Indigenous trees
We aim to improve school self esteem and pride in the school grounds by planting suitable hardy indigenous trees. Trees provide many learning opportunities, habitats for wildlife, teach responsibility and increase diversity in impoverished areas.
€16.00
Midlands Meander Association Education Project (MMAEP) celebrates Arbor Week with paper making lessons and indigenous tree planting. During 2008, at Corrie Lynn Primary, Nontokoso Ngubane and Sindi Zondi planted a Vepris lanceolata, while the Grade R class at Carshalton Primary blew kisses to give their Rhus lancea a warm welcome in their colder climate. The learners at Cedara Primary took great care planting their Calodendron capense and sang a song about how much they will enjoy the shade in summer. All the trees are protected from goat damage by a Tubex Tree Shelter. After learning about how paper is made, learners each made a couple of pieces of brightly coloured paper, and strung necklaces of paper beads.
Grade three at Vrystaat spent an interesting morning learning about trees and forests. The learners all dressed up as trees, insects, birds, animals and built an imaginary forest right in the classroom, complete with emerger trees, mischievous monkeys and a very slithery snake! The children all acted out their part in the ongoing lifecycle of the forest, before completing a worksheet on the forest and colouring it in. After break the class gathered to plant a Ziziphus mucronata (buffalo thorn, ulahlamkosi) which is common to the area, and known to the children by the name umPhafa. After discussing all the uses of the tree for animals, birds, insects and humans, we sang songs to encourage it to grow, and hugged the old tree that provides shade at lunchtime to show how much we appreciate trees.
The Midlands Meander Education Project works in 12 KZN Midlands schools, supporting their efforts to achieve Eco-Schools status through curriculum support and creative lessons. Besides environmental education lessons on subjects varying from Natural Disasters to Reptiles to Renewable Energy, the MMAEP also spends days co-teaching creative lessons which include paper making, cultural art and bird sculpture. Food gardens are an important part of the project, with many schools requesting composting, seed germination and companion planting lessons in an attempt to get their gardens flourishing. We firmly believe that Respect for all components of our world - frogs, dogs, children and trees is essential and facilitate regular discussions focussed on important Values, such as Tolerance, Peace and Love.
For more information about our work visit www.mmaep.co.za
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