboxes today.

Lastly we collected the feijoas to share.

Next time we see Mrs Daniel we'll be planting vegetable seedlings.