What Tree Is That?

Today we started a tree and leaf diary so that we can get more familiar with our trees and their importance in our lives.
We are so fortunate at Glenridge to be surrounded by a abundance of indigenous trees and plants. This was thanks to the founders of Glenridge's current home.
We try to encourage the children to look up every once in awhile for a different perspective on their playground, there's a whole new world living up there.

We are hoping to document our year with trees so watch this space....

Happy valentines

Quite simply, we made a big VALENTINES card from foliage that was all around our garden. Lots of fun and games

Lets jump into Water Explorers

Thank you so much to Julia for coming down to share another fun water explorers lesson with us. As usual, the dynamic Water explorer team gave us a fantastic morning of lessons that made it easy for our little learners to understand the water cycle. 💧They had fun dressing up as "Mr Sun" and the Rushing River. Now we know where our water comes from and where it goes.

Lets Begin

Hello Happy people.

Here at Glenridge we have started out our year with a bang. We have a newly designed play area which has given us a whole new canvas to create along with our trusty circular garden  that has served us so well for years.
That, along with the enthusiastic participation by our groundsman, Mr Mabaso, has me very excited about the fun we are going to have.
Our first priority has been to clear out the dead plants and weeds from last year and give our garden a fresh injection of compost. Our compost incidently is home made from kitchen waste brought in by our families. Then we set about harvesting seeds from our coriander and carrot plants from last season, as well as any flowers that were obliging.

Now we have prepared several seed trays with these seeds to see how many plants we can regrow.
Wait and watch with us.......

Recycling Update

So our recycling depot is still humming along but we have found the time to add another member to our family. We finally signed up for our big glass bin. 
Bearing in mind that we invite all our neighbours to use our recycling depot with us, we have been limping along with a small bin that had to be emptied on a regular basis and there was a cost involved. Now we are getting a small dividend in return and are able to encourage more glass then ever to come in.

Environmental Talks

We always like to have the folk from Educate and Fascinate come round with their shows and this year was a really important one. The put on a show that highlighted the plight of the honey bee. The children were horrified to learn that the honey bee is endangered and the long term implications for our planet if we loose the bee.
The children are very aware of the role that the bee plays in the garden but were not completely aware of how vital they were to our ecosystem. It was a thoroughly enjoyable way to make sure the children learnt some very vital facts

We invited the Metro Dog Unit to come visit the children and give them a safety talk. Much excitement was had when they put on a display of their dogs' skills all the while educating them on how important it is to learn your parents phone numbers and other essential emergency numbers.

Rhino Day is a must every year. It's been on our annual calendar for a few years now because we feel very strongly that it is our responsibility to look after our heritage. We often talk about how the rhino lives on "our doorstep" and we are the closest so we have to lead the way in educating people about the rhino and raising money for the people who work directly with them. 

The same could be said for the African Penguin, which is another environmental day that has made it's way permanently onto our calendar and into our hearts. We love a good "penguin waddle" in salute of these well dressed endangered birds

Our Garden

"don't forget to roll your roots"

Our garden is a ongoing source of discussion, excitement, involvement, evolution and growth. When I look back on our garden's "path", I see quite a journey. It started with a simple veg garden, then we planted some fruit trees, then it came to incorporate a medicinal garden and now the beginnings of a sensory path.

The garden has exploded out of it's little corner and has crept into all areas of the school, on to window sills, behind the block in the compost pile and out front for the whole community to share.

We keep reiterating the basics of planting and plant care throughout the year while incorporating new ideas and water saving ideas and even experimenting with verticle gardening ideas along the way. Some ideas work and some not so much, but we keep trying. 

Tire gardening