Enviro Learning @ Toko School: Uruti School Visited Today

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: Uruti School Visited Today: We have had a great day with Uruti School today.  They spent most of their visit learning about our environmental initiatives. They couldn&...

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: New Babies

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: New Babies:                                                Chicken Update Last week Richie (Mum) and Honey (Dad) had 8 baby chickens. One di...

Stratford Primary School students creating harakeke putiputi

Written by Ella 

Making harakeke putiputi with Pare and Jocelyn for the school gala day.

A handful of SPS Tui’s Enviro students took part in a workshop making harakeke flowers.

When making the flowers we learnt lots of skills like patience, manaakitanga and perseverance. An added extra was that we learnt the correct way to cut harakeke and prepare it for weaving.

The money we raised from selling the putiputi is going towards native plants for our fish pond garden makeover. 

We really enjoyed making the harakeke flowers, thank you to Pare and Jocelyn for teaching us!

Really fab to see the SPS Tui's supporting their DP in the best way they know how xxx

Check out the link here from the Stratford Press

SPS Tui's and Marlene send off Kerry in true Enviroschools style

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: Avon School Visited our School Today

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: Avon School Visited our School Today: Our environmental leaders had a great time today sharing our environmental journey. Avon School gave us some plants. When they left we gave...

Giant Pumpkin

Tēnā tātou,

Check out this great article in the Taranaki Daily News! Awesome Spotswood Primary School! Kei runga noa atu koutou!!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/78140611/Spotswood-Primarys-161kg-pumpkin-wins-national-growing-competition

Stratford Primary School Bee and Butterfly Garden

                                                                           

We have been busy developing a bee and butterfly garden to attract little creatures to our school environment. 

We have researched what type of plants they like to visit and have been planting these in the garden.

Bees and butterflies are so important as they pollinate flowers and help provide us with fruit and vegetables.

As you can see Mr Kirk is putting up our ladybug that we designed and made. We are decorating the walls to make the garden standout and attract visitors.

                                Have we achieved our goal?                                                                                       We think we have!                                                                                             Can you spot the monarch caterpillar                                                                                                                    and the honey bee?                                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                      Written by Danni Poulsen-Cook

                                                                 & Marissa Pryce

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Stratford Primary School - Having fun making wedges

We went to dig the potatoes from the ground.  Did you know they grow in the dirt.  We went to the kitchen and scrubbed the dirt off.  We cut them up with a sharp knife.  We put them in a big dish with oil and salt.  We cooked them in the oven.  Marlene took them out when they were cooked and the class tried them.   Yummy........

Corrin, Jordan and Kaitlyn

Room 15

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: Term 1 Enviro Cooking with Rhubarb

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: Term 1 Enviro Cooking with Rhubarb: Click on the link to view our slide show.

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: Cooking with Rhubarb - our thoughts

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: Cooking with Rhubarb - our thoughts: Manu  I enjoyed cutting the Rhubarb because it's the first time I've ever done  it. I enjoyed washing the Rhubarb one by one.  I ...

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: Making Bunting for our Enviro Stall

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: Making Bunting for our Enviro Stall: Bunting was really fun and interesting. We traced the letters onto special paper. We then ironed the letters onto the fabric we choose. Then...

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: 2016 - Enviro Warriors Club

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: 2016 - Enviro Warriors Club: This year we have started an Enviro Warriors Club. The purpose of this club is to look at what we can do with the food we grow at school and...

Sps Tui's Enviro Group Welcome Pare Bennett

SPS Tui’s Enviro Group Welcome Pare Bennett

On Thursday 11^th 2016, Stratford Primary School welcomed Pare Bennett, our new Enviroschools facilitator.  Pare Bennett was called on to our school grounds with a Karanga lead by Jade and supported by Chrissy.

Ella and Masyn took Pare for a tour around our school environment and explained to her about the enviro projects we have been busy working on. Pare was impressed with our gardens, herbs and our magnificent sunflowers. Afterwards we went to the staff room to share some kai.

 The stakes are high as SPS Tui’s enviro group have started the reflection progress working towards Silver Enviroschools status. It was a really enjoyable day and we look forward to Pare’s next visit.

Written by: Toni Cameron and Tarin Nicholas 

Moturoa eco - building imagineers

We have been wondering about and getting ideas to build our own eco classroom.

We went to Hamilton to visit Hukanui School, Rhode Street School, Gold beads Montessori and then we went to Hamilton gardens.

We saw wine bottles, pumice and broken concrete and polystyrene floors! There were portholes in the floor so we could see what they looked like inside.  They had swales and an old bike that they pedalled to pump the water up to the tap!

They had windows in the wall that were wood slats that opened on the inside and outside that could be used to let air into the classroom. There were special slats so that the sun would be blocked out in summer but shine in during winter because of the angle.

We learnt lots on our trip and got lots of ideas for building our own eco-classroom.

We have been doing lots of learning around energy, Donna our facilitator brought in a light machine that helped us to decide what types of bulbs we should use.  The light would go on for ages with an eco bulb and was easy to spin it.  You didn't really have to try - you just had to push it.  For the non-eco bulbs it was really hard to push - you had to put lots of energy into it to make it keep on going.

    

Zoe wrote to the board - 7 drafts later after lots of sessions of feedback from the class we have been told we can continue our investigations!

By Tapeka, Zoe, Sadhbh and Nevaeh

Welcome to Opunake Communities Kindergarten

Welcome to Opunake Communities Kindergarten.  This centre has an amazing outdoor environment and won a 2014 Taranaki Regional Council Environmental Award for increasing environmental awareness and understanding.  We look forward to hearing more about the great things you are doing. 

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: We sent congratulation letters to Uruti School

Enviro Learning @ Toko School: We sent congratulation letters to Uruti School: Here is Uruti School enjoying the congratulation letters that our enviro class sent to them.  We wanted to say well done on being recognise...

Welcome to Stratford Primary!

Stratford Primary School (SPS) are forging ahead with their enviro - action with the 'SPS TUI's' leading the way! We are looking forward to finding out more about their plans and action via this blog.

Parihaka Day at Frankleigh Park Kindergarten

Parihaka Day was celebrated at our kindergarten last week.  In preparation for this our children have been drawing and painting the 3 feathers of Te Atiawa onto calico flags. 

The story has been shared about Rangimarie- the peace and goodwill of Parihaka.  We lit our peace candle, recited a karakia and then moved outside to see our banner of flags strung between the tree and our Whare Rakau. This was followed by delicious kumara chips.

This story has enabled children to develop an understanding about the concepts of peaceful resolution and negotiation and to learn about a unique historical event which happened here in Taranaki.

This will become a tradition to be shared each year on November 5th. 
Kia tou te rangimarie
i roto i tenei kura
o tatou e tenei wa
Peace be with us all in this kindergarten at this time.

 

Royal Visit!

Enviroschools Taranaki was invited to take part in the recent Royal Visit to New Zealand, given how interested Prince Charles is in sustainability and empowering youth. A party of around 50 represented Enviroschools in the region near the Te Rewa Rewa bridge.

Katie Sinclair & Bailey Bright from Opunake High School spoke with His Royal Highness and explained what they do within their school and the community to support sustainability within their region. Simon Fuller, Opunake High School’s Principal, was on hand to discuss with the Prince how great Enviroschools is for students and the school in general. In particular, His Royal Highness was impressed with the students’ community work and their recent trip to Bali where they volunteered at schools either teaching English or helping build a classroom.

     

Kim Waite, Principal, Marie Stark, lead Enviroschools teacher, & Keith Mitchell, BOT Chair, all from Toko School, were able to demonstrate the benefits of having the full support of the staff and Board to create success in an Enviroschool. Toko School is a prime example of this with their recent Silver Enviroschool achievement. Around 35 Toko school students from the Envirogroup were on hand to explain to the Prince the results of their investigations into the differences between rural and coastal waterways and what was required to sustain each.

Lauree Tito, Regional Coordinator for Taranaki Enviroschools & Esther Kirk, Resource and PD Manager for Toimata Foundation, were able to further explain the benefits of the Enviroschools programme to His Royal Highness. Lauree and Esther presented him with a copy of the 2014 national Enviroschools census report.

Lauree is really proud to have been able to showcase the Enviroschools kaupapa and thanks the students & staff for the fabulous job they all did of representing their schools, their whānau, their community & the province. It was an honour to be part of the day.

   

    

New Enviroschools Display

At our kindergarten, we have been brainstorming for a while about the way we'd like to display our Enviroschools information. We feel that Enviroschools has become a huge part of our culture and our programme, and we want parents, whānau, and visitors to be able to see this in our display.

After attending an Enviroschools Hui, our Head Teacher (Alayne) shared her learning that the Enviroschools journey can be represented by a river. There are waves, eddies, distributaries, etc. that impact the direction of your journey, but you keep paddling together in your waka, and you learn and grow together.

We loved this image, and decided to use it in our display. One of our teachers offered to paint a mural of a river to be the background of our display, which we had decided would take up the length of an entire wall, over the doors to the office and an entryway.

We incorporated koru-like waves into the painting. This is to tie the Enviroschools display in with the broader philosophy and culture of our kindergarten. We have a unique koru-based background which we use in many of our displays and throughout children's portfolios, so these wave koru are reminiscent of that overarching image.

When it was finished, we fit the painting into the Enviroschools display area. It certainly brightened up the white walls!

We then added our display information, all tied together by the background of the river painting.

This display includes our Enviroschools philosophy, our Care Code, our Enviroschools vision, a picture of our kaitiaki (who protects our gardens), and many pictures of our children engaging in sustainable practices. 

As a team, we are very pleased with our new Enviroschools display, feeling that it is a beautiful and inviting way to express the importance of this programme in our kindergarten. We will keep updating the pictures of the children's involvement (as well as the other items as we review and refine them) to keep the display relevant and interesting.