Super Scarecrows ,Scrumptious Carrots and Saving Power!

Wow what a busy Wednesday afternoon we had this week as we headed into the action phases of several of the enviro projects in Year 5 and 6.  

FROM GARDEN TO PLATE

A group of children had been investigating how we could use the carrots in our garden.  They came up with the idea of making carrot cake and healthy raw carrot sticks.  They researched recipes and then had to think carefully about which recipe would  be best for us to use.  They harvested, cleaned and prepared the carrots for cooking.  We are very grateful to Sarah who brought along her expert knowledge and cooking skills to help them in the kitchen on Wednesday afternoon to make delicious carrot muffins for all the children in Year 5/6 to enjoy.  With Sarah's expertise they also learned how to prepare and make a yummy carrot salad. 

SUPER SCARECROWS

As we reflected on our school environment, several children in the Enviro group suggested that is was time we updated our scarecrows for the garden as they were looking rather tired.

A huge thank you to Zoe's Grandad who helped source some cool new clothes and to the group of children who worked so hard with Tanya and Tracey to make our Scarecrows look fantastic again!  

We are still on the lookout for  a couple of pairs of colourful shoes, gumboots and gloves to complete there new looks if anyone has some to donate!

We also planted some new flowers around them to add some colour during winter as we wanted them to be even brighter!

SAVING POWER

Well done to Zac who has also taken on the mission to encourage us to save power at Ashley School. He has created these signs to place around the school to  remind us to switch the lights off when we don't need them.  

He is also looking at ways to spot check if we are doing this!  I can't wait to see what he comes up with!

WELL DONE ASHLEY KIDS!

TERM ONE SO FAR!

OUR VISION:

We want our school to be welcoming and to look bright and colourful.

We want our school to be litter free.

We want our gardens to be well cared for with lots of crops and fruit to share.

We want our learning to be done  in a happy way in all the environments around the school.

The start of the year is always good chance to reflect on what we have done and look ahead to what we would like to do as an Enviro school. As we looked at our vision map we realised we have completed lots of things but also have lots we still would like to achieve.    

IN THE GARDEN:
Our garden has  certainly been well cared for with lots of crops and fruit to share this year.  We have had abundant crops of tomatoes, basil,  cucumbers, corn, capsicums, zucchini, carrots and potatoes.  The children in RAKAU came up with a plan to turn some of our produce into pickles, relish and jam which we could sell as a fundraiser for next year's camp.  This got us very busy in the kitchen learning lots about how to prepare the vegetables, follow recipes and also the importance of sterilising our jars.  We have also learned how we can store what we grow for future use!  

Children have also enjoyed cooking delicious roast potatoes and eating yummy corn on the cob, fresh cherry tomatoes and cool cucumber!  We know that we are eating food that is good for us !

ARE YOU ABLE TO HELP US?
If you or you know of someone who would like to help us out in our vege patch for an hour or two a week we would love to hear from you.  The kids adore opportunities to work in this area of the school!

We now have a much bigger storage tank for our rainwater collection.  A huge thanks to Ms Meehan who donated the large white tank and to Reg who has connected it!  This will be amazing next summer when it dries out again!

We have  started planning for a native garden that represents our classroom names to go at the entrance to the hall.  Reg has begun trimming some of the existing trees.  We now need to prepare the soil ready for planting soon!

The enviro group are also wanting to freshen up our school scarecrows over the next few weeks.  If you are keen to help that would be wonderful!

ENVIROCAMP 2018

At the end of February a small group of children from the envirogroup had the opportunity to join students and staff from other Enviroschools in Canterbury  to attend an overnight student leaders camp at Tutehurewa Marae in Port Levy. It was a great chance for children to develop their understanding of the unique cultural history of the area and to experience a pōwhiri and stay on a marae . They explored how people are making sustainable changes to improve our environment, including the regeneration of native forests and food gardens. A massive thank you to Sophie for supporting our students on this trip!

Ella went as far as to say " That is my favourite camp I have ever done!

The photos certainly show that they had an amazing time.

ZERO WASTE

The Zero Waste Lunchbox group have been collecting data over the last  few weeks from each class. Whilst there are small improvements in the number of children bringing zero waste lunches we still have a long way to go with it sitting at around 60% of all children bring zero waste lunches. 

We plan to have a Nude food Day in the near future to raise awareness of the packaging in our lunch boxes. Nude FooD is simply food that is not wrapped in foil, plastic or commercial packaging.  Promoting Nude Food helps  students to to think about their impact on the environment .  There are lots of helpful hints about how we can do this on this website: https://www.nudefoodday.com.au/resources/

YEAR 5/6 ENVIRO PROJECTS

The Year 5 and 6 children have also  been researching a range of  projects that support our vision.  There are groups who are: 

• creating bird feeders to encourage more birds.
• creating a plan for our friendship pole to make our environment brighter and more colourful.
• investigating ways to encourage us to save power.
• investigating ways we can use produce from our garden.
• looking at ways to  move towards our goal of Zero Waste lunches.
• developing a bug hotel so that we can explore different animal life and habitats.
• creating a new butterfly garden where we can explore life cycles in our environment
• looking at  the ethics of which chocolate we should use to make our hot chocolates.

I can't wait to see them begin their action phases!