National+Tree+Day

media type="file" key="Darebin National tree planting Day.mov" width="300" height="300" Ertem wrote: **On the 30th of July the grade 5/6s went to Darebin Parklands. The parklands used to be a landfill where they used to dump rubbish but now it’s a park to give back what we had taken from the wildlife over there. There is still toxic waste under the park and the water is very dirty. If you drink from the water you will die and if you swim in the water you’ll need to go to a doctor straight away but this is what happened when the grade 5/6s visited.** Nadira wrote: Row showed the instructions to correct planting and after that, we got into groups of 3. We worked together great and managed to plant 22 plants as a group. Suman said his group planted 70-something because they worked individually. Before we started planting, Row mentioned something about the “ecosystem”. In the dictionary, ecosystem means “a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment,” which to me just means the living things’ environment and link to other living things. It brings us another important life cycle: the food chain. The food chain, for example, starts with leaves. Caterpillars eat the leaves, birds eat the caterpillars, and finally, cats eat the birds. So it’s like a chain of what eats what up to a tertiary/quaternary consumer. Kiara said: Room 9 went with Row. We had to get in threes it was me, Fatima and Zac. When I first saw that place there were lot of holes in it with little trees, I easily knew we were going to do planting. We had to get a bucket of water and soil and we went to one hole and started. First we had to squeeze the pot so the tree could come out easily but it wouldn’t come out. Fatima tried shaking it and finally it came out, but was kind of broken but we put it in place. I put some water in the hole, Fatima put the tree in gently then Zac put the soil in. it was quite easy for me. The next one we did was in the middle of the hill. I was scared that the soil and water would fall over me. Luckily it didn’t. They told me it was my turn to take the plant out of the pot so all I did was squeeze it a bit then pull it out. It turned out perfectly and they were all so surprised. After 15 of those plants we planted Row told us to stop and said when we would be older we could come see all our trees grown up. She told us to take the flowers which are in the same family as broccoli out of the ground. I didn’t know why till she told us that it would ruin all the trees we had planted. She told us it’s a battle to see which grade picks up the most, but I think she just said that so we can pick all of them up.

[|This web site will give you information about a competition for schools.]

National Tree day will be celebrated in schools on July 30th. We would like all classes to spend some time discussing the importance of trees to the health of our planet and to our health as well. The competition is outlined below too but for full details go to the above web site. __**Years 3, 4, 5 & 6**__ Students can work in a team to create a communications piece about how trees can make a positive impact – on people, animals, their local community, children’s welbeing - whatever angle the students would like to take. Teams need to choose both their method of communication and the audience to whom they will deliver the message Potential audiences: **•** School students **•** Local café **•** Hybrid car owners **•** Shoppers at a supermarket **•** Members of Parliament, local councillors **•** Local sports club **•** Local community **•** Gamers Potential methods of communication: **•** Website **•** Brochure **•** Back panel of a milk carton sold in supermarkets **•** Community boardwalk **•** Calendar **•** Bookmark TV ad (video) **•** Posters **•** Petitions, letters **•** Letterbox drop __**Years K, 1 & 2**__ The competition is simplified for Stage 1 students. They can enter any format they choose to express the concept that “Life is better with Trees” __**When**__ **Entries must be received by Friday, September 17 2010**

Three trees can offset an average size home's annual lighting output

 * Date:** //01-Jul-10//
 * Author:** Michelle Cook

Three trees are all that's needed to offset the average size home's annual lighting output, according to new information from Planet Ark. At today's National Tree Day launch, the environmental organisation revealed its aim for this year's event is to plant a million new native trees and shrubs. Planet Ark, in conjunction with Toyota is calling on all Australian families to give back to the environment and offset a year of their home's average lighting needs by getting involved in National Tree Day on Sunday 1 August. "A million trees are capable of absorbing the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are generated from the annual lighting needs of approximately 348,000 households, which is equivalent to a city the size of Adelaide," says Planet Ark spokeswoman Rebecca Gilling. "By getting involved in National Tree Day and planting a tree for yourself, one for your children and one for our country, not only are you helping grow Australia's tree population, you'll be reversing the environmental impact of your home's annual lighting needs." "Over its lifetime a single tree will absorb over 268 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions. The average Australian home's annual lighting needs will emit 770 kilograms of greenhouse gases. So get involved this National Tree Day and help create a cleaner and healthier environmental for the next generation," said Toyota's Senior Executive of Sales and Marketing, Dave Buttner. As Australia's biggest community tree planting event, National Tree Day and Schools Tree Day are responsible for planting 15 million native trees and shrubs by approximately two million volunteers over the years.