Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Interested in teaching about reducing rubbish, re-using rubbish, or recycling? Are you looking for a topic that covers real world issues and links to a number of curriculum areas? Are you looking for a teacher resource kit that has detailed curriculum unit plans? You can have all this for FREE! Environment Southland has produced a 3R's Education Kit, jam-packed full of resources to help you teach your students about Reducing Rubbish, Re-using Rubbish, and Recycling Rubbish! The 3R's Kit is available in electronic format and is packed full of information and teaching resources... unit plans, activities for all ages, DVDs, mini-books and its FREE! We also encourage you to host one of your council waste officers as a guest speaker. To get started, download the 3R Education Kit here.

Stay informed and up to date with what's happening in the Environment and download:

Sustainability Calendar 2008 (398 kb).

We would love more youth to be involved in our Environmental Crew this year.

The Raise up Team at Invercargill YMCA and Environment Southland are searching for student leaders to help plan and implement Environmentally focused youth initiatives and activities for youth in your community based out of the YMCA on Tay street.

We would like two representatives from each school to attend a meeting once a week, at these meetings these young people are given the opportunity to organise and plan Environmentally focused events and workshops for other Southland youth.

For more information, see the Nomination Invitation (42KB), or fill out the Enviro Raise Up Recruitment form to make a nomination (55KB, PDF), or email youth@ymca.co.nz.

STREAM CONNECTIONS is a resource for Southland Schools to CONNECT with the many accessible rivers and streams in their catchment, both inside and outside the classroom. It allows students to explore and discover their local waterway, learning about its environmental value - encouraging students to make CONNECTIONS with their waterway.

STREAM CONNECTIONS is available on CD Rom, which will allow you to explore in your own time the value of this resource and how it can be incorporated into your classroom.

STREAM CONNECTIONS gives you access to Environment Southland staff who are more than happy to assist you with identifying activities suitable for your planned study location and the Environmental Education Officer is also available to assist you in your introductory and follow-up classroom sessions.

STREAM CONNECTIONS has both introductory information; classroom activities; worksheets for in the various stations in the field and follow-up classroom activities for Levels One through to Level Eight.

STREAM CONNECTIONS
View the flash presentation here or the HTML version here. Stream Connection Classroom resources can be obtained here (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).

STREAM CONNECTIONS Out and About

Already in 2005, Environment Southland staff have been extremely busy out and about with children from around the province, from Te Anau (pictured to the left) to Woodlands, from Lochiel to Brydone. For more information, contact Nikki Tarbutt at Environment Southland, education@es.govt.nz.

Enviroschools is a whole school approach to environmental education. With support from the school community, students plan, design and take action to create a sustainable school environment.

Changing attitudes and ways of living requires people to be involved in a range of projects and processes over time and a facilitation process, funded by Environment Southland encourages this, including a facilitator who has the ability to guide, motivate and support this process.

NEW! Check out the participating schools here and see what they're doing to make the environment better.

Check it out at www.enviroschools.org.nz or contact Kate O'Neill, Environmental education officer at Environment Southland to find out more, 03 2115115 or email education@es.govt.nz.

Bruce C Gull

The ES mascot is Bruce C Gull, the world's biggest (and friendliest!) seagull. Brucie and the Environmental Education team undertake school visits, produce teacher & student resources, run outdoor activities, and promote environmental activities.

Brucie has his own website and gets involved in almost every environmental and community activity he can in Southland. He is a Southland icon and an enthusiastic environmental advocate. He publishes a quarterly magazine that is sent to members of the Brucies Buddies Club, which is a free club for environmentally aware children and teenagers under the age of 14.

Interested in your students learning about possum control?

Your school can have all this for FREE … read on.

In conjunction with our possum control work, the Possum Busters Education Programme has been reviewed and enhanced.

The Possum Busters Education Programme is available in electronic format and is packed full of information and teaching resources; … unit plans, activities for all ages, stickers, posters, videos, and its FREE! We also encourage you to host one of our bio-security officers as a guest speaker.

If your school is interested in “Possum Busters”, please don’t hesitate to contact the Environmental Education Officer at Environment Southland. Kate and a bio-security officer will visit you and your staff to deliver the Possum Busters Education Programme and talk about how you could be a part of Possum Busters!