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Posts tagged trees
Trees for Survival 2011
Room 11 is responsible for the Trees for Survival (TFS) this year. However the Year sixs went to an Intermediate open day and the Year 5’s from Room 14 joined the Room 11 Year 5’s for a days planting at Waitoki.
The reason we plant trees is to stop erosion, increase the native bush area and help keep our waterways clean. The plants come to us as seedlings that we grow to plants about 30-40 cms tall. We then plant them on farm land. We have been going to Waitoki for about 6 years.
We first have a bus trip of about 45 minutes, the last part is quite windy, but we get welcomed by Phil and enjoy a nice morning tea, then it is down to business.
We get shown what is to be our toilet first, a chemical sit down in a small hunt about 1M x 1M. You pump water in then open a trap door to get rid of the deposits.
We are shown how to plant the trees and make them firm so the pukekos can’t pull them out. The plants were spaced out ready. We set to work. For the next 2 hours it was heads down and bottoms up. It was hard, tiring work but it was worth it. Most people planted about 40 trees. At one stage we were told we were the hardest working group that had ever been there. Less people planted more tress in a shorter time that even last year.
We felt good, impressed, satisfied, but weary. All of a sudden we had finished planting. We got told there was no pizzas this year. When we got washed we found out it was yummy sausages instead. A cheer went up. We zoomed into line quickly when we were told they were ready.
After lunch we were told again that we were the best group ever.
On the bus trip back most of the kids dropped off to sleep, at least 2 fell off the seat. It was a very exciting trip. The Year 5’s get to do it again next year.
Room 10 Goes Planting For Trees for Survival
On Wednesday 16 June 2010, Room 10 went planting on a farm in Waitoki. The owner of the farm is Phil. It took ages, like a century to get there. Our driver was Graham who is in Rotary and also helps us plant. Finally we were there.
We went up the hill to a huge barn for morning tea. There were brownies, orange juice and tea for the adults. We sat on the steps in the barn. There were 2 dogs, a Labrador and a Great Dane.
After morning tea we had a play and then we hopped back onto the bus to go where we were going to plant our plants. Gail from the ARC showed us how to use the camping toilet and how to dig a hole and plant a plant. Kate also from the ARC was with her.
We had nine very helpful parents with us, they were, Gina, Donna, Grant, Tamati, Michael, Kylie, Shane, Chris, and Brenda. What an awesome group they were.
We started planting. First you dig the hole, make sure it is deep enough, plant the plant, place a blue fertiliser tablet next to it, firm the soil around it and do the pukeko test. That is you give it a tug to make sure pesky pukekos can’t pull them out. We had to put a blue tablet in with the plant so it could grow more easily. 550 plants later we completed the task.
Then we had delicious pizza, soup and more brownies for lunch. Then all of room 10 jumped over all of the horse jumps. It was a really cool day but then unfortunately we had to leave.
We come home tired, but very satisfied with our efforts. We really enjoyed the planting and year fives can go again next year. My favourite bit was lunch and the planting.
