Creating a Collage

One day before the October break I brought in some of the wonderfully colourful, decorative gourds which were on sale in the supermarkets. They are definitely not good for eating, but they did provide inspiration for an art activity: creating group collages. First the children searched through magazines to find the colours they would need: oranges, reds, yellows and greens. Then they worked with Catrin in small groups to make big collage pictures using torn paper.




The original collages and photos of the gourds can be viewed in our classroom.

"There's really a lot of nature in this class"

The title of this post is a comment I overheard from a child in another class, who came into our classroom for an after-school activity. I thought it was a charming remark and it's actually very true.


There is a lot of nature in Class 2o and since we are studying plants it isn't very surprising!


Many of the Class 2o students took up Mrs Horsford's challenge of doing some homework which involved finding 5 different leaves. They brought in wonderful posters, booklets, plants, seeds and seed cases.



After the children had had the opportunity to look closely at the insides of a range of fruits and vegetables at Le Potager, I decided to bring in some familiar and less familiar fruits, and cut them in half to see the cross-section. Some children had not seen a papaya or a pomegranate before and were amazed to see how much more beautiful the inside was than the outside. They used oil pastels to make some amazing observational drawings, which are now brightening up our classroom.


Click on the slide show to appreciate all the oil pastel drawings on Picasa or better still come into our classroom to have a look.

Our Visit to Le Potager

On October 1st we went on a trip to "Le Potager", a private estate in Chambesy with beautiful grounds. We were able to visit this garden thanks to a former Pregny student, Kirsty Griffiths. It was a really special and fascinating experience, enjoyed by grown-ups and children alike.

It was certainly rather impressive to arrive at our destination, ring a bell and have iron gates swing open to let us in. Once inside we found ourselves in a haven of calm, just a few metres away from the hustle and bustle of a fairly busy road. We followed a winding path, then went gingerly across a rather rickety bridge over a stream which flowed through a forest of bamboos. Close by we could see what looked like an army tent, with a hammock hanging outside. We wondered who might be sleeping there under the swishing bamboos.

After having a good look at a variety of fruit trees and an old fashioned vegetable garden, we found ourselves in a beautifully restored part of the greenhouse, with a marble floor, some garden furniture and even a piano. With Kirsty's help the children were introduced to a variety of herbs and were able to examine the huge stripey green seeds of the wisteria, compared with the minuscule brown seeds which fell out of the dead basil flowers.

The children were real risk-takers as they tasted mint, chives, spring onions, cherry tomatoes, basil and freshly picked apples and lettuce. Some children were amazed to see the inside of a fig with so many tiny seeds in the stunning red flesh. We would be able to take some figs back to school to try. In the vegetable garden we had discovered a large yellow courgette under the leaves and Kirsty cooked it for the children to eat at snack time. Most agreed that it was delicious. After snack the children had a wonderful time playing under the trees.

The children wrote a recount of their morning when they returned to school. Here are some of their comments.

We went on a bridge. The bridge was in a bamboo forest. Adam
We saw a tent in the bamboo forest. Faizal
I was a little bit scared of the bamboo forest. Ko
The greenhouse was cool. It was great fun. I loved the trip. Cillian
We went to a farm and we picked vegetables and fruits. We ate courgette for snack. Clara
We ate carrots and tomatoes. Miguel
We picked vegetables. I ate everything. Philip
We ate what we picked in the greenhouse. I had fun at the farm. Quentin
I saw a snail in the soil. Russell
I saw seeds inside the apples. Octavia
I saw a lot of fruits and vegetables. Emilie
We went to the giant bamboo forest. Federica
The girls went on one bus and the boys went on bus number 4. We ate snack there. Kate
We looked at all the different kinds of plants. Shashikant
When it was snack time we played the piano. Shouq
I saw three greenhouse and we played catch. Sofia
We cooked a big yellow pumpkin and then we ate it. Yona

More gardening news

Going on a soil hunt.....

There we were in the garden with Cova and she asked us to find different kinds of soil. The children already knew, if they went gardening with class 1, that there are different kinds. But what might they be? Cova showed us a handful of soil from one of the vegetable beds. "What do you think is in this soil" she asked. Eventually after input from the children the conclusion was that soil is made up of water, air, organic matter like old leaves or rotting plants and minerals, which come from the rocks and stones. How good the soil is for growing things depends on how much of each of those things is in there!

Cova challenged the children to work in teams to find different kinds of soil around the school garden. They went off with trowels and a plastic container. Under the trees they found sandy soil, light coloured and dusty, as well as stony soil. Both of those were also discovered by the path next to the ramp. At the edge of the flower bed we found heavy clay and in our vegetable beds was the best soil for growing, light and airy and full of organic matter. Plenty of compost had been dug in last spring to help create the sweet smelling, crumbly airy soil in our school garden.

Back in the classroom the children remarked that:
Forest soil has no water and no compost.
Clay soil is sticky.
Really good soil is black, full of compost and minerals and not at all sticky.




Savez-vous planter les choux? or do you know how to plant your cabbages?

This week it was time to plant something. Cova had some interesting looking plants with purpley-green leaves, one for each child. The children had plenty of prior knowledge about the structure of a plant which they were delighted to share with her. However, no-one knew that these rather spindly seedlings would grow up to be cabbages.

The children set to work, some with rakes to make the soil smooth and some with trowels, digging holes for the young plants and then pressing down the soil firmly around them. Maybe later in the year, as winter comes we'll be eating cabbage soup.




A different kind of gardening.

This week we didn't really go near our garden. We started off by sitting under a tree. (It was really interesting to note that boys and girls who usually have no problem getting dirty, did not much appreciate sitting on the rather stony ground.)
First we looked up at the green leaves where the sun was glinting through. When Cova pulled one of them, it clung firmly to the tree. Then we looked down to the brown crunchy dead leaves at our feet. " These leaves are dead", someone said. "Yes" said Cova, "but how do the green leaves, still on the tree, know when to fall?"

She told us there is a tiny trapdoor where the leaf joins the stem. During the autumn the little doof closes, so no more water can reach the leaf. It becomes yellow, then brown and the stem comes loose, so that the leaf and float to the ground.

Cova put the children into teams to rake and collect leaves. The teams worked away at the task, not needing too many reminders about using tools safely. They filled the big red buckets to the brim and took them proudly to the ever-growing pile by the fence. Hopefully, the pile will stay there through the winter and become wonderful compost to use in our garden next spring.

I am sure that if you asked the children they would say that raking up the leaves was a lot of fun.

Our World Of Plants: The Second Unit of Inquiry

As you may know, in Class 2o we have just started out on our second Unit of Inquiry: Our World of Plants.

The central idea for this unit is:

Plants are vital for life on earth.

Lines of inquiry which will drive our learning will be:

• Plants have similarities and differences.
• People depend on plants for many different purposes
• Our responsibility to look after plant-life.


We will engage in these lines of inquiry through activities involving observation of plants, looking closely at their flowers, seeds, roots, stems and leaves. We will investigate what plants need for healthy growth and discover similarities and differences by comparing plants. We will go out to visit places close to the school to find out how plants are cared for and to begin to understand the many and varied uses of plants.

Although this unit focuses heavily on science, there are also possibilities for engaging in a range of art activities and for conducting surveys in maths. All of our gardening sessions with Cova fit perfectly into this Unit of Inquiry.

Right at the start of this unit, we sat down in a group (on our lovely, comfortable new carpet) and the children brainstormed what they knew, or thought they knew about plants.

First you plant seeds. Sofia
Seeds need time to grow. Shashikant

Shashikant's comment led us into a discussion about how long different plants might take to grow. After delving into a book: From Little Acorns: A First Look at the Life Cycle of a Tree, we learned that an oak tree has to be 40 years old before it has flowers and then acorns.

Trees have rings which show how old they are. Faizal
Flowers have seeds in them. Lizzie
Plants have roots. Federica
Plants have leaves. Yona
Plants need water to grow. Sree
Plants need sun for warmth and light. Emilie
Plants need soil to grow. Kate
The leaves make food for the plant. Cillian
Bees go inside the flower. Jan
Flowers have nectar. Adam
At night flowers close their petals. Emilie
Some trees lose their leaves in the autumn. Jan
Some plants are spiky. Russell
Some plants are insect-eaters. Quentin
Some plants can be eaten by animals and people. Cillian

We also agreed that most plants have stems and flowers.

As we go on to further investigation by sharing books, watching DVDS and exploring our school environment this prior knowledge will be confirmed or expanded upon. Any misconceptions can be discussed.

Vegetable Art: Making edible faces

Today with the help of Catrin, the children tried a new and different form of art: using vegetables to create a face. This provided an opportunity to use the names of vegetables, which were not always familiar to the children. It also allowed some of the class, who are less comfortable using pens, crayons or paints, to express their ideas in a different and rather novel way. Another positive aspect of this activity was the possibility to change one's mind, since nothing was ever permanent!

As you can see, the class 2o artists were in creative mood.

After the works of art were dismantled, the remaining vegetables were chopped up, made into delicious vegetable soup by Catrin and eaten with relish by the children!

Please take the chance to talk to you child about the many different faces and the vegetables used in them.