Oylegate National School Reflect on their Ours To Protect Journey

Hello everyone! 🌿✨ We are excited to share our amazing journey with the project called Ours to Protect! It’s all about celebrating nature and finding new ways to keep our planet healthy. One of the coolest things we did was place a recorder in our school garden to capture all the different sounds of nature through the seasons. Can you believe it? Let’s dive into our adventure!   Collecting Garden Sounds First, we set up a special recorder right in our garden! This little gadget is like a treasure chest that holds the sounds of our surroundings. When spring arrived, we could hear the birds singing cheerfully, insects buzzing around, and the soft rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze. In summer, our garden was alive with the sounds of laughter from kids playing and bees busy at work.   As fall approached, the garden's quiet began to deepen. We could hear the crunching of leaves under our feet and the whisper of the wind as it swirled around. In winter, it was mostly silent, but we had fun imagining the sounds hidden beneath the snow. Listening to the different seasonal sounds made us appreciate the magic of nature even more!   Creating Our Dream Garden But that’s not all! We also got to brainstorm our own ideas for creating a dream garden! Imagine a vibrant place filled with flowers of all colors, animals visiting, and healthy vegetables growing. We thought about adding a wildflower patch to attract butterflies and some cozy nooks for reading and relaxing.   What if we had a small pond where frogs can croak and lily pads can float? Or a sunflower maze that tickles our fingertips as we wander through? Our dream garden would be a place where everyone can enjoy the wonders of nature!   Reducing Food Waste We also discussed ways to reduce food waste, which is super important. We learned that by planning our meals and using leftovers creatively, we can save a lot of food from ending up in the trash. Did you know you can turn vegetable scraps into delicious soup or make smoothies using overripe fruit? It’s fun to get creative in the kitchen! We even had ideas for a compost bin in our dream garden! With this bin, we could turn food scraps into rich soil for our plants, making them grow strong and healthy. It’s amazing how waste can turn into something useful for our gardens!   Exploring Sustainable Energy Last but not least, we explored types of sustainable energy sources. We talked about solar panels that soak up sunshine and wind turbines that dance with the wind. Imagine using the power from the sun and wind to help our gardens thrive! We learned that renewable energy is a fantastic way to protect our planet and keep it green.   Conclusion: Ours to Protect Participating in the Ours to Protect project has been a fantastic adventure! We’ve learned about the beauty of nature, how to take care of our environment, and how to be creative with our ideas. Whether it's listening to the sounds in our garden or dreaming of what it could be, we each can play a part in protecting our world.   Let's keep sharing our love for nature, reducing waste, and exploring sustainable energy. Together, we can make a big difference—because it’s truly Ours to Protect!