Adopt a Park #3

This week we had our third visit for the year to William Green Domain. 

Collecting rubbish and helping to unblock the stream

Quick play after lunch! 

Seeing how many native plants we can recognise 

Activities this session

1) We freed the natives we planted last term by pulling the weeds away from around the base. 

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2) We added our signs to show everyone we have 'adopted' the park. 

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3) We picked up rubbish. We filled 12 bread bags! 

 

4) We recorded all the things we observed in the park. We'll keep a record and add to it each time. 

We noticed the stream was not flowing and quite blocked up so the adults tried to clear it. 

  

The bird life we saw today was...

* ducklings and the mummy duck

* swallows

* magpies 

We thought about all the native trees we could name too; karamu, nikau palm, flax, puriri and those we planted last term - cutty grass and cabbage trees

Our favourite things were...

"Learning from a different person"

"Seeing the cute ducklings"

"Clearing the river so it flowed again"

" Being outside and helping nature" 

" Checking in on the native trees we planted. 

In term 4 we will...

>> work more on unblocking up the stream so it flows properly

>> Continue to record what wildlife we see around 

>> Collect more rubbish in other areas of the park. 

Room 4 & 5 Garden to Table COOKING - Pizza time!

 To further increase the scope of our Garden to Table programme, we have given ALL classes school wide two sessions. 

This week it was the turn of Room 4 and 5! 

We were very lucky to have lots of year 5/ 6 student 'experts' that were able to help out room 4. 

As these students have been doing Garden to Table all year; and some last year they were very well versed on what they needed to do. 

First we all went to the garden to harvest some food

Two groups made pizza using herbs and fresh greens - silverbeet & spinach

We also enjoyed some fresh orange from a locals garden

Baking with an expert on hand!

                                                 

Making lemon muffins

Learning how to serve up and sharing our kai

Our fabulous Year 5/ 6 G2T experts that helped out

Sat down enjoying all the food together

Recipes available on the Garden to Table & recipe page above. 

Garden to Table COOKING with Year 3 / 4 - Room 6,7,8

 To further increase the scope of our Garden to Table programme, we have given ALL classes school wide two sessions. 

After a successful garden session, the year 3/ 4 classes are now having a cooking session using our garden produce. 

Room 6, 7 and 8 were all very excited to see what they would be making. 

We discussed why it is good to grow your own vegetables and what skills we are learning by cooking. 

"How to make healthy food" 

"It is cheaper to cook then get takeaways" 

"Food is fresher if you cook it yourself"

"We learnt skills like stirring and blending"

"It was fun as we got to eat what we made,  I felt proud as I got to eat the food I made" 

Harvesting our herbs and greens

Making bliss balls got messy!

lemon muffins

Making pizza

pizza ready for the oven! 

The finished serving!

The food gets 10 / 10!

Room 7 gives it a thumbs up! 

Room 8 al fresco eating

Room 8 made herby yoghurt dip too

More Trees for our Native Garden

 Last week we planted 10 more trees in our native garden. 

A huge THANK YOU to our sponsors for buying the trees: Te Whangau Trust (the nursery supplying the trees)  'Paper for Trees' and Howick Local Board 

Despite the rain we had fun and managed to get them all planted. 

* 6 x flax

* 2 x rewarewa

* 2 x fierce lancewood. 

Sheltering from the rain!

It was also great to see our plants from our previous planting session doing really well!  

Our hebes doing really well

Coprosma we previously planted doing well.

Year 3 / 4 Compost Stew and Gardening Fun!

 To complement our Garden to Table programme, Year 3 / 4 have been out in the garden! 

They have been learning...

1) What edibles are in the garden - what they look like, feel like, smell and taste like! 

2) What other useful things are in the garden through a scavenger hunt

3) How to make a COMPOST STEW! 

We read a book called COMPOST STEW then decided to make our own! 

We used: 

* cut grass from Mr Hamilton, 

* food scraps from lunchboxes

* coffee grounds from the staffroom

* old veggies leaves from the edible garden 

* shredded scrap paper 

* shredded egg cartons

* We also added the special ingredient BIOCHAR that we were recently gifted.  

We made our compost stew in layers - like lasagne! This was based on if they were 'browns' (carbon)  or 'greens'  (nitrogen). 

 

When the compost is brewed, we'll use it in the garden. We'll do an experiment to compare it to other compost to see how good the biochar ingredient is!