Sustainability - Ms Belinda
SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
Some exciting things have been happening in Sustainability at Trinity! This term, our Year 5/6 students have been examining some important questions about waste, sustainability and the impact our everyday choices have on our environment.
We began the term with a very hands-on lesson about worms and food waste. Students explored live worms and worm castings, learning about what worms like to eat and how they help us turn food scraps into something useful. We also learned about methane, a greenhouse gas produced when organic waste breaks down without enough oxygen in landfill, and discussed why composting and worm farms are such an important part of reducing food waste at Trinity.
We then delved into the bigger question: What actually happens to our rubbish? Using What Happens to Rubbish? by Em Bruce, students explored landfill, decomposition, pollution and the difference between materials that naturally break down and plastics that can remain in the environment for hundreds of years. We built our sustainability vocabulary along the way, learning words such as landfill, toxic, seep, decompose, methane and recycle.
Our learning then became very personal when students conducted a lunchbox plastic audit. We looked carefully at the packaging in our lunches and considered which items were reusable and which were single-use. Rather than judging anyone's lunchbox, we focused on the question: What small changes could we make? Students considered practical ideas such as using reusable containers, buying larger packets rather than individually wrapped snacks, choosing whole fruit and using reusable drink bottles.
CERES Waste Incursion – Friday 21 August
Tomorrow, Friday 21 August, we are excited to welcome CERES to Trinity for a special Sustainability incursion!
Students will explore the world of waste – it's smelly, it's messy, but it's incredibly important! They will investigate where waste comes from, the impact it has on our environment and creative solutions that can be used at school, at home and in our communities.
During the incursion, students will learn that waste can be a valuable resource, explore how human activity contributes to waste pollution and discover the difference between linear and circular economies. They will also investigate the 6Rs – Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot – and consider how we can move towards a zero-waste future.
It has been wonderful to see our Year 5/6 students asking thoughtful questions, sharing ideas and recognising that every small change can make a big difference for our planet. We are looking forward to building on this learning with CERES tomorrow!
Trinity Trash Transformers - by Lenora, Thao, Hoyoung, Abuk and Solomon
Hopefully you are all collecting your bottles and cans that have the 10 cent recycling symbol. Every week, we come around and collect any bottles/cans you have collected.
We will keep a tally of how many each grade has collected. Later in the term we will announce the end of term winning class.
They will get to keep the TTT trophy until the new winners are announced. Make sure you don’t squash the containers. The machine needs to be able to read the label.
Please keep collecting! Thank you!
Thanks everyone for your great efforts in helping us live in a way that is kinder to our environment!
The Sustainability Team - Ms Belinda and the Sustainability Leaders, Abuk, Hoyoung and Troy.