Term 1 2024: Gifts from the Summer Garden
Term One started with an overgrown garden and an extraordinary crop. The peach tree we planted two years ago had lots of peaches, and the passionfruit vine was unbelievable; it was full of juicy purple passionfruits! All this fruit provided the tamariki with a refreshing snack on a hot summer’s day.
We were fortunate with the weather and spent every single day outside. St. Thomas More Catholic School is lucky to have rainwater tanks, and the tamariki love watering the plants. Despite not having much rain over the long holidays, some plants did amazingly well. The tamariki spotted lots of pumpkins, courgettes, and the kumara surely enjoyed bathing in the heat, as the foliage was lush and green. The pumpkins have been stored to make soup for Matariki in term two.
The school received lots of swan plants from the community. Some of them had little Monarch caterpillars on them. Since there are lots of predators in the school garden like wasps and praying mantises, we made sure they stayed safe by planting some into our butterfly house, and some stayed in the classrooms until they formed a chrysalis. The students took great care by monitoring their growth each day.
As weeds always find their way into the garden beds, we decided to line the boxes as some hadn’t been lined in the past. It was a lot of work to empty them! The tamariki did so well by filling bucket over bucket to move the soil out, and after it was lined, all the soil went back in. Ka Pai, tamariki! Even the Easter bunny must have recognized their hard work and left them some chocolate eggs hiding in the school garden.
We planted seeds like carrots and beetroot straight into the soil, and with the Kina class, we collected toilet rolls, filled them with seed raising mix, and started planting winter veggies. It’s a great way to learn about recycling, and we can plant them straight into the ground as the cardboard will decompose.
The year twos explored gem corn. I always love watching their faces when they peel a corn cob and see all the different colors. We let them dry and keep them for a “popcorn” day in term two.
Josh, the Mauao ranger, came for a visit and checked out the native seedlings which we have grown from seeds over the last two years. He was very pleased with the seedlings and gave the OK to return them to Mauao, where the Paua class will have the opportunity to plant them, which will happen in term two.
We ended term one by mulching our fruit trees like apple, peaches, and feijoa. They nourished us with fruits, and we will nourish them. The cycle of nature and about giving and taking.
Happy holidays, tamariki! I’m looking forward to an exciting term two.
