Ilam School Art Extravaganza

Fractions of sets

Equivalent Fractions

Cheese Scones and Milo

We made cheese scones and drank milo with marshmallows to 
celebrate all of our efforts and the end of term! The cheese scones were piping hot and delicious with a dash of butter...

 

Our Bee Friendly Plant Expert

Last Friday we had Laura come to see the 'bee inquiry group' from the nursery. She was talking to us about ways we could attract more bees to Ilam School, primarily through their food source, flowers!

It turned out, we knew more about bees and their roles than Laura did and she said that she had learnt a lot! However, we learnt a lot from Laura about the kinds of flowers bees like and how to grow them.

We are going to grow some of the flowers bees like from seed over the winter and then plant them into some of the gardens around our school. 

Bees love blue and violet flowers and they see in ultra violet light. 

They like yellow flowers too.
Bees also recognise patterns in flowers.

Herbs bees like: Borage, Rosemary, Lavendar, Sage, Fennel

Perrenials bees like: Salvia, Gaura 'Ballerina Blush', Sedum

Vegetables bees like: Bees like all vegetables that flower

Companion Plants for Vegetables and Herbs: Nasturtiums, Marigolds, Calendula, Poppies

We came up with some important reasons for planting a bee friendly garden:

1. We can provide them with food. They take the pollen and turn it into honey to feed their hive and us!

2. If we plant flowers, it also encourages other insects like wasps, butterflies and ladybirds.

3. Bees pollinate flowers to create other flowers. When the bee fertilises the flower it turns into seeds to create more flowers. Some of the seeds grow into seedpods that we eat such as apples or pumpkins.

4. Without bees, we would lose 1/3 of the world's food supply.

5.  It would make Ilam School more attractive.

6. Teachers and kids could go out to observe the garden, the flowers and the insect life.

7.  People will think Ilam School is nice and we will attract more kids. 

Fertilising For The Future with the Christchurch City Council

Last week as part of our inquiry "The Secret Lives Of Living Things, we went to the Eco Centre in Bromely for a trip called "Fertilising For The Future!" This was all about using organic waste and turning it into natural fertilisers. We layered ingredients to make hot compost and we learnt about the fermentation of food using EM Bokashi. Most exciting of all was making our own EM Bokashi mix which we were allowed to take home. At the moment, we have it at school and are waiting for it to ferment. If the mixture is just right, it will grow a white mould. If we added too much liquid to our mixture, it may grow the bad kind of mould, the bluey greeny stuff. But Chris did say if that happens 'all is not lost!' We can throw it into the garden as a fertiliser. Check out the photos below.

P.S. If you're wondering about the crazy hair and the brightly coloured clothes it was Wig Wednesday that day :)

Our great assembly!

Last Thursday we had a fantastic school assembly. Our special guests were Richard from the SPCA and Anneliese from Alzheimer's Canterbury. They were thrilled to be there to receive the incredible amount of money we raised from 'Run a kilometre for charity!" They each received a whopping $4500 from Ilam School kids!  They were very pleasantly surprised! Richard said it was the biggest cheque the SPCA had received!!

We all felt very proud that we had done our bit to give back. The House Captains presented the cheques to the charities and felt very proud they had chosen these two important organisations to support.

We also announced the prize winners from the junior, middle and senior school. These children had raised the most money! After that, they announced the house that had raised the most money. That house was RAKAIA! 

A HUGE well done to EVERYONE at ILAM SCHOOL.

#KIND#ILAMSCHOOL#GIVING BACK