Our Mara Kai Problem

Our Eco Warriors noticed  that the carrots in our Mara Kai are small this year and the soil is like concrete when we're trying to dig up our kumara.

What is the problem? Our gardens need good compost but we can't put food scraps in the compost bins as we're scared of the smells and the rats so there's just leaves in there.

Our worm farms don't really make compost and we can't put all the food scraps in there.

Also we are sending lots of food waste to the land fill "It makes methane gas" said Esther.  "That's making a blanket around the earth that's making it hotter said Luke.

 Ruby and Madi “Put Pestfree Howick rat traps around the compost and use our lunchbox scraps”

“A glass cage aroud the compost” Max 

Paige “Have a fundraiser for new compost”

We decided to get the help of Cate from Sustainable Schools to help and look at what other schools are doing.  We saw Sunnyhills School had hot composters that take all food waste on You Tube and Cate said we could get funding from Mana Ora, as our compost solution will help to address climate change.

We are going to work together on the funding application.

Year 2 Bees and Pollination

 Prior Knowledge - Why are bees so important?

Felix R "They pollinate flowers to turn them into fruit"

Liam "Seeds are inside the fruit"

Peter “They make honey”

Luke “They make fruit. They pollinate.”

Year 2 learnt about how bees move pollen from flower to flower while they are drinking nectar.  When the flower has pollen from another flower, it can turn into fruit or seeds. Without bees, we wouldn't have so many fruits, plants and trees.

We created flower models complete with pollen and sticky stigmas, then we acted out pollination with pipe cleaner bees.

We explored the school flowers to see if we could find the sticky stigmas and pollen anthers. 

Next time we’re going to make seed packets to grow our own flowers.

Room 4 Explore Trees and being Unique

 Today, we focused on the Story book "Woowee!  Look at that Tree" by Ben Knight

A fabulous story about a tree that grows differently from every other tree.

Bella: "The tree grows crooked."

Ronni: "The other trees think it is weird!"

Olivia: "The other trees think he is not a very good tree because he is growing to the side."

Zayne: "The tree didn't get cut off because it was growing sideways."

Olivia A: "The tree feels happy because the children are playing on the tree."

Eden: "I imagined the children got the paints and painted the tree house really bright colours because they are happy."

Reza: "I think the children love the tree."

Afterwards, we went out into nature and noticed the trees. We picked our favourite one and sketched it.

Lastly, we gathered resources from nature and made our own creations.

I made a one-stick aeroplane.

I made two trees.

I made a butterfly.

I am making a tree.

I made a butterfly.

I made a flower.

 I made a stick insect and a fan.

I made a butterfly.

I made a lizard with all its food.

I made a tree house.

I am making a tree.

I am making a tree.

 I am making a tree house in a tree.

I made a flower out of petals and sticks.

I made a tree.

Thank you, nature, we had fun!

Room 3 & 4 Look at the life cycle of a plant

Did you know a seed has a sleeping stage?

We held a little bean seed

Olivia A: "I noticed a crack in my seed."

Ronni: "I saw there is a little brown thing and a crack."

Amber: "I think it could be a strawberry seed."

Miles: "It feels like a rock."

Yuvika: "It feels a bit hard."

Alex: "It is oval-shaped."

Sophie: "It is smooth."

Blane: "The line looks like a smile."

Ada: "I think it is a bean seed."

Olivia D: "It feels a bit bumpy."

What does this bean seed need to grow?

Honor: "It needs some water."

Gus: "It needs soil."

Misuzu: "It needs sun."

Ada: "It needs compost." 

Zaine: "It needs to be warm."

Reza: "It needs air."

We looked at the life cycle of a plant.... In groups, we organised the pictures.

Then we cut and pasted a life cycle of a sunflower.

Room 4 spent the afternoon with their buddy class working our cutting skills.

We just love EfS!