Enviro Schools Update

The Green Thumbs Environmental team has been working on getting our Environment Silver Award. We are being interviewed on Tuesday the 11th of November. We helped host the Te Anau Environment Hui. It was such an amazing experience and we enjoyed it so much. We hope we can do it again very soon. Mark, Pat and Amy from Environment Southland helped us a lot throughout all our years being an Enviro School and are so proud of our amazing accomplishments as an Enviro School. We are proud of our fun times as the amazing Enviro School that we are. Hopefully we can continue being an Enviro School and we hope we will get our Silver Enviro School award. Then later on we hope to achieve the achievement of the Gold Enviro School award.

By Fergus, Jake and Jayden

Corrugated Iron Bird

Bird Nesting Box

Willow Hut

Native Tree Area

Enviro Schools Hui

On Thursday the 23^rd of October all the Enviro schools came to Te Anau for a Hui. First of all Kids Restore the Kepler did a speech, secondly we split up in our groups for a tour of the bird park. In the duck enclosure there were two goose nests with eggs. Then we went to see the kaka. The kaka eats kowhai leaves. After that we jumped into the cars and went to the Kepler track. At the track we did all sorts of fun activities like the blind game when a buddy guides you to a tree blindfolded and then you have to find it again with no blindfold. Then we learnt to use a tracking transmitter and find birds. We meet Billy the stoat again and set off a stoat trap. Then we walked deeper down then track to a huge tree. We got back to the car park and did some trading. We traded honey for a bird nesting box and Snapdragons for a corrugated iron bird. We finished and everyone went home.  It was a very enjoyable day. We are looking forward to the next hui.

This is a cat caught in a trap.  

Technology Chalenge

On Thursday the 23rd, the Te Anau technology group went down to Waianawa School. The group is made up of Lydia, Lindsay, Jessica Barnes and William Hamilton. We all woke up bright and early and we meet Mrs Meffan outside the School office. When we arrived there we walked into the Waianawa hall. Inside were 24 1 meter squared 2D boxes. Our box number was number 15. For our first challenge scenario someone had fallen off a 4meter cliff and you had to make a contraption that would drop the Medicine. The challenge was called dropping the goods. We used an egg instead of medicine because an egg is also very fragile. Our parachute was amazing when we dropped it off the playground fort but on the day when we dropped it it didn't go as well as we hoped KA SPLAT!!!. Between the 2nd and the 3rd challenge we got our snacks out and enjoyed 20minutes free time to relax. Our 2nd challenge was the light house. The scenario was the light in the light house had been busted and there was a huge crack in the lighthouse so we had to rebuild it. We used newspaper and other stuff to recreate our version of a lighthouse. We had 1 minute to strategise what we were going to create then we got to work building the best lighthouse ever. We got called up to the stage to assemble the light together in under 1 minute. The judges walked around and measured our lighthouse's height and the structure/safety of our lighthouse. Our 3rd and final challenge the hardest of them all also a mystery!!!! The senareo was there had just been an earthquake and a hard log had fallen on someone and their phone had flown 6 meters behind her. Her feet are trapped so she can't look behind. We had to make a contraption that will retrieve here phone so she call for help. We had a really great time and wish we could go again. We didn't get any prizes but it was still worth the trip and experience. A big thanks to Mrs Meffon who trained us to be as great as we are. 

By Lydia and Lindsay.