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Sunflowers in Bloom
Over the past few months, tamariki at BestStart Tory Street have been looking at the cycle of a plant, specifically Sunflowers. As Spring approached, tamariki began planting seeds in tiny containers and spent many days taking care of their seeds, they did this by taking turns at watering them each day and making sure they got plenty of sunshine. As time went on, tamariki were able to see the tiny seed form into little shoots.
This was a very exciting time as we were now able to actually see progress, which sparked lots of questions and encouraged their curiosity. During this time we discussed the germination process, plant parts such as roots, stem, leaves, flowers, seeds and learnt songs to help us understand what is happening and the process that the plant is going through. As the shoots got bigger, we began to notice changes to the plants, discussing what we could see happening during class hui and talking about what might appear next time.
It was a very exciting morning when we finally got to see the first sign of flowering, and as the flowers continued to appear, tamariki where close by observing the Sunflowers. Magnifying glasses were a great way for tamariki to get up close and look at the detail of each of the flowers and their leaves. Tamariki learnt a great deal aroung the life cycle of a plant, as well as having a sense of responsibility, looking after our living plants and teaching their peers to respect the Sunflowers, as well as the centre garden.
Tamariki showed a lot of patience as we waited each day for the seeds to eventually grow into the stunning Sunflowers they have become today. We are really lucky to have such beautiful flowers to look at and observe.