Photosynthesis

Yesterday we learnt about photosynthesis which is how plants make their own food in their leaves. We sang a rap at Syndicate Assembly. If you would like to see the Power Point presentation of the song by Mark Spann of Missouri, click on this link: The Plant Parts Song.
Today we decided to see what plants do when they get rid of their waste and the extra water that they don't need. We taped a plastic bag around some leaves on a bush outside our classroom. We predicted what we thought might happen.
Some people thought:

• The plant might go floppy,
• The bag might go foggy with water vapour,
• The bag might get water in it,
• The plant might die.

When we looked after an hour and a half, the bag was already cloudy and by the end of school there were drops of water in the bag.

The Waimarama Gardens

The Waimarama Community Gardens is hidden in Brook Street Nelson.

The plants that grow there are the best vegetables, fruit and flowers in Nelson. There are radishes, pumpkin, strawberries and many more. There is a big vegetable garden and it is divided into more than ten triangles.

At the entrance there is a tall archway made from a tree. The people put some big sticks up and let the tree climb up them. Underneath there are some chairs and lots of shade.

Most people think it is just a normal garden but it is really healthy. It's taken more than a year to build but the same thing goes on. It provides oxygen, fruit and a year's supply of really healthy vegetables.

The compost is made from horse poo, recycled paper, old fruit and dirt. It has taken a month or three to make a pile of compost that is 1 metre high and 3 metres long.

Some people's jobs are to make sure there are no bugs but they don't use chemical fertiliser. Some bugs are helpful but some are not.

Do they have pets? Yes, they have a dog and some chickens. The Waimarama Gardens is one of the best gardens in New Zealand.

The Waimarama Community Gardens

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We had a wonderful trip to the Waimaramara Community Gardens today. We were lucky because we had a fantastic group of parents who drove us there and explained some of the things that Susan Leadinham, the person from the Waimarama Gardens had told us about. We saw different sorts of gardens like the mandela garden, some raised gardens and a garden where the seedlings had been planted straight into the compost when the compost heap was first made. We learnt about companion plants, comfrey tea, compost and worm wees. Susan explained that an organic garden is one where no chemical sprays are used. Everything that is done to help the plants is natural. Susan explained lots of special vocabulary for plant things.
Click on the Vocabulary link to go to a glossary of plant words.

The Wreck of the Delaware

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In February we went to the Suter Art Gallery to see Sally Burton's installation of "The Wreck of the Delaware." When we were there Esther taught us about shading so we made drawings of Huria and Hemi Matenga using just black and white pastel. Later we chose characters from the story and created collage portraits of them using browns, black and white. We included driftwood in our portraits because Sally used driftwood for her works.
Next we are going to retell the story and we'll publish one so you can read about it too.

We are learning about plants in our new Inquiry topic - Productive plants. If you click on

Plant Scan you can play. You will need to log in to play is. The User Name is;

nelson-cen.

The password is written on the whiteboard in Room 5. Hope you have fun playing and learning.

Rugby league

Wills' dad is a coach for Rugby League and he came to teach us some rugby league skills today. He showed us how to hold the ball, how to dodge and how to pass. It was great fun. We hope we can do it again sometime.

Our Swimming Sports

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