Monday 25 August 2014

Pathways to Possibilies - A Home for the Chickens

We are excited to announce today that the school has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $2500 to build a chicken yard complete with chicken coop, fruit trees, herbs and other elements to create a mini food web from which children can learn.
 
For those of you who don’t know what crowd funding is, it is when lots of people give a little to make a BIG difference! Check out our page and video here www.pozible.com/ahomeforthechickens
 
So why take a crowdfunding approach? It’s something a bit different that we are keen to try out and it presents a new opportunity to enhance learning at the school by demonstrating to students how communities can work together to achieve something that benefits many people. By discussing with your children how crowdfunding works and whether your family would like to give to the project you can help teach them the power of one person’s contribution – that they can be a part of positive change. Crowdfunding also gives us an opportunity to communicate with the broader public and showcase the school.
 
‘A Home for the Chickens’ is part of our bigger Pathways to Possibilities garden project which will encompass outdoor environments built around Food Production, Adventure and Exploration, Art and Creativity, and Rest and Relaxation. All these new outdoor environments will be treated just like a regular classroom where children can learn about art, numeracy, literacy, science and sustainability. Research shows that nature-based outdoor lessons and free play better engages students who learn through practical kinesthetic activities, it improves student behaviour and attendance, and promotes connectedness and a sense of belonging.
 
Get excited about our crowdfunding campaign and have a think about how you can spread the word and invite others to contribute too. A flyer has been attached that you might like forward with this email.
Some key things to keep in mind about our campaign are:
  • If we don’t reach our target of $2500 we don’t get anything at all.
  • If we achieve our target we can set a stretch goal to try and achieve funds for an additional aspect of our Pathways to Possibilities project, such as a pizza oven.
  • If you give a little, others will give too.
  • Your contribution is made online from our campaign page (it can be anonymous). You will need to sign in to Pozible which is very easy, especially if you have a facebook account.
  • Pozible will hold your details and not deduct anything from your account until we reach our target.
  • All funds are collected through the Pozible Credit/Debit Card Merchant facility.
  • Each gift receives a little reward from us to say thank you J but you can choose not to receive this if you prefer.
  • The campaign ends 12pm Sunday 28th September.

Monday 4 August 2014

Guerrilla Gardeners

Following from National School Tree day the senior grades of our school were involved in making bombs......

BOMBS!!??!

Yes bombs. But not of the destructive explosive type. Quite the opposite.

The students were involved in making Seed Bombs.

On the coldest day of the year the students got down and dirty. They rolled up their sleeves and stuck their hands in the mud.

Firstly students were introduced to the idea of Guerrilla Gardeners and we talked about the process of making the seed bombs and the ingredients that are required. Then after watching a short video on the making of seed bombs the students braved the cold and wet weather (mind you we were in the undercover learning area) and got busy making their own.

The idea for making the bombs at school was to introduce the students to a sustainability activity that they could easily get involved in at home. I also wanted to ensure they had some hands on practical tasks to do to engage them further into the sustainability focus of our school. There are many studies that are done about children and the outdoors and the importance of it so the focus of the sustainability rotations will be around interaction and engagement in our environment.

At first I had many comments like "I'm not putting my hands in the mud", "It's cold" and "do we get to blow stuff up"

By the end all of the students had made several of their own seed bombs.







Once they are dry the students will find suitable places to 'throw' their bombs. Over the term they will observe and record the success of their bombs and even get to take some home to do a little bit of guerrilla gardening at home. Of course part of our discussions about our 'bombs' was the safety. Both safety of the children and of the environment. The children were informed about the dangers of using potting mix and breathing in the dust and also that we wouldn't really throw these; more toss them into suitable locations. Secondly they were also informed about the dangers to the environment. We would need to make sure we are being responsible guerrilla gardeners by not introducing any invasive weeds. So to make our school a bright and happy place our seed bombs are full of sunflower seeds. If successful we might see several heads of sunflowers popping up around our school and community.

How to make seed bombs

Materials
1 part seeds 
1 part potting mix
2 parts soil
2 parts clay
a little water

Procedure
Mix all ingredients together so they are well mixed (only add a little water to bind the materials not to make it sloppy)
Roll golf ball sized portions of mixture to form firm tight bombs
Dry out of the sun for up to 2 weeks
Toss them into a location that will not cause issues later on. (Be mindful of who they might effect and if they will be disturbed)

The bombs contain all the essentials to promote and grow happy plants all is required is the sun and rain.

I will keep you posted on their success at our school.

Next week we will be making our own seed paper just in time for fathers day.