ENVIROSCHOOL’S GREEN / GOLD CELEBRATION DAY!
We would like to invite parents and the community to this event and anyone who has been involved in helping the school reach this amazing level of achievement. So please add the 13th November to your family calendar as the school is celebrating becoming a Green-Gold EnviroSchool. There are so many people, including ex-students, who have played a significant part in helping us achieve our goal
of becoming a ‘Green-Gold’ EnviroSchool and we would love to have all those who contributed come along to celebrate with us. The day will begin outside the Oroua Street entrance beside the mural at 9am with a student lead powhiri. There will then be presentations, speeches and a kapa haka performance in the school hall followed by a morning tea. As part of this celebration the school will be open to the public between 11am and 12pm.

This is an opportunity for students to share and talk about some of the exciting things that they have been involved in. This a chance for the school ambassadors to show you first hand what has gone into achieving this prestigious award.

We are planning to wrap up the celebrations with a school hangi lunch.

Enviroschool Interview with Radio New Zealand

Ned and Samantha speak on National Radio about Enviroschools.

Well done! -Listen to MP3 National Radio EnviroSchools

Room 5's Buddy Beach Clean-Up

This week Room 5 helped to clean up Eastbourne
Beach with our Room 13 Buddy Class. We
held the rubbish bags while our buddies
picked up rubbish with their gloves on.

We were pleased to find that the beach was pretty clean really. Let's hope people keep it this way!

The Year 3 and 4 Team clean Up the Beach

Yesterday the Year 3 and 4 team set off to clean up the beach. It was windy and wild but fun. Actually there wasn't as much rubbish as we thought there would be but there was still enough to need a clean.

If everyone took their rubbish home the beach would be a lot better.

'GREEN DAY" - Senior School Action Day

Today was Muritai Senior Schools ‘Green Day’
‘Green Day’ was a concept thought up by students as an ‘Action’ from the Take Action For Water unit.

Students were able to incorporate a whole day of environmentally focused ideas:

• Bring a spade plant a tree.
• Wear Green or Recycled clothes (some interesting clothing came out of parents wardrobes)
• Walk, Bike or Bus.
• Nude food - No wrappers (See below at 5 & 6 nude food day)
• Donations for a water tank.
• Stone collection for the garden path.
• Enviroteam Thank You cards created.
• Garden make over.
• Less light

What a fantastic day. The planting of 102 native trees was the highlight.
Students carefully planted a selected tree. (Before planting a group of students had done research on conditions, planting needs, space etc). When it come to planting students had to know what type of tree they were planting. Many went as far as naming their tree eg. Terry Totara and Kevin Kowhai. Potting mix, compost, worm wee and a lot of TLC went it the planting.

Excitement! 102 Natives

Today 102 Native Trees were delivered By Richard from Greater Wellington Regional Council. The trees were purchased by GWRC from Forest and Bird and given to the School to Support our Action learning, from last term's 'Take Action for Water Unit'

Gardening and Visitors to the Senior School

It was lovely to have the Year One students visit the Senior School EnviroArea. While the Gardening group worked hard in the Senior
School garden.

Year 5/6 Nude Food Day!

What a fantastic day we had today! It was our very first Nude Food Day. All of us made a real effort to try to minimise the waste from our lunchboxes.
Check out the difference in the rubbish from last Thursday to this Thursday!
Last Thursday

This Thursday
Have a close look at the waste that was collected today. Is there any way we can reduce this even more?
Feel free to give some suggestions when you comment!

What a Load of Rubbish!

Yesterday the Year 5 and 6 Team got together to take a closer look at the waste we were creating each day from our lunchboxes. We were quite shocked by what we discovered. We had a big chat about how we can reduce the waste that is ending up in our bins.






We have decided to take action! An action group has been established to educate us on how we can make our food nude. Next Thursday is going to be our first 'Nude Food Day' where all of us will try to think carefully about what we are putting in our lunchboxes so we can reduce the waste.

Keep checking out this blog for more information!

Take Action for Water explore day.

Today room 21 went on its Take Action for Water explore day. We spent our day testing two very different streams and exploring what creates a healthy stream. Catchpool Stream in the Rimutaka Park was very healthy with lots of mayflies and stoneflies to be found. It also had lots of big rocks in the stream bed and trees to provide bank stability, shelter and food for the aquatic animals. Black Creek in the middle of Wainuiomata was very different with lots of human impacts to be seen.

Take Action for Water - Jigsaw Reading

Last week during inquiry Room 15 were investigating animals that live in the catchment. Each reading group read a fact sheet about one animal, either the mayfly, cased caddisfly, the banded kokopu or the long-finned eel. After becoming 'experts' on an animal we then split up and went to another group to present our findings and listen to others about their animals.
We are now 'experts' on all four animals!

Worms & Compost

One of the main ways of managing and reducing the waste we create are composting and worm farming. These are great ways of diverting food scraps from heading off to the landfills and it is also fantastic for our school vege and herb garden.

Kapa Haka at Muritai School

Yesterday I was busy working in my office when I heard the waiata 'E Papa Waiari' coming from the school hall. Being blown away by such wonderful singing I just had to go and investigate which children were working with Mr Chadwick as part of the schools kapa haka programme. I was greeted by both room 8 and 10 (Year 3) who were learning 'Tii Rakau' (actions with sticks). There was a high level of engagement as it was clearly evident the children were enjoying this fantastic learning opportunity.

Every Wednesday morning throughout terms 2 and 3 Raihania is leading a school wide kapa haka programme for our Year 3 to Year 8 students. He is also taking waiata at junior assemblies held every second Friday. The programme aims to provide rich learning experiences and performance opportunities for three kapa haka groups. We are very fortunate to have such a talented and passionate teacher with skills and knowledge in this area of learning.

How are the Veggies Growing?

Wow the cabbages and broccoli are getting really big. The weather has been warm but wet and veggies love that. The carrots have not done so well but the spring onions are growing well and so are the lettuces. The rain has helped our plants a lot. Now we need lots of warmth from the sun as well.
We are learning about garden creatures at the moment and then moving on to composting in a few weeks. This is a fun inquiry and we really are making a difference with plants!

ANZAC DAY

I recently attended the Eastbourne ANZAC day ceremony where Muritai had a heavy involvement, not only in the upgrade of the memorial wall but also in the proceedings itself. I was immensely proud of the senior school kapa haka group for the way they set the tone with a heart warming haka. It was encouraging to see the mutual respect shown between the returned servicemen and our Y7/8 young leaders during that special moment. We also had our student representative Ned Grenfell and Ellen Sullivan lay a wreath, symbolizing the special relationship Muritai School has with the RSA. Ned and Ellen also had the honor in assisting with the unveiling of the newly added names of the soldiers who did not return to Eastbourne. It was moving ceremony and one which I believe is symbolic of the community spirit of Eastbourne.

BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing

The Year 5 to 8s are studying WATER.

The Big IDEA
To understand the importance of being kaitiaki (guardians) of the environment, and that our waterways are interconnected and have mauri (life force)

The platform for learning will be the “TAKE ACTION FOR WATER” programme, which is an exciting unit supported by Greater Wellington Regional Council. Take Action for Water is an environmental education programme developed in order to give students the opportunity to learn about the value of water, preserve our most important resource and take action to keep the environment healthy and clean. The unit develops children’s environmental awareness and teaches the skills needed to act responsibly for the world.

The Veggie Garden

In the last week of school we finally planted out the boxes. It was such a hot day that some of us sat under the shady tree while we waited for our turn. Firstly we put in the compost with the potting mix and really mixed it together. To keep the plants happy we watered it a little before putting them in. 

In the boxes we made little holes for the roots and carefully placed in the cabbage,lettuce, broccoli, carrot and spring onion seedlings. Then we watered them again very carefully. Now we have to water them regularly and wait for them to grow.

Very exciting!

Shopping for Plants.

The Year 3 and 4 team are growing plants at school to make some soup for the whole team.We have had to learn a lot about how plants grow and what their needs are to survive and are now ready to plant up our boxes. They were made from recycled timber by our caretaker Ted. Thanks Ted.
On Wednesday Mrs Chao took a group of students to buy the plants we needed for our planter boxes. Armed with a list for each class we started at Pak and Save as they have bundles of plants at a good price. Well when we got there we found that the bundles were 2 for $5 so they were a bargain!
Each class decided as a group which vegetables they wanted to grow. Dorrie and William needed peas and cabbages for Room 11. Just to be sure we checked the packet to see if peas grew in autumn and they do !
Room 10 had a big list and Harrison was in charge of it. Room 8 were going to share vegetables from other classes and Louis knew a lot about plants and was very helpful.
Room 11 already had carrots,lettuces, broccoli and strawberry plants. Thank you Jessica for bringing them to school. We found most of what we needed and bought them at the checkout.
Sadly we couldn't find spinach and some of the herbs but we got celery instead. Lots of people probably can give us cuttings of herbs for our garden and that won't cost us anything. Good gardeners share plants with their friends.
It was great that we were able to buy the plants and not spend a lot of money. We spent about $17 for 6 bundles of plants and a packet of peas.
All we need to do now is to plant out the boxes and look after them...

Green/Gold Taskforce

It’s an exciting time for Muritai. We are in the process of gaining Green / Gold as an Enviroschool. A taskforce has been set up to establish where we are at and what we need to do to become a Green / Gold School.

Where we are at:
We have a living, evolving school where progress is celebrated and new ideas are being added all the time. The Guiding Principles are woven into all aspects of our school life. Environmental sustainability is part of all our decisions and everything we do. Students at our school have a strong sense of connection to the environment - we know we can effect change for a sustainable world. The enquiry and action is mainly led by students. We have been able to measure many changes from our actions, and show that we are making a difference. The environment is more vibrant and healthy; it feels like a living ecosystem that can support our community towards sustainability. Māori perspectives are enriching our journey. The school is involved with our community, honouring the diversity of people within it.

Weta Alert!

Room 5 appears to be a great place for children and wetas! Today Eden and Maya found another weta on the deck outside our classroom. It's not unusual for our weta friends to visit our classroom, but today's weta was quite a big one! Eden and Maya did the right thing and captured it so they could later release it back into our garden - well done girls :)

Photos Online

Check out the online photo gallery and also check the power from our solar panels.

Muritai Schoolgen Website

New Year New Energy.

What a great start to 2009. This year we have got straight into our environmental commitment.

• The ‘Greenhouse’ has been created. This is an environment learning classroom and celebration space.
• 12 new solar panels on our ‘greenhouse’ (Environmental classroom) roof.
• A really enthusiasm school
• A top 13 Enviro leadership group. They have been given full training and workshops.
• The Environmental focus group of 42
• Compost and food scrap bins were out on the first day of school
• All the classes in the school are looking at their waste management and are very excited about being and Enviro-School.

The Team

Muritai gets solar panels.

Muritai School is really lucky to be the first schools in Wellington to become a Schoolgen school and have solar panels installed.

Schoolgen is a programme developed by Genesis Energy (one of New Zealand's largest energy retailers and electricity generators) to bring solar energy to life for children across New Zealand. They want to bring solar energy to life in a fun, exciting way to children because young people are our future leaders and decision makers.

Genesis Energy has funding for Schoolgen to bring solar panels to 56 schools across New Zealand by 2010.

It is so exciting to be one of these school and even more exciting is that Muritai School has been chosen as the school to launch this programme in the Greater Wellington region with a grand opening on the 17th of February.

Hutt City acknowledgement

We had a very special assembly today with special guests from Hutt City Council. We welcomed them to the school with a Powhiri followed by celebrations of the wonderful achievements Muritai has made in the journey to become a green/gold enviro-school. Jean Pugh (enviroschool facilitator), Sandy Beathcroft (Hutt City Environmental Sustainability co-ordinator) and Joy Baird (Hutt City Councillor) presented Muritai with a certificate acknowledging the hard work the school has been making. Joy delivered a well received speech which made mention of all the class and school activities. Hutt City Council has provided invaluable support to Muritai over the last few years as part of the enviroschools programme.

Armistice Day celebrations

We are very lucky to have a war memorial on the school grounds. It is a significant feature of our school environment. We were pleased to be able to be part of the Armistice Day celebrations at the War Memorial this year. The Eastbourne RSA invited the senior students to be part of the proceedings and we chimed in with haka and waiata to show our appreciation of the contribution our armed services have made to our countries history. Feedback from the RSA has been hugely positive and it is nice to be able to continually play our part in our community celebrations.

Attracting Wild Birds into your Garden

Room 11 with the help of Rebecca Neal made clay bird feeders to sell at the carnival. Students went in small groups to Rebecca's studio to make their own creation with the help of a few keen parents. After they were fired students painted the bird house lids with their own designs.Rebecca glazed them and fired them again.
We were all very impressed with our efforts and wanted to keep them. A few lasted till the carnival and we sold them along with some packets of luxury bird seed. The bird seed will help attract wild birds into our gardens which is good for both us and the environment.

Why Paper Isn't good for the Environment!

Today we had a special visitor, Murray Sim, who told us all about paper production and what was involved. Murray worked as an industrial chemist at the Kawerau paper mill in the late 80s. It was amazing to learn how different types of paper were made. We didn't really know about all the nasty chemicals used to bleach and clean the wood pulp to make special kinds of paper. Did you know that shiny thick glossy paper like in the real estate magazines has latex in it?
Murray showed us how different types of paper burn and what was left afterwards. Newsprint burns almost completely but the thick glossy paper smelled like plastic and quite a lot of it was left after burning. What was left was the latex.
This afternoon we are making a brainstorm about the environmental issues involved in paper making. It really isn't a clean and environmentally friendly process at all. This has made us really think about how much paper we use.
Thank you Murray for giving up your time to talk to us!

Greater Wellington Regional Council Awards

Yesterday on the fifth of November 2008, Mr Eames, Mrs Berry, Ned, Phoebe and I, went into Wellington, to the Greater Wellington Regional Council meeting room. Muritai School got through to the finals of The 2008 Environmental Awards- Meridian School Sustainable Project Award.

A few weeks after being nominated for the award, some council members came to our school, for a walk around, so we showed them around, all the projects, and the progress.

They said they were impressed, and they would get back to us (Muritai). So they did. During the awards the three schools which had made it to the finals were waiting patently, for a winner. The award went to Fernridge School, for their awesome part in the protection of the environment. We received a a merit certificate, and a baby Kowhai tree

We did really well to get into the finals, and next year we can hope to get our projects, finished, and we might even get the award.

Sophie McElwain-Wilson

October plantfest!!

Today we installed 3 raised gardens made from recycled tyres, ( thank-you to the Tony's crew!!) These gardens are filled with our special compost and worm wees, then topped off with potting mix. We planted zucchini's, butternuts, capsicums and herbs.
We also planted out more wonderful spinach, corn, new potatoes and celery. Sadly it was too windy to plant the beans, tomatoes and capsicums, but we will install a trellis for running these plants up over the next week - weather permitting!
Also we potted out radish seeds, they are really quick growers, in fact it only takes 31 days from planting to eating!!!

Mr Bird - Riding to work

Mr Bird has started biking to work. Check out the flash new helmet.

First Potato!

Staff Meeting 14th October

Students presented their reflections, evaluations, ideas and findings to the staff. Then Karyn Burgess discussed Muritai's Green / Gold Progress. The teachers were very proud of the students and appreciated their efforts. Karen was extremely impressed with the School. Well Done Muritai.

Art inspired by Shaun tan

For our calendars this year we chose to use some recycled materials. Many of the artworks you see here have a message.
For our artwork we used an illustration from The Red Tree by Shaun Tan as our inspiration.
We looked closely at the illustration. We spoke about the main shapes that we could see and the colours that were used. We also looked at how the layering effect was created and what messages were being given.
As a class we wrote a brief procedure on how to complete the work. We had to make sure we started from the background and worked our way up.
We dyed newspaper, cut out old pictures from dictionaries, magazines and junk mail.
This took us a long time but the art we have completed is amazing.
Come up to our class and have a closer look if you like.

Muritai Regional Coordinator Visit – 14th October 2008

On Tuesday the 14th October Karyn Burgess (Enviroschools Regional Coordinator) came to school to work with the students and teachers to reflect on and evaluate the progress made at Muritai as part of the process of working towards a green-gold award.

As well as to finding out what’s happening at Muritai we had to find out how good we are at reflecting and evaluating on our own practice.

We shared all the exciting things the school and community has been doing. Karyn really enjoyed the enthusiasm and commitment from everyone.

At the end of today’s visit Karyn was able to tell us what needs to be done to reach Green Gold and what the process from here is.


It was an exciting, stimulating and rewarding day.

The End is Nigh!

Tomorrow is the last day of term. Sad in some ways as it has been fantastic but we are all very tired and could all do with some family time. The Lorax last week was a huge success and I was so impressed with the confidence and the capability of the children. It is well documented that the year 8 children were my new entrant group when I started and they really raised the bar when performing in the show. It is so nice to see them progress from 5 to 13 - it is a real journey for them. I was so impressed with our lead actors that carried the show. Georgie and Finn as the Lorax and Michaela and Kate as the Oncelor were just superb. We haven't had that level of dialogue in a show for a long time. Overall everyone pitched in and played their part and that is waht helped it to be such a great show.

Dangle

Han-Able the Can-Able Competition

At the beginning of the term we entered a competition to make monsters from recycled steel cans. Sadly we didn't win the competition but we received a wall clock made from recycled steel cans and a certificate for our creativity and participation. The entries were amazing and so was the overall winning one. Well done to everyone who entered.
BubbleShare: Share photos - Powered by BubbleShare

Solar Power at Muritai -By Mr Bird

We always have new things on the go at Muritai. One of the latest things is the prospect of linking up with Genesis energy and their SchoolGen programme. Schoolgen is a programme developed by Genesis Energy to bring solar energy to life for children and schools across New Zealand. When our year 5 and 8 children looked at renewable resources as part of their inquiry, solar and wind power was investigated very closely by the children as potential dominant forces when oil is no longer available. Working with Matt Skilton and Stephen Eames we have got ourselves involved in the process to bring solar power to Muritai. Today we were visited by a team from Genesis Energy and Lulu, Georgie and Ned gave our visitors a very thorough tour of our school with a specific focus on the Enviroschool programme which is such a dominant part of our daily life. This is the big world in action. Well done team and fingers crossed for sustainable energy at Muritai School.

Bright Sparks

Watch out for Room 11's environmental newsletter "Bright Sparks". The link came by email to all families at Muritai School. It contains all kinds of helpful information about what goes on at school and how you can help save our environment.

We would like the changes to became habits rather than a one off thing. If everyone just changed a few bad habits then maybe ...

Wellington Science Fair Success

Ned in Room 21 won the NZ Farm Forestry Association Award at the Wellington NIWA Science with his display on what is the best firewood?
He looked at a range of properties, including which wood is the most environmentally friendly.

Freya in Room 23 won the Victoria University of Wellington College of Education Award for her display on Wonderful Wind.

Rosie Reid in Room 23 won the Meat & Wool New Zealand Award for her display on: Which is the most effective fibre to make recycled paper?

Conservation Week Beach Clean Up

As it was also Conservation Week Room 11 decided to join their little Room 4 buddies and walk to the beach for a cleanup. Despite the cold winds we were full of enthusiasm and ready for our mission. It was great to see that since our last clean up there was not as much rubbish. Hopefully people are being more responsible and taking their rubbish home. Well done everyone!
Check out our slideshow.

Cowley Street School Powhiri

Today we welcomed Cowley Street School to Muritai with a powhiri. It was great to that the Kapahaka Roopu (group) were able to show what they have been practicing and apply it in such a natural setting to welcome visitors to our school, who were here to see some of the wonderful things that occur throughout Muritai School.

Room 13's Eco-bulbs have arrived!!!

After writing letters to over 10 local companies asking for donations for energy efficient light bulbs only one offered to help us out. Thank you so much Placemakers Seaview who gave us 116 eco bulbs for every member of the Year 5/6 Team. The bulbs will be well used in homes throughout Eastbourne and surrounding bays.

Placemakers you rock!!!

Proven Energy Wind Turbine Launch

Friday 8th August - Proven Energy Launch.

The Honourable Trevor Mallard launched the first Proven Energy Wind Turbine by throwing the switch on a 6kw unit at the premises of E Sime Ltd in Seaview.

Daranee Bolger in Room 23 wrote a letter to the editor about wind power production which was published in the Dominion Post in July, as a result of this a group of students with Mr Eames and Ms Berry got invited to this exciting event. It was great to see so many people from the Eastbourne community as well as government officials and important people. They all said how good to was to have students there.

Concluding our Friendly Footprint Inquiry

In Room 4, we have now completed our Friendly Footprint Inquiry.
To conclude and share our findings, we have made a scrapbook of our thinking skills brainstorming, photos, posters and ideas; and have presented it to our Enviro Schools team. Here is a taste of what you can see inside our scrapbook!

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

Some of us have become Tree People - have you?

Solar Powered Bedside Lamp - Room 14

We had a great day making these with Stan. Check out the video. You could even make your own!

Monster Maker Competition - Room 14

Last week we designed and constructed creations made mainly from steel cans. The focus was on recycling the cans and finding another use for them. Check out our pictures. We had lots of fun making them!

Solar Powered Pump - Room 14

A couple of weeks ago Stan came in and showed us how to pump water using the energy from the sun. We had a bucket half filled with water, a pump and a solar powered panel.
Using the energy from the sun we pumped the water through the hose and had some fun squirting it!
Wouldn’t this be a good idea for people in other countries who have to walk for miles to get their water. They could use the energy from the sun to do it.

The Lorax - Term Three Production

The 2008 school production is based on the Dr Seuss book ‘The Lorax’
The Lorax has an environmental message that we feel is very relevant to student learning and links nicely with Muritai’s environmental commitment. Planning is well underway and it should be a wonderful show.
We will keep you updated on the progress!

Take Action For Energy.

The students in Room 23 have created some amazing inquiry work.
Based on their findings they created presentations and resources to inform/change the opinions of the people they interviewed and others with the same views. Here some of the informative posters.

Solar Powered Torches

On Tuesday the 1st of July we were lucky enough to have Stan Swan come into our classroom to show us how to make solar powered torches out of a garden lamp and card. They can also double up as a battery recharger too.
Stan gave us a short talk on energy to begin with, which was very interesting. I learnt that most of the energy in a light bulb is used up by heat and not light. It wastes 90% of its energy on heat! That is amazing! Stan also spoke to us about how amazing the sun was. Every form of energy traces back to the sun. For example we get energy from food that has been grown by the sun.
To begin with we dismantled the lamps and had to cut some of the plastic to make it small enough and portable. We had to be careful not to chop any of the wires.
After this we sanded the sharp edges to make them smooth and began to make the box to hold and protect the solar panel and wiring.
Stan drilled us a hole in the torch so we could poke through the LED (Light Emitting Diode).
The final step was to put the torches inside the box and make them look great.
What a great afternoon!

Room 14's Group Guided Reading

Yesterday we based our group guided reading around a discussion text about Global Warming.

The Earth is warmed by absorbing the sun. About a third of the heat is then reflected back into the atmosphere. This then becomes heat energy. Some of this heat can get trapped in the lower atmosphere by certain gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and water vapour. This means that with the build up of these gases the Earth is warming up. This is called the Greenhouse Effect.

We found out that we are releasing too many of these gases into the atmosphere and that it is causing a lot of damage. Palaeontologists believe that it will lead to more animals and plants becoming extinct. This will upset the food chain.

Something else we found out was that our pollution is greater now than it has ever been in history. If we don't make changes global warming will increase evaporation and as a result there will be less water to sustain forests. Farmlands could become deserts and the water in our lakes could become dry. We can't survive without water!

What are you as an individual trying to do to save the environment? What could you change to help?

Cowley Reading Group in Room 14

Room 12's new enviro blog!

Come and have a look at Room 12's new Enviro Freaks blog!!
This blog will show you what you can do to save energy and preserve our environment!

www.envirofreaks.blogspot.com.

Room 13's Wind Farm Investigation

This week Room 13 is writing an exposition on our opinion of building a wind farm in the hills above Eastbourne. After exploring www.generationisland.co.nz we recorded the pros and cons of wind energy on the T-chart below.

Friendly Footprints

Rooms 4 and 5 made friendly footprints all the way to the Senior School to explore how Muritai is an Enviroschool. Lulu and Kate were our enviro tour guides!

Firstly we went to see the big rubbish bins by the school library. In the big orange bin we place everything that is going to the landfill. In our new flash blue bin we put paper to be recycled. Our G.O.O.S.E. paper ends up either in the big blue bin or Mrs Skilton uses it for photocopying. Sometimes we draw on the G.O.O.S.E. paper too. We also saw one of the red food scrap bins and we were impressed to see food scraps in it! There is also an orange bin that we put glass, plastic in.

Next we travelled over to the Senior School to visit our friends the worms! The worms eat all of our food scraps and they turn it into worm juice. The worm juice is put into soil. The soil is used to grow vegetables. We were really impressed with how spectacular the gardens were. The vegetables were very healthy, big and juicy! Yummmmm!

We learnt that worms have two heads! Worms can’t eat all food scraps so the left over food goes into the compost bins. The compost is used for soil.

Muritai School even recycles classrooms! We saw the new Room 24 which is really a recycled classroom as it has been used before.

We would like to thank Lulu and Kate for teaching us how to leave Friendly Footprints at school and at home.

World Environment Day

World Environment Day

Our year 5 & 6 team decided that our action for World Environment Day would be to clean up some of our local environment. We cleaned up around Bishops Park playground and part of the beach area. We were incredibly surprised by how much rubbish we found.

Room 11's Beach Clean Up.

Our team's action for environment day was to do a beach and park clean up. Armed in pairs with gloves and rubbish bags we hit the beach at about 9.30. At first glance it didn't look too bad but once we got started we found lots of rubbish like plastic wrappers and cigarette butts.Quite a lot was hidden in the dunes. We were not impressed!
At the end we tipped out all out rubbish on the beach and looked at it. Yuk it was awful. We think that people should take their rubbish home and think about the impact that their rubbish has on the environment.
BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

Spades, Flax and Penguins!

Today Ms Berry and some of our Enviro-team met up with the Eastbourne Dune Preservation Society to complete a project, which was started two years ago.
They were just seeds when the we received them in 2006, but today the flax were big enough to be planted in the rocky area next to the Rec.
We worked along side the EDPS to create safe places where the little blue penguins can nest, when they come ashore later in July.
The children worked like troopers and managed to plant the 120 or so flax's in under one hour!
The society were really thankful for the children's help, and have asked us to harvest more native flax seeds to plant out next year.
It is really great to be an active part of keeping Eastbourne's wildlife and flora safe.
And we weren't the only ones at the rec today... we were especially blessed to find a tiny pair of little blue penguins snuggled tightly into a rock crack- just making sure we were planting the flax in the right place.
Well Done t all those involved!

Recycling Room 6!

We have been trying super hard to make sure that we recycle everything that we can in our room!
With our snazzy new 'rubbish' bin, it is easy for us to separate our rubbish from out recycling. The Enviroschools team came to talk to us about what we can put in our big green recycling bin and ever since, we have been working hard to make sure that we reduce, re-use and recycle everything that we can!
Ted has been a great help to us with this - letting us know when we have things in our bins that could go into different bins, we enjoy his visits to the class at the end of each day!
Just one way we are making Friendly Footprints in our community!

Junior Syndicate Walking School Bus

What a way to start the day!
The Junior Syndicate walked to school for World Environment Day. We certainly reduced our carbon footprints and had a lot of fun doing it!
It was fabulous to have lots of our older and younger brothers and sisters, Mums and Dads, teachers, dogs and even our Police Education Officer, Constable Catherine, joining us for our walk!
Have a look at our pictures to see all the fun we had, making a difference to the world that we live in!

Junior Team Tree Planting

Each of the classes in the Junior Syndicate planted their own Hebe Tree this afternoon. Ted helped us to plant our trees. We looked at how to 'wiggle' out the roots of the plant to ensure that the tree has the best opportunity to grow. We also looked at patting down the soil around the newly planted tree so that it will get comfortable and grow up big and strong.
Our collection of trees are next to the Dental Clinic and they look amazing!
It was so cool being able to plant trees to help our planet and also to help our school look even better than it already does!

Year 3 & 4 Visit to the Marine Education Centre

Our recent visit to the Marine Education Centre was fantastic!

Judy and Victor, the marine biologists who run the centre, taught our year 3 and 4 children many, many things about the creatures that live in, on and around Wellington's rocky shore coastline. Our children were fascinated as Judy and Victor talked about penguins, sharks, sea cucumbers (which apparently vomit up their guts when threatened!)... the amount of different creatures was huge!

We all had a chance to explore the rockpools around the education centre, under the expert eye of Victor, who hopped from rockpool to rockpool, pointing out many interesting things to the children as they explored. We then went into the marine lab, where Judy showed off the extensive collection of marine animal 'guests' the centre currently has. The 'touch pool' was a highlight!

A fantastic day- an ideal way to begin our term-long research and action inquiry into "The Rocky Shore"..

An Important part of Muritai's Environment.

In the recent Birds Eye View (volume 7) Andrew acknowledged the great turn out of Muritai School students at the Eastbourne ANZAC service. With help from the Eastbourne RSA the school now has a brand new national flag that flies proudly on the war memorial flagpole. Each morning the Y5/6 road patrollers raise the flag with great excitement and lower it again at the end of the day. The flag provides the children with yet another opportunity to develop a sense of pride and belonging.

Matt Skilton

Yah for New Bin!

Muritai waste management has stepped up with the arrival of a new bin. We are really getting into our recycling now.

Senior School Enviro Term

It is an exciting term for Enviro- Education with the whole school embarking on Environmental educational themes. The Senior School have just began exploring 'Energy' as part of their TAKE ACTION FOR ENERGY UNIT.



A super display in Room 21


Room 22 exploring fossil fuels

Swan Plants in Room 9!

BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.

Russell came into our class, Room 9, this morning to talk to us about the swan plants that we planted last year. Everyone in our class had a chance to stand up and report back about how their swan plant is growing.
Swan plants are the only plants that monarch butterflies can grow on. There is a special milk inside the leaves that monarch caterpillars eat. This is the only food that they can eat.

If we want more beautiful monarch butterflies in Eastbourne, we have to grow more swan plants! The seed pods that grow on the plants will eventually land in the soil and grow a new plant.

Some Room 9 members speak out about their swan plants:

Sally- "Agie (the rabbit)ate the stalk during the night" That was the end of Sally's swan plant!

Bridie- "My swan plant is up to my chin, but no butterflies on it."

Harry- "Mine is up to my tummy-button and two butterflies have hatched."

Ciaran- "25 butterflies have hatched from mine"

Gabriella- "35 butterflies have hatched from mine"

Billy- "Mine had 3 seed pods on it, it was up to my chin, then my sister broke it. But it is still living, just much smaller."

the team get stuck in!

Let the gardens begin...

Today Emily and the gardening team got started preparing the ground for the laying of the soil and wood surrounds for our veggie garden. It was a hard task as the ground was hard and riddled with rocks, sticks, and litter.
We marked out the perimeter of the garden with non toxic, biodegradable powder because we thought spray paint would be too toxic - not environmentally friendly.
Finn, Robert, Tim, Georgie, Gussie, Emily, and not to mention Petra (who at only 2yrs old is the youngest member of the team) all worked together to clear the patch in record time! Next up we will be building the raised walls ready to support the soil, then its on to mixing in our home made compost..... and finally it will be on to the veggies!

Enviro Training

Today Mr Eames and the Year 8s Trained up the Year 7 and the new Year 8 on Muritai's waste managements. Composting, worm farming, paper recycling and general Recycling.

Enviro Schools Team 2008

The Enviro- Schools Lead Student Team 2008

Feet first-walk to school week 3-7 March

Lets walk to School !!!!

Rm 22 begin their veggie quest!

What do you do with 5sq metres of unused soil? Create a space for students to explore the idea of growing and sustaining food crops of course!
This year we have invited gardening expert and parent Emily Tilley to lead this project, she will be working with a small group of students from Rm22 to clear and build our own veggie/herb garden -using compost from our bins, and worm wee's collected from our very own worm farm.
The students will learn about sustainable soil, seasonal crops, and companion planting.
Keep an eye out for more information and photo's as the transition from scrap land to tranquil paradise begin......

Ms Berry

New recycled classroom

Well done Muritai. Why build a classroom when you can Reuse a classroom!

Room 8 - helping the environment

In Room 8 we do lots of things to help the environment.

Check these out.

Paua - At Downstage

PAUA – an exiting new comedy thriller from the award winning Wellington based SEEyD Theatre Company.

Wow what a show. The Senior School were extremely lucky to have experienced this action packed performance. Students came back to school buzzing.

Lewis helps out be watering the seedlings THANKS Lewis

A native New Zealand weta is brought into class and adds interest to the day in Room 6.

Wow a food scraps bin has turned up in the senior school staffroom.

Teacher are leading by example. Mr Hull and Mr Devenport have been biking to work each day, Ms Jones has organised a carpool, Mr Bird has been seen scootering to work and Mrs Pace continues to bus to work. Well done teachers!!!

The Enviroschools team is recruiting new members and there are so many keen students. AWESOME.
Classes are taking on responsibilities. It is great to see the house bins already out. Thanks Room 8

Photos
Room 8 comes to collect the house bins and learn about the worm farm.

2008 Going for Green!!

2008 has started with huge enthusiasm towards Muritai’s Environmental focus.
The staff are 100% behind our goal to become a GREEN / GOLD school.

EnviroSchools projects on the go.

EnviroSchools WOW tour (World of Waste)

What a wonderful day. I was lucky enough to be involved in and support the WOW Environmental field trip. Twenty student volunteers came on this awesome adventure. We left Muritai and visited All Brites Recycling Depot to observe what is recycled and how it is processed. It was the most fascinating and intriguing place. Then after morning tea in the horticultural gardens and a quick play in the playground we went to the Silverstream Landfill to view the type and volume of waste we send to landfills, WOW alright! Then lunch at Max in Upper Hutt before going to Earthlink Facility “WastESMART” to see what can be salvaged from landfills and made useful. It was an exciting tour, all the students were inspired and full of ideas to help with Enviroschools projects of future.