Ta Dah!

Finally on the last day of the term it was fine enough for the drain painting group to get painting their slogans next to two of the storm water drains at school. This is so everyone who goes past these drains could be reminded that these drains lead straight to the sea and not to put any rubbish down them.

No Rubbish Down This Drain!

Working together to get the job done.

Drains Lead To Sea

Carefully does it!

What happens next........ how will we know if we have been successful in keeping rubbish out of the school drains so that only water flows to the sea and our beaches?
Two of the junior classes are working on keeping leaves out of the drains and we will do another audit of all 26 school drains next term to see if there is less rubbish being put in them.

The Bee Lady

Today we had a visit from the Bee Lady. She is a kaitiaki too. She cares about bees. She told us they are super important because they pollinate 80% of all the flowers, fruit and vegetables. There are about 20,000 different kinds of bees. Only Honey Bees make honey. They make honey to feed on.
People like to eat their honey too and we tasted some today. We also made candles out of bees wax, answered quiz questions and labelled the parts of a bee.

But that wasn't all......

We also went to visit Rooms 8 and 9 and shared a story with them about a stream that wasn't looked after and became polluted because people kept putting the wrong things into it.

Then today we delivered this letter to each of the classes in the school. We felt very proud, happy and special to be able to share what we had learned and to be asking others to help too. We also  took the posters we had made to some of the classrooms too.

Dear Stanhopers,

We have learned that stormwater drains all lead to the sea, so we have decided to pass this message on to you.

Our school has at least 26 stormwater drains, and there is rubbish down every single one of them! This rubbish goes out into the sea and harms all sea creatures.

Save our seas by not littering near stormwater drains.

Be a KAITIAKI today!!!

From Room 14

Keep reading our blog to find out what our next action is!!!

Poster Parade

Today at morning play some of us took our poster cards that we had painted out into the playground. We showed our slogans to the rest of the school, to the teachers in the staffroom and to Ms Tafa in her office. Some of the juniors needed us to tell them what the posters said. Some of the seniors cheered and asked questions and we asked them if they knew why we didn't want them to put rubbish down the stormwater drains.
We really enjoyed letting the rest of the school know about stormwater drains leading to the sea. We might even do this again tomorrow! But there is still more to come.

Ready to go!

Hmm what does that say?

Do you know why we don't want rubbish down the drains?

Back to the Stormwater Drains

We decided that the rest of the school needs to know that stormwater drains go straight to the sea because there is a lot of rubbish in our school drains. Whatever goes down a stormwater drain will end up in the sea. It's not like dirty water from our houses that is treated and cleaned before it is released out to sea again, stormwater just goes to the sea! So rubbish, oil, paint, detergent all end up in the sea and effect sea life as well as our beaches.
We decided that....
the rest of the school needed to know and our parents and families need to know this too.
So... we are making posters, making signs, telling a story, designing drain messages and writing a letter.
Here we are hard at work. keep reading our blog to find out what we are going to do!

Poster makers

Designer

Painters

The drain painters practising

Concentration!

Wastewise

Christine from Wastewise visited  the Mighty Middle School this week. Mrs C collected all the rubbish that the whole school had thrown away on Tuesday. On Wednesday all that rubbish was taken to the Hall and weighed and sorted.
Our job was to count all the recyclable things that had been thrown into the landfill bins in just one day. This is how much there was...

23 yoghurt pots

40 plastic containers

10 drink bottles

70 juice/drink packets

11 coffee cups!

That was 154 items altogether in one day.

In one school week that would be 770 items and in a whole term (10 weeks) that would be 7700 things put in the landfill bins instead of being recycled.

The Mighty Middle School shared what they had found out at assembly on Friday.

Our message to the senior school was put your recyclable things in the recycling bins!

Madam Butterfly

Today 28 June Madam Butterfly came to our school. She is a kaitiaki because she cares for the butterflies and moths. I learned that butterflies love nectar like bees. The part I enjoyed was when Mrs A dressed like a butterfly. I think Madam Butterfly is doing a wonderful job to save the butterflies. I also think Madam Butterfly is doing an important job. The most interesting thing was I got know that Monarch Butterflies came from America.  N. M.

Today Madam Butterfly came to our school. She is a kaitiaki because she cares for all the butterflies. I learned that many butterflies are in NZ. The part I liked was watching the caterpillar transform to a Monarch Butterfly. V.V.

Today, June 28, Madam Butterfly came to our school. She is a kaitiaki because butterflies are part of our Earth. I learned that they are not extinct. The part I enjoyed most was when Mrs A was dressed as a Monarch Butterfly. Madam Butterfly is very interested in butterflies.  J.V.

Today Madam Butterfly came to our school. She is a kaitiaki because she knows about butterflies and looks after butterflies.  M.L.

Madam Butterfly is a kaitiaki because she looks after a type of animal called a Monarch Butterfly. I learned that butterflies are special. The part I enjoyed most was seeing Mrs A as a butterfly. It was crazy and funny. I could laugh for 900,000,000,000 years until the world has ended. Caring for butterflies and moths is important because they are in the biospherre.  G.S.

Madam Butterfly is a kaitiaki because she takes care of butterflies. She started the organisation Moths and Butterflies NZ Trust and she studies about butterflies. I learned that there are 20,000 species of butterflies. The part I enjoyed most was when Mrs A got dressed as a butterfly. Taking care of butterflies is a good thing so there will always be more of them.  A.K.

Madam Butterfly founded the Moths and Butterflies of NZ Trust. She also really cares for butterflies. I learned there are 20,000 species of butterflies worldwide! The part I enjoyed most was laughing so hard my stomach hurt when Mrs A blew the butterfly tongue!  K.J.

Madam Butterfly is a kaitiaki because she studies butterflies and helps them. I learned that butterflies might be threatened  but not endangered or extinct. The part I enjoyed most was when Madam Butterfly dressed up Mrs A as a butterfly. Madam Butterfly's job is important because not a lot of people care for butterflies so she cares for them.  H.K.

Madam Butterfly looks after Monarch Butterflies, Red Admiral, Cabbage White, Coppers, Common Blue and Magpie Moths. I learned there are lots of species. The part I enjoyed most was when Mrs A dressed up as a butterfly. It was interesting because Madam Butterfly had a collection of butterflies.   A.M.

So here is the part we all enjoyed..............