“Combined response from 22/23 Konini School. We enjoyed the prompt to learn about Kowhai trees and took a lot of care when preparing and incubating the seeds. The children made their own greenhouses and created warmth by using hot water bottles under the tray each night. The control seeds didn't germinate as well as the others and seemed spindly. The seedlings have now been placed in our Kakano nursery for fostering.
We found the test tubes a little bit of a dead end as nothing else was done with them. The map/gps was fascinating, and the Rasterbator website was highly useful for block printing and we will continue to use it further. Our kids now know about the importance of nurturing seedlings and the role native birds play in the process. They really enjoyed having their own nature area, and although we didn't discover any large wildlife, they thoroughly enjoyed having ownership of the area and checking the trap for prints. We found weta and a few mice prints. This is a skill we can continue to develop and continue trapping pests in our bush. We appreciate you letting us being part of this process, and at Konini School we will continue using the skills we have developed with the children in future years.”
“Thank you for sending us the Our Nature Space Kit. However, the kit was too difficult for our class, but it did give us a good idea for our Inquiry. We completed the tasks that were suitable for our children and they enjoyed planting the seeds. It would have been better in a more senior class.”
“My class thoroughly enjoyed this resource kit. They loved getting out of the classroom and learning from outside. Some highlights were finding their nature space, learning about the moon phases, the constellations, putting together the poster and planting their kowhai seeds. We are going to continue with this throughout the term to watch out seedlings grow. Overall a fantastic resource kit!”
“We used this kit across term 1 and after the lockdown period to settle the students into school again. The students enjoyed the outside time and connecting with Nature. Though they struggled to talk about it seriously at first, they really came to take the mindfulness and close observation of the space seriously. The idea of beauty to them changed as we have moved through the activities. We had trouble fitting in the moon phases activity without giving more of an explanation as to how the phases of the moon work which took up a lot of time. A wonderful and engaging context, we would have liked to delve into some parts a little more than we had time to do.”
“The class is loving getting out and exploring our nature space. The science aspect is awesome as it allows the students to experience science in a hands on and relevant way. Really great kit!!!”
“Firstly, thank you for the opportunity to extend tamariki learning within a range of contexts, offered through School Kit. We were blessed to receive the Nature Spaces kit and the presented ideas and process were both easy to follow as well as allowing space to create with regard to school culture. As a result of lockdown, we have yet to put the kit in action and have plans to engage tamariki with the learning at the end of term three, beginning of term four. This will also coincide with a planned T4 EOTC to Auckland Botanic Gardens where we plan to grow our knowledge and understandings so as to apply to our own mara at school and beyond. We are hoping to instill moon phases into how we grow plants as well as delve into how moon phases impact upon our own being, our overall hauora which is a key part of Yendarra culture. I thank you for your mahi and your patience and look forward to creating a space with tamariki, both externally and internally to our being.
Thank you
Kelly Langton”
“This was fantastic as a starting point for me to get my students outdoors and involved in nature around us everyday. It has lead to my students being much more in tune with nature in their lives daily and they have a space which they are connected to at school as well. It was awesome participating in this learning with my students.”
