Enviroschools Hui

On Monday, October the 21st the Gore Main School Envirogroup attended the Enviroschools Hui in Invercargill.  This was an opportunity for Enviroschools to come together and participate in some different workshops.  It was great to meet up with other Enviroschool kids, whom we have come to know over the previous years.  Our group helped out Middle School by weeding a patch of garden, which will be their new vegetable garden.  We also looked at a town and talked about all the things that made this town sustainable.  We learnt about an electric car.  This was very interesting, plug it in, charge it up and off it goes!  There were stalls set up so that we could gain new information on things, i.e. the benefit of dung beetles, native pests, and factory free farming.  The highlight of the day was the 'Trading Game'.  Each Envirogroup had to bring a product that they had created.  They had to stand up in front of the audience and advertise their product.  Gore Main spoke very clearly about their worm juice and held up a poster that we had made prior.  After each group had advertised their product the groups could decide which product they wanted and they had the opportunity to trade.  We traded our worm juice for beautiful hand made lavender bags.  It was a good day and it gave us some good ideas about things that we could aspire to do in the future.

Something we are always doing...

Playing a game with Pat Hoffman

Meeting up with friends from Te Anau

Looking at different products made by other Envirogroups

Advertising our worm juice

Yazmin and Konnah talking

Konnah

Yazmin

Ben

Emily

Ben 

Deciding what we want to trade our juice for

Some of the Gore Main School Envirogroup

Ben opening our wormjuice

The electric car

   

Raised Garden "working bee"

Our beautiful raised vegetable gardens and worm farms get so many kids working and looking around them that the grass was turning to mud!  This meant that children had muddy shoes in the classrooms and at home!  NOT GOOD!  We decided to put gravel down around the raised garden and worm farm area!  We called for some help and arranged a working bee for Saturday the 19th of October!  We had some keep parents and supporters turn up and we got the job done.  We were lucky enough to have a digger turn up to scratch off the top layer of grass for us!  This saved so much time!  We then tidied up the whole area, put weed mat down and placed gravel in the area.  This will make our gardening and worm farm area more sustainable because we can get in comfortably, without getting filthy, to be able to work!  Thank you to these people who are helping to ensure that Gore Main School has a wonderful environment to learn in...

Steve and Kimberley Dixon "Concrete Structures Ltd" - For donating the use of and your time to work your digger.  This made the job so much easier!   Having the digger arrive put a really positive vibe throughout the working bee and I do not think we would have achieved this task without you!

Robina-Lee Johnston - You are so passionate about the environment Robina!  Thank you for your on-going support, ideas and physical ability to work hard.  Also, your trailer backing skills....

Anthony McCorkindale - Thank you for working extremely hard at the working bee!  You dug, shifted, lifted wheelbarrows, unloaded gravel.... The list goes on!  You also donated weed mat to go under the gravel around the garden and supplied the children (and adults) with refreshments while we worked!  You are extremely generous!

Deanne and Matt Barnett - Thank you for donating and organising the gravel to go around the raised garden.  You guys are always willing to help around Gore Main School.

Johanna and Peter Hargest (Teacher and husband) - For being passionate about children's education.
Nicky and Glenn Millar (Teacher and husband) - For being passionate about children's education.

Check out the photos below that show the work that we achieved on this day!

Yay!  We have Steve Dixon and his digger!

 Moving dirt that the digger had loaded!

Waiting to move the wheelbarrow out

Does anybody want a pikelet?

Putting weed mat down before the gravel

Gravel going over top of weed mat

Everybody is working hard!

Even the children are getting into it... Go Clayton!

 Thank you Steve Dixon from "Concrete Structures Ltd"

Ben eating pikelets

It is starting to shape up!

Shovel that gravel in there boys!

Operating the digger

Spreading gravel out evenly

Ben eating pikelets...

Job nearly done...

I though the job was nearly done...

Stop working Robina!

Stop working Matthew!  We must be nearly finished!

Yay... we have finished!  JOB DONE!

Te Anau 'Green Team' visit

On Friday the 6th of September the Gore Main School Envirogroup had a visit from another Envirogroup, the 'Te Anau Green Team'.  We came together to celebrate what both schools had achieved so far this year, to look at what each of the groups had been doing and to gain new ideas and insights into future projects.  We were joined by Mark and Pat from Environment Southland.  Their expertise is always invaluable!  The day began with a welcome and then morning tea (Te Anau had a long drive).  After that Te Anau presented a powerpoint to everyone of their adventures.  It was very interesting!  We loved the Taniwha made out of tyres!  After that Gore Main showed off their blog!  Te Anau have now decided that they would like to create a blog of their achievements. All ready the day has been a success.  It is so good to share ideas and inspire one another!! After that we broke into mixed groups (Te Anau/Gore).  By now the children had become familiar with each other and more comfortable.  We roamed around Gore Main School brainstorming all the learning that may happen and evolve out of existing projects, for example the worm farm.  The groups worked very well together and they came up with amazing learning ideas.  Then the children had to produce a poster about a particular area in the school (tunnel house, worm farm, vision map, native garden, Milk for schools or raised gardens) and present it back to the rest of the audience.  These activities were enough to get the children thinking about the amazing learning opportunities that they have in their schools and to work together to produce and present a piece of work.  The day finished by each of the children planting out a small plant in the new Gore/Te Anau garden!  This was an amazing day and hopefully the Gore Main School Envirogroup can visit the Te Anau Green Team soon!

Check out the photos of the day!

Te Anau and Gore Envirogroup kids!

Getting the powerpoint underway!  Go Green Team!

Children from both schools breaking into groups!

Looking at the Tunnel house and what we can learn in there

Milk for schools - A big responsibility for the Gore Main School Envirogroup!

Go Envirogroup kids!

Thinking about the vision map and its use!

Back in the classroom designing posters for others to gain new information!

Busy girls!

LUNCH TIME!

Children eating lunch!

A run around at lunch time!

Ben (5 year member) of Envirogroup 

Emily (5 year member of Envirogroup)

Planting out the Te Anau/Gore garden

Fonterra Grassroots fund - Tunnel house/Worm farms

Last year the Gore Main School Envirogroup applied to the Fonterra Grassroots fund for financial assistance towards a new tunnel house and worm farms.  The Fonterra Grassroots funding committee approved a sum of money and Gore Main School was able to purchase a tunnel house and more worm farms!  This is incredibly exciting for the Envirogroup because it means we can now start growing and propagating our own seedlings to sustain our gardens.  Our goal is also to provide seedlings or plants to different community organisations and we are working towards this.  The children watched the tunnel house be erected and were directly involved in putting the gravel and mats in to begin the new enterprise.  It has been hard work but our tunnel house is up and we look forward to adding more value to it with surrounding beautification as we move forward.  We can also feed future seedlings and plants with worm juice that our (fat and juicy) worms are producing!  Thank you Fonterra Grassroots fund!

Beginning to construct the tunnel house

Starting to take shape...

Looking more an more like a tunnel house!

Working inside to complete the tunnel house!

Putting in fill to level up the tunnel house

Gore Main School Envirogroup working together

Get that floor level!

The tunnel house and new working table to do our potting and growing

Looking good

Feeding birds

On our vision map it indicates that we would like to have more birds in and around our environment at Gore Main School!  As part of our new garden in our school, which is full of native plants, we decided to put in a bird feeder to attract birds!  The timber and time to make the bird feeder was donated to the Envirogroup!
Awesome!  Room 7 also decided that bird feeders would be a good technological project.  They designed their own bird food by researching recipes and then they made bird feeders out of recycled products.  It has increased the amount of birds in our school!  We have waxeyes eating off the bird feeders every day!

The bird food and feeders that Room 7 designed to attract more birds!  It has worked!  Well done Room 7!

The new bird feeder in the native garden.