The students in our Year 5/6 Sustainable Elective have have a very busy and fun time exploring the theme 'Healthy Living from our Backyard'.  We have had three weeks in this study so far.  Some of the activities the students have been actively involved in include a treasure hunt inside and outside of our environmental classroom, the Living Room.  This activity was designed to spark students interest in the sustainable features of the Living Room and how they connect the inside area to the outside area.  From this activity, they created a bird's eye team view of the Living Room and surrounding area.
This activity also generated a list of questions that the students wanted to know more about.  One of the question was related to learning about honey bees and the important role they play in pollination.  We then harvested honey from our school hive.  Some of this honey will be used in our cooking.
Cooking will be a part of our elective.  We talked about hygiene and the need for accurate measuring of ingredients.  So we had a measurement practise before we made our delicious Peach Smoothies, served with home grown watermelon.

Additions to the Chicken Family

In March 2016, we saw the arrival of our three new chicks.  One of our broody hens hatched three very different looking babies. They now live happily in the Backyard Garden and are busy eating bugs, weeds, fertilising the gardens and adding air to the soil.  It has been great to see our chicken numbers on the rise again as they are the favourite with our students.

Sustainability at Hukanui School in 2016 has started with our biggest ever student interest in environmental positions and sustainable studies.  All the sustainable groups are up and running with our enthusiastic and dedicated students.  On March 4, we celebrated our continued Green/Gold status with a special assembly where Heidi Mardon, the director of National Enviroschools and Robyn Irving our facilitator  came along to present our award.  We are all very proud that our school and community have worked together to continue this exciting journey that really makes a difference in our school and in our own lives.  We look forward to another successful year of learning and action in, about and for the environment.