Outdoor Classroom: CIP - Tane Mahuta

Last week, term 2 on CIP we are focusing on cleaning the backyard of our school. Our teachers who are in charge of the Tane Mahuta group thought of an idea of cleaning one of the barn/greenhouse, into a space where we can learn at. An outdoor classroom! So we visited the space, it was a pretty big space and it was really messy and dirty. It would take quite a long time to be cleaned and be transformed into an outdoor classroom. Although I found it really cool to have an outdoor classroom where we can relax and learn. I think it is also a little bit better to be outside, rather being trapped in a room. But the downside was it was rather far, and if the weather isn't good we can't go there yet. We also had a choice to either help with the outdoor classroom, or help cleaning up the gardens of the community.

My friend and I chose to help with the outdoor classroom, we started to clean the space. While cleaning there was a lot of things needed to be done, such as; lifting heavy pieces of furniture, taking out junk, taking out some plants that are not wanted, etc. When we have managed to clean one side of the barn we ended it and next week we were going to start to clean the other side. But when we finish the other side we still have to sweep the dust of the ground, and we still had the outside to take care off. Anyways that's where we are up to still and I hope that we succeed in cleaning this area so we can have an outdoor classroom.

Charlesworth Reserve Trip and Planting!

As you probably know I already posted a blog post about the history of Charlesworth Reserve, and what we are going to do there. The government wanted us to plant 1 billion trees by 2028. On July 3, 2019, we went to Charlesworth with Ts and Wh. We planted about 200 trees in total, but what it the reason for the government wanting us to plant 1 billion trees? We are doing this to improve our land productivity, reduce the effects of climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide. It can also improve our water quality, provide important habitats of a range of native species, and to enhance natural landscapes, etc.

The ranger at the Reserve was named Andrew, he taught us how to plant the native trees and what to not put in it. What I meant by that is there was also clay at the bottom, we were only supposed to be putting sand when we are planting them. While planting, there were also some holes on the ground, I wasn't sure what it was at first but then I spotted a crab go inside. The teachers also took some photos of us planting and eating our lunch. 

The ranger also told us more history about the area that I didn't know about. 

The history of the area where we planted the trees was supposed to be used for building a school. The school was for the people who were living in the mountains, but they were able to convince the people to make it a native area where the native birds can live. 

After we were done the planting we went back on the bus and went to Mitre 10. At the back of the building, there was a big field. Our aim for this one was to collect rubbish that we see and put it in our rubbish bags. We split our selves into groups and we collected rubbish.

Anyways that was our trip and I really enjoyed planting and I wish we could go back to see if the trees that we have planted grew. 

Charlesworth Reserve Planting!

Next week on July 3 we are going to a place called Charlesworth Reserve. Charlesworth Reserve can be located at Bromley, it is a park and gardens in Christchurch. It will take us about 24 minutes to get there or more, depending on traffic. The government in New Zealand has set us a goal to plant 1 billion trees by 2028! They want us to plant trees to improve our land productivity, reduce the effects of climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide. It can also improve our water quality, provide important habitats of a range of native species, enhance natural landscapes, etc.



Charlesworth Reserve is named after "Captain William Charlesworth". He was born at 1814 in Yorkshire at England. Although when an accident happened, William Charlesworth ended up being wounded in the foot by an axe. He then died and was buried 5 days later at the Woolston Cemetery.

CIP Gardening (Community Impact Project)

This week for CIP we had 3 choices on what we could focus on. The 3 choices were: Gardening, Compost, and Jam. For gardening, we were going to focus on helping the community by taking the weeds out of their garden, it also sounded pretty fun and it's really good to help out the community. On the other hand, compost the focus was to mix the compost up so it breaks down easier. We can also plant our seeds in there. The focus on jam was to sell the jam to other people for $3 dollars. The jam is made out of plums, the plums were picked out on the tree just right next to our school.

Anyways that was our 3 choices, my friends and chose to go do gardening. We chose gardening because we wanted to help out the community. It was pretty fun but also very messy. It was messy because it had rained last night and the grass is wet, and the dirt is also wet. Which almost turns into mud. My friends and I were very cautious trying to not get our jacket and uniform dirty. But all of us did a good job taking out most of the weeds in the garden. However, this is also the last day for CIP and I am a little sad that it's finished but at least I had a good time in CIP.