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Being kaitiaki of our garden
The Prep room have been looking at our vegetable garden and working together to grow some new plants from seeds to plant in it for Spring, as our last crops have all finished. First, we discussed the types of vegetables we liked to eat, then we looked at what seeds we had and together we chose to plant broccoli, cauliflower and carrots.
We then got out the seeds and looked at their shapes, size and colour, identifying the similarities and differences between the different vegetable seeds, therefore engaging with mathematical concepts. Tamariki then took turns to each fill up the pots with soil, add in seeds and then some more soil on top.
Over the next few weeks tamariki (children) supported kaiako (teachers) to care for the plants by watering them, making sure they got sunlight and were kept safe, as well as watching then to grow bigger and bigger until it was time for us to put them into our garden.
Tamariki then worked together to plant our new vegetable plants into the garden. Alongside this tamariki also supported kaiako to shift our fruit trees which are growing in barrels as we have discovered that they are not getting enough sunlight in their current location. Due to the weight of these tamariki helped to dig out the soil, being very careful not to damage any roots of the plants making it achievable for kaiako to work together to move the barrels to a sunny spot in our playground.
As tamariki showed an interest in this gardening we also began revitalising two of our smaller gardens along the side of the building, these were rather unloved however tamariki worked together to remove the stones, which they happily washed and are now repurposing, added in new soil and now plants too.
We believe in supporting tamariki to care for their environment and support Papatuanuku (mother earth) by encouraging tamariki to learn life skills around plants, how to care for them and how to grow food ourselves, being sustainable for future generations.