5 + aday

During Term 3 the student council have worked hard to promote the message of healthy eating. This is all part of the 5 + aday challenge which we are entering. In week 9 we had our own Fruit Elections to choose our favourite fruit. A news reporter from the Eastern Bays Courier came and wrote an article in the paper.

Well done to the Student council for all their hard work and creativity.

Kiwi Release update

A very big HELLO to our partner schools.

Firstly some great news to share with you all. Our first chicks of the season have been hatched. Charlie and Taranaki are the successful parents!

And some news of your birds:-

Twisty did start sitting – again – but only to “give up after 26 days.

Totara  also started sitting but also gave up. We are not quite sure why this happens. Pete Graham mentioned that if they don’t make a good enough nest and it gets wet they will abandon it – the last few weeks of rain suggests that this may be the case. Charlie’s nest was well underground.

Coco, from Meadowbank School, has settled down happily in the QEII bush. He is a little young to breed this season but we will let you know should he surprise us.

Ako and his mate Pare settled in where they were released very close to our bach and Ako has just begun incubating – 11 days ago – so fingers crossed he will be successful. We often hear kiwi calling close to the bach now and assume it is Pare and Ako.

In October it will be Save Kiwi Month,  the  national campaign to help raise funds for kiwi, as well as awareness about the plight of kiwi. Check out the Kiwis for kiwi website http://www.kiwisforkiwi.org/ for ideas.

From Kevin and Gill Ashead

Mataia Restoration Project

  

Room 34's Mushrooms

Check out the mushrooms that we grew! We only got the bucket on Thursday and this is how big they were on Monday! Some of us took some home for dinner. Yum! Our mushrooms came from the Te Mata mushroom company.

The Orchard

Year 2 look after The Orchard. Over the holidays it had become over grown and in need of some TLC.  The children took to The Orchard with shovels and cutters to weed and cut back the plants and grass.  They re-created the pathway and collected the rotten and fallen fruit and tasted the delicious feijoas.

Tadpole's Promise

On Thursday 26th June the Year 2 children preformed their production of 'Tadpole's Promise'.  The night was a huge success with the children sharing their knowledge of life cycles through song, dance and acting.  In the run up to the production the children explored the concept of 'Change' and the life cycles of caterpillars and tadpoles.

Oxfam Fair Trade Day

This week we had our annual Oxfam Fair Trade day. The growers of many of the things we buy everyday like chocolate, coffee, bananas and many other products are often not paid fairly. Oxfam Morning teas help to make people aware of this issue and lets them know how they can get involved in making a difference. Money raised goes to help make a difference in the lives of the growers in the Pacific and South East Asia. 

Our event was a huge success and many people got involved. Well done and thank you to all the Enviro Fernz and Parents who got involved. 

Kiwi Release

At the end of last term the Envirofernz when to Mataia and had the privilege to name and release some kiwi into the wild. It was a great day as we were involved with some other local schools in this project. There were a number of other guests who also attended this special occasion.  Below is a video of our day.

   

  Click here to read the latest Mataia Restoration Newsletter which Meadowbank school features in.

Worm Farming in Year 2

Year 2 are responsible for worm farming on the Junior campus.  As the children are new to Year 2 Mrs Elmore took the children on a tour of the worm farms and talked about how to care for the worms and what they do to help the environment.

The children then made a puppet pal movie detailing the steps they need to follow to complete their worm farming responsibility.

The oceans our beautiful treasure

During Sea Week Room 35 created some art work of the creatures that live in the ocean based on some of our research we had done during Reading and Writing. We wanted to celebrate the beauty of the sea. It also made us think about how we are responsible for looking after this treasure and what we could do to show that we value the oceans and its creatures.

Saving the Reefs - Sea Week

This week Room 33 read some books on coral reefs. They created these posters to highlight the effects we have on the coral reefs and what we can do to stop their destruction.

Thanks Room 33 for sharing this with us.