It has been a very busy start to the year in the Learning Hub! There has been a lot of planning going on as some really exciting inquiry based learning activities take shape. We have also found time to ice cup cakes (with the biggest commercial icing bags you've ever seen!), explore the life-cycle of the Monarch Butterfly, sew up a fashion storm (watch out Karen Walker!), work hard on our Garden redevelopment project, spend quality time with The Wellington Phoenix & we even visited Epuni School to better understand the incredible partnership they have formed with The Common Unity Project!
Icing Cupcakes
Following on from the Island bay Festival last week, Island Bay New World very kindly donated over 100 cupcakes + commercial sized multi coloured icing bags to Island Bay School. Talei and Scarlett had a great time decorating & delivering all of the cupcakes to all of the students at Victory Park. Well done girls, your decorating looked very professional & those HUGE icing bags were not easy to manage!
The Wellington Phoenix - Leadership Ambassador Program
We were incredibly fortunate to have spent an entire afternoon with The Wellington Phoenix in The Learning Hub last week. Wellington Phoenix Community Development Officer extraordinaire Rachel Martelli & Phoenix football players Ben Sigmund, Tom Doyle, Lewis Italiano & Logan Rogerson introduced the children to some really important life skills such as resilience, leadership, confidence building, and attitude via their Phoenix Ambassador Program. This incredibly valuable program was delivered by Ben Sigmund with the other Phoenix players joining in with life lessons of their own based on personal experience as professional sportsmen. The children actively participated by filling in worksheets, talking about personal life challenges & exchanging ideas. The children asked Ben, Tom, Lewis & Logan how they have personally developed a good attitude to life, how they deal with bad days & how they grow and learn from their mistakes. The children asked some incredibly insightful questions, set themselves some admirable self improvement goals & managed themselves beautifully - I was so very proud of them!
The Learning Hub Caterpillars / Chrysalis Formation
I was really grateful to have a large number of caterpillars donated to the Learning Hub a few weeks ago (Thank you Grace Bassett!). Upon receiving a full container of caterpillars, I promptly headed down to Palmers to purchase swan plants to keep our new caterpillars well fed. It didn't take long for our hungry caterpillars to hang in a J shape & turn into a chrysalis (in some cases, right in front of our eyes!). It then takes approximately 2 weeks before the butterfly is ready to break out of its chrysalis, dry its wings & fly free. Did you know that a Monarch butterfly lives between two and six weeks (on average), and the female butterfly can lay up to 400 eggs over her life time? UPDATE - As I write this the children welcomed 2 of our Monarch butterflies into the world amid much excitement! Please see photos above : )
IBS Garden Redevelopment Project
If you are not yet aware, we are embarking on a very exciting project to rebuild / refresh the Victory Park Garden. Thanks to a successful grant application last year we can now build a series of raised garden beds, and a climbing frame (I can't wait to grow climbing beans & peas with the children!). Building commences on March 14th/15th, and we will then shift 10 cubic metres of soil the following weekend on Saturday March 19th between 10am - 1pm. I'd love to hear from you if you could help us - many hands make light work! I will supply tea, coffee, water/juice & morning tea. Please touch base with me via e-mail or by stopping by the Learning Hub to have a chat.
Freedom Friday - Fashion / Sewing Projects
Freedom Friday has kicked off with a hiss and a roar with a lot of excited children making their way to their chosen option. I am working with the very talented Scarlet & Mairead as they each make a pair of very stylish harem pants. I am incredibly grateful for the expert assistance of Sonya Whitticase who is teaching us all a LOT about patterns & sewing, I just couldn't do this without her help - thanks Sonya, you are fabulous!
The Common Unity Project / Epuni School
Last week I was incredibly fortunate to be offered the opportunity to visit the amazing Julia Milne - Founder of The Common Unity Project, with Caroline Campbell - Chair - IBS Home & School. The Common Unity Project is a charitable trust and they work closely alongside Epuni School (Decile 3) in Lower Hutt. The children from Epuni School work in the Project's one hectare garden learning how to sow seeds, propagate plants, care for crops, harvest, compost, look after bees and harvest honey, maintain a worm farm, and care for the soil. AND ... The crops from the garden feed the children three times a week!
The Common Unity Project garden also boasts a gorgeous library playhouse for the children built from recycled materials, and a bike library (free use of a bike in exchange for 1 hour's labour in the garden). There is also the "feed a family for $100" challenge, the "Sew Good" sewing cooperative which sews warm singlets and PJ's for every child at school, free community playgroup sessions, and tons of one-off community based activities free to anyone who would like to participate.
Another fabulous initiative that I LOVE is time with local "knitting Nannas" who generously donate their time to work one on one with the children knitting granny squares, which are then sewn into warm blankets that the children can take home. We saw this first-hand during our visit and it was so beautiful to see the relationships the children were building with the elders in their community. It is a very special thing when children can spend time with elders within their community offering them both purpose and companionship in return for their skills & wisdom.
The Common Unity Project has also embarked on beekeeping & harvesting honey with the help of local apiarist Alan Kilmister who has been employed to look after the hives and educate young people interested in beekeeping. Koha money from planting the school's field with over 500 sunflowers and sharing the seeds with local families is helping to fund the honey project. SO COOL!
Well that's a wrap from me, but there are a lot of exciting activities coming up soon in The Learning Hub, so watch this space - there is more to come! Wishing you a great week : )
Karin Grice
The Learning Hub Coordinator
Island Bay School
Icing Cupcakes
Following on from the Island bay Festival last week, Island Bay New World very kindly donated over 100 cupcakes + commercial sized multi coloured icing bags to Island Bay School. Talei and Scarlett had a great time decorating & delivering all of the cupcakes to all of the students at Victory Park. Well done girls, your decorating looked very professional & those HUGE icing bags were not easy to manage!
The Wellington Phoenix - Leadership Ambassador Program
We were incredibly fortunate to have spent an entire afternoon with The Wellington Phoenix in The Learning Hub last week. Wellington Phoenix Community Development Officer extraordinaire Rachel Martelli & Phoenix football players Ben Sigmund, Tom Doyle, Lewis Italiano & Logan Rogerson introduced the children to some really important life skills such as resilience, leadership, confidence building, and attitude via their Phoenix Ambassador Program. This incredibly valuable program was delivered by Ben Sigmund with the other Phoenix players joining in with life lessons of their own based on personal experience as professional sportsmen. The children actively participated by filling in worksheets, talking about personal life challenges & exchanging ideas. The children asked Ben, Tom, Lewis & Logan how they have personally developed a good attitude to life, how they deal with bad days & how they grow and learn from their mistakes. The children asked some incredibly insightful questions, set themselves some admirable self improvement goals & managed themselves beautifully - I was so very proud of them!
The Learning Hub Caterpillars / Chrysalis Formation
I was really grateful to have a large number of caterpillars donated to the Learning Hub a few weeks ago (Thank you Grace Bassett!). Upon receiving a full container of caterpillars, I promptly headed down to Palmers to purchase swan plants to keep our new caterpillars well fed. It didn't take long for our hungry caterpillars to hang in a J shape & turn into a chrysalis (in some cases, right in front of our eyes!). It then takes approximately 2 weeks before the butterfly is ready to break out of its chrysalis, dry its wings & fly free. Did you know that a Monarch butterfly lives between two and six weeks (on average), and the female butterfly can lay up to 400 eggs over her life time? UPDATE - As I write this the children welcomed 2 of our Monarch butterflies into the world amid much excitement! Please see photos above : )
IBS Garden Redevelopment Project
If you are not yet aware, we are embarking on a very exciting project to rebuild / refresh the Victory Park Garden. Thanks to a successful grant application last year we can now build a series of raised garden beds, and a climbing frame (I can't wait to grow climbing beans & peas with the children!). Building commences on March 14th/15th, and we will then shift 10 cubic metres of soil the following weekend on Saturday March 19th between 10am - 1pm. I'd love to hear from you if you could help us - many hands make light work! I will supply tea, coffee, water/juice & morning tea. Please touch base with me via e-mail or by stopping by the Learning Hub to have a chat.
Freedom Friday - Fashion / Sewing Projects
Freedom Friday has kicked off with a hiss and a roar with a lot of excited children making their way to their chosen option. I am working with the very talented Scarlet & Mairead as they each make a pair of very stylish harem pants. I am incredibly grateful for the expert assistance of Sonya Whitticase who is teaching us all a LOT about patterns & sewing, I just couldn't do this without her help - thanks Sonya, you are fabulous!
The Common Unity Project / Epuni School
Last week I was incredibly fortunate to be offered the opportunity to visit the amazing Julia Milne - Founder of The Common Unity Project, with Caroline Campbell - Chair - IBS Home & School. The Common Unity Project is a charitable trust and they work closely alongside Epuni School (Decile 3) in Lower Hutt. The children from Epuni School work in the Project's one hectare garden learning how to sow seeds, propagate plants, care for crops, harvest, compost, look after bees and harvest honey, maintain a worm farm, and care for the soil. AND ... The crops from the garden feed the children three times a week!
The Common Unity Project garden also boasts a gorgeous library playhouse for the children built from recycled materials, and a bike library (free use of a bike in exchange for 1 hour's labour in the garden). There is also the "feed a family for $100" challenge, the "Sew Good" sewing cooperative which sews warm singlets and PJ's for every child at school, free community playgroup sessions, and tons of one-off community based activities free to anyone who would like to participate.
Another fabulous initiative that I LOVE is time with local "knitting Nannas" who generously donate their time to work one on one with the children knitting granny squares, which are then sewn into warm blankets that the children can take home. We saw this first-hand during our visit and it was so beautiful to see the relationships the children were building with the elders in their community. It is a very special thing when children can spend time with elders within their community offering them both purpose and companionship in return for their skills & wisdom.
The Common Unity Project has also embarked on beekeeping & harvesting honey with the help of local apiarist Alan Kilmister who has been employed to look after the hives and educate young people interested in beekeeping. Koha money from planting the school's field with over 500 sunflowers and sharing the seeds with local families is helping to fund the honey project. SO COOL!
Well that's a wrap from me, but there are a lot of exciting activities coming up soon in The Learning Hub, so watch this space - there is more to come! Wishing you a great week : )
Karin Grice
The Learning Hub Coordinator
Island Bay School