Ukulele Group sing Haere Mai

Ukulele group practising Haere Mai.

My Dad

Diary writing - The Haircut

Looking for Earthlings

Native Tree Trail

After lunch we walked along the native tree trail. We looked at many fascinating and interesting native trees such as the Confusing Cousins called Kanuka and Manuka.  Kanuka is kind and soft to touch and Manuka  is mean and prickly to touch.  The Kiekie is a plant Maori used for weaving. It likes to be in a moist, shady place. Rats and birds eat its fruit. The Putaputaweta tree is called that because wetas live in holes in its bark. The Tarata tree used to be mixed with puha to make a type of chewing gum and is sometimes called Lemonwood because its leaves smell like citrus. The Kauri tree can grow 50 metres high. It has female cones which are round and male cones which are long.

We had a busy, interesting and tiring day. We all learnt lots about how nature recycles living things using the F.B.I.

My Teacher calls me Sweetie Cakes

Death Cycle

On Wednesday, the 2nd of May, Room 16 drove to the Botanic Gardens on a bendy bus to learn about nature’s recycling. First we had morning tea under the huge covered courtyard with really fat birds. After that, two educators took us through a cold, dark bush walk. We had to pick a green, yellow and brown or skeleton leaf and put them in a line. The educators told us about the death cycle and that leaves have mould on them. Each year the leaves are not piling over us because of the F.B.I. That stands for fungi, bacteria and invertebrates. The invertebrates go chew, chew, chew, poo, poo, poo and the fungi and bacteria go rot, rot, rot and turn the leaves into soil.

Making a compost heap

After that we learnt how to make a compost heap. There was a green bin and a brown bin. In the green bin there were green leaves, old cabbage, lettuce, banana peels and apple cores which are all a little bit wet. Grass clippings are green waste too but not too much because it’s no good for the F.B.I. to breathe. In the brown bin there were dry twigs and leaves. We went on a twig hunt for the compost heap. We put some green materials and some brown materials on the compost heap. A compost heap needs to be on the ground so worms can get in. It can get so warm that sometimes cats sleep on it. Compost heaps also need to be moist.

Clay Features