Our Kumara Harvest

EdTechTeam Summit & New Blog Labels to align with Professional Standards - keeping our Enviro programme relevant and exciting

PS1: Treaty of Waitangi
PS2: Professional learning
PS3: Professional relationships
PS4: Learning-focused culture
PS5: Design for learning
PS6: Teaching

Look out for these new labels on Blog Posts that link to the new Professional Standards for teachers.

Teaching as a profession is constantly changing and evolving especially in the digital age as teachers who only teach 'Googleable' content become quickly irrelevant.  Sunnyhills Teachers are spending the first two days of the school 'holidays' at the Google Apps for Education Summit.  I'm looking forward to implementing new digital practices to ensure our Enviro programme stays relevant and exciting.

How do you want to learn in Term Two?

Kaitiaki o te Tohura - exploring a Maori perspective to end our sea studies

This week our  Kauri Whanau akonga are using The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera to explore the Maori perspective on whales and our connection to the sea.

Have you seen the movie adaptation of The Whale Rider? It's great whanau viewing for older children.

Our Pestfree 2050 Work Hits International Headlines

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=567008596992390&id=173283246364929

In Week 3 Conservation Correspondent Arielle  Duhaime-Ross, along with a film crew from HBO, flew from New York to investigate New Zealand's groundbreaking Pestfree 2050 project. They visited Sunnyhills to see the part NZ schools & students are playing in trapping invasive pests.

The story aired in the USA on HBO News Tonight and is online through Vice News and Youtube. Since its release it has sparked debate.

Where do you stand on the issues? Should we be killing invasive mammals? Should NZ children be educated about the effect of pests and involved in trapping? Traps vs bait ...comment below!

 The Squawk Squad, Arielle and film crew.

 Room 6 checking and resetting traps today.

Arielle and her Sunnyhills tour guides. She was blown away by their enthusiasm for conservation and knowledge.

Room 24 made these origami whales

Room 24 made these origami whales as a follow up to Project Jonah with Room 19.  They are going on to write facts and publish them on a larger version next week

Celebrating Sea Week - Project Jonah Visit

Did you know NZ is home to 44 out of the 88 species of whales and dolphins in the world? That's just one of the many fascinating facts that we learnt when Project Jonah visited.

It was fantastic to meet real enviro heroes and learn what to do if we discover a stranded sea sea mammal.

"I liked how we learnt how dolphins adapted to the sea by breathing upward through their blowhole" Sophie

"Keep a stranded whale's skin shiny and wet" James

"Call 0800 4whale or 111 if you see a stranding" Taite

Thank you to Project Jonah & to all the Sunnyhills families who contributed gold coins to donate to this worthy cause!

To learn more visit  http://www.projectjonah.org.nz

Day 5: Walking School Bus Week

Well what a fabulous week. Our school gates have been so much quieter - a lot less traffic.  Well done all our walkers and our fantastic school community who has got behind this week.  Hopefully lots of you realise that it is easy to walk to school or for those of you who live further away - to park away from the school gate and walk.

Look how full our tree and feet are