Fertilising For The Future with the Christchurch City Council

Last week as part of our inquiry "The Secret Lives Of Living Things, we went to the Eco Centre in Bromely for a trip called "Fertilising For The Future!" This was all about using organic waste and turning it into natural fertilisers. We layered ingredients to make hot compost and we learnt about the fermentation of food using EM Bokashi. Most exciting of all was making our own EM Bokashi mix which we were allowed to take home. At the moment, we have it at school and are waiting for it to ferment. If the mixture is just right, it will grow a white mould. If we added too much liquid to our mixture, it may grow the bad kind of mould, the bluey greeny stuff. But Chris did say if that happens 'all is not lost!' We can throw it into the garden as a fertiliser. Check out the photos below.

P.S. If you're wondering about the crazy hair and the brightly coloured clothes it was Wig Wednesday that day :)

Seedpod City: We are observers of our world!

This term we've been observers. We've gone out, explored, jotted down ideas and looked at our environment. We've been noticing and recording what we actually see. We used our observations to write poetry. The language features we have been including in our writing to 'paint a picture in the reader's mind' have been activating nouns; a powerful tool to make writing more descriptive and similes - without going too over the top! We decided to use only 1 or 2 at the maximum. Read some of our amazing writing below!

Pods retaliate against the wind as they try to grasp their young.
Muscular thorns protect their growing seeds from screeching birds.
Leaves roar like hungry lions in the wind.
Thin twigs struggle to hold their young pods as storms kick against their roots.
Pods screech as the wind breaks their connections with the stem.
Brodie

Scaly brown stem sprouting green leaves like a limping tortise on the move.

Spiky balls swinging violently, shielding the little seedlings.

Wavy leaves, feathery soft, brush your face as the wind takes off.

Tiny little seeds squeal with glee as their first prongs begin to break out of their shell.

Leaves huddle together to gain warmth and shelter the stem from rain.

Thomas

Seeds dance to the sound of the whistling wind twirling and frolicking as they go.

Beautiful seeds cluster together on a stem like a seed pearl bracelet gripping tightly to my arm.

Seedlings like little snowballs tumbling to the ground.

Seeds live on a glimpse of light, just enough to grow.

Erin

A seedpod whips around in sudden wind like a medieval flail.

Soft feathery seeds burst out of their spiky shells fluttering lightly onto the ground to join their feathery friends.

Leaves shut out the air with their curly hair like bars cage prisoners.

Spikes stand their ground as roots sit heavily in their class chair.

Stems dressed in their favourite old, patched clothes.

Elijah

Orange jewels roll out of seedpods and get lost in the soil.

The fragile stems collapse over the lily pod's weight.

The seedpods steal pearls and hide them inside their glorious rooms.

Leaves mimic dying autumn grass.

Charlotte

Lily pods drooping down like crystal chandeliers hanging off a ceiling.
Orange seeds playing on a white sheet.
A lily seed pod splits open like pop corn kernels bursting out.
A white velvet coat wrapped around an orange pearl necklace.
McKenzie

Lily pod is a pickle waiting to be eaten by the seasons.

Branches gasp in the thunderous stormy wind.

Autumn leaves twirl and whirl like a ballerina in her grand performance.

Silver scales cover the seeds to act as an incubator.

Isabel

Seed cages like a woman's powder brush dusting her dull cheeks.

Layers of long white fluff poofing over grouchy, crisp leaves.

A long prickly leaf standing guard protecting his princess form the dangers of the wild.

Smells of warm gooey honey straight from a beehive.

Delicate seeds force their way to the top, ready to catch the whistling train of wind.

Maia

The wind charges off on its journey to destroy seed pods.

Storms embrace then embezzle the twigs' leaf money.

Twigs shiver as the wind shakes them like the gods walking the earth.

Seed pods salute the cold as it uppercuts each one up into the thin air.

Leaves on the twigs drop down as if they are tears crying for help.

Armand

Weeping branches like dry roses begging for water.

Seed pods execute the seeds out of the tree to swoop to the cold ground.

Seeds learning to glide like young lady birds.

The seeds depart as if a blasting passenger jet landing onto the ground.

Mitchell

Leaves plaited like a girl's black hair.

Leaves stretching to escape the stem.

The wind blows gently at the seed pods.

Seeds looking down as if they want to escape out of their shell.

Genevieve

Harakeke seedpods like a raucous flock of starlings perching on the fence, gossiping about the days events.
Seeds squeal as they plummet to the ground, departing to seek an adventure.
The seedpod smells of a summer beach where the salt has blown into its clutching fingers.
Harakeke seedlings yawn like morning glories greedily, ready to swallow the generous sun's rays as a ravenous shadow, hungrily devouring the light. 
Ashwini

Pudding Hill Camp 2016

We arrived back on Friday afternoon after the most amazing camp at Pudding Hill, extremely tired and ready for an early night, but, with satisfied souls from all of the outdoor adventure we experienced.

Activities we took part in were abseiling, confidence building on low ropes, archery, mountain biking, river crossings, bush walks and a super fun water slide made all slippery with dish washing liquid. We (both us kids and the adults) enjoyed the slide in beautiful warm, sunny weather but also in murky, cold, rainy weather.

We also performed skits at a camp concert, played indoor 'spotlight' and 'sardines', made our own pizzas and roasted marshmallows! We learnt about search and rescue and carried our classmates on stretchers and found hidden safety items. We also played frisby golf. One of the activities lots of us found most fun was building bivouacs in the bush! We created huts from fallen branches and found ferns, bracken and dried grass to cover the walls of our huts. What's more, when we checked our huts the next day after a night of strong gales and heavy rain, they were still standing - pretty impressive!

There was a lot of risk taking on camp with people stepping outside of their comfort zones to try new things they were a bit afraid of. Some people were very unsure about abseiling, the low ropes and even the water slide, but many overcame the little voice of fear in their head and challenged themselves to try and keep trying. Many felt very proud and a real sense of achievement after doing what they had been fearful of.

Below is a small sample of photos. The wide, bright eyes and smiles say it all!

Check out the slideshow on the righthand side of this blog!

 

Observational Drawing & Still Life

We have been doing observational drawing using different mediums including pencil, pastel and paint. We are practising drawing 'what we actually see' not 'what we think we see'. First of all, we look at the outline of the object's shape. We can add detail through different shades and we can add dimension through light (white) and dark (black) or through using different depths of shading and creating shadow so that it looks 3 dimensional.