Soil testing

Today the Taniwha group tested different soils from around Goodwood School with Robin from EnviroSchools.
We used topsoil and clay from around the pool area and topsoil from T.J's farm. We mixed paper pulp and cement with each soil type and then formed them into equal sized "mud-balls". We have left them on trays in Mr Callaghan's shed to dry over the Easter holiday. When we come back to school we have to turn the "mud-balls" to help with drying. In week 11 we will perform a drop test with each ball to find out which mixture provided us with the strongest ball.

Which soil sample do you believe will be the strongest one for us to use for our Taniwha seat?

Surveying our Community!

We would like to invite you to fill in our Survey Monkey about the design and placement of our Taniwha Seat.

We would like to have all suggestions by Friday 19 April.

Surveying our Community


Thank you so much!!

Learning from Others

Yesterday we visited Hukanui School, Frankton School and visited the Sustainable Backyard at the Hamilton Gardens.

WOW! We have lots to share about what we saw, what we learned and the ideas we now have.

Here are a few photos of our day for now - we will share more very soon.

Thank you so much to the parents helpers and to the schools for having us visit them.

Presenting our Koha (mandarin tree) to Hukanui School

Chickens at Hukanui - they give poos and eggs!

Earth Wall in Hukanui Living Room

Earth Seat at Sustainable Backyard

We felt so special when we arrived at Frankton School!

Earth Seat at Frankton School

Two chefs who made us rhubarb (from school garden) crumble while we
watched slideshow of earth seat construction at Frankton.

We even got to plant our koha for Frankton School (mandarin tree) before we left!

Again, thank you to the schools for making us feel so welcome and sharing not only their earth walls/seats, but all their enviro journey and projects with us. It was an amazing day.

Our next step is to meet and plan out our journey using the things we learned from Hukanui and Frankton. We are so excited!