Some observations from the last few days of Class 2o's investigations into plant life.

All sorts of activities and discussions took place during the final days of our second unit of inquiry "Our World of Plants".

The children were invited to bring in their bean plants to share with their classmates. This was a very real learning experience, which connected well with comments Cova had made during our gardening sessions, that we don't always know whether what we plant will grow, even if we do our best to look after it!. Some of the children remembered to bring their plants, others forgot; some had to admit that their plant had not survived, while a few plants had grown too big to transport!

Have a look at the slide-show to view the plants which thrived. The bean without a person, which appears to have reached the ceiling, belongs to Rik!



We had rather complex discusions about fruits and vegetables and which is which. Of course, much of the confusion arises because quite a few fruits are eaten as what we call vegetables, for example: tomatoes, pumpkins, peppers and courgettes. We came up with the definition that fruits grow out of the flower and contain seeds.
I found this comment about fruits and vegetables on WIkipedia and found that it fits perfectly with the class2o idea of what a fruit is.

"A fruit is actually the sweet, ripened ovary or ovaries of a seed-
bearing plant. A vegetable, in contrast, is an herbaceous plant
cultivated for an edible part (seeds, roots, stems, leaves, bulbs,
tubers, or nonsweet fruits). So, to be really nitpicky, a fruit could
be a vegetable, but a vegetable could not be a fruit."

The challenge to fill a lunchbox, if there were no plants, also provoked an amazing discussion, because the realisation gradually began to dawn, that in fact without plants, there would not be much to eat, if anything, and only water to drink.

We made predictions. What would happen to the cress seeds which were given water but left in the dark? Would celery change if put in a glass with water and red food colouring? After a few days we looked carefully and shared observations. The cress which had been in the dark was yellow and straggly but soon turned green when left in the light.The leaves of the celery became red and when we cut through the stem we could see small red dots where the liquid had travelled up the celery stem.

We had fun tasting the cress with bread and butter. YUMMY.

The class 2o students have definitely become more knowledgeable about plants, and it has been great to observe how everything we have done in the garden with Cova, has been so relevant to all the work which has taken place inside the classroom.

An autumn walk in the park at Chateau de Penthes

On a beautiful autumn afternoon, we decided to take advantage of the pleasant sunshine to go for a walk to the park at Chateau de Penthes. For many of the class 2o students this is a familiar and well-loved place where they spent happy times in class 1, but for the new members of our class it was their first opportunity to enjoy a really lovely place.

On the path by the tennis club, we had to pick our way, with a good deal of hilarity, through the plentiful droppings left by some sheep, who had just been moved from the field across the road from school and had evidently followed the road down towards the Jardin Botanique. As we crossed that road into the park, we wondered where the sheep might be now, but as we wended our way down the path, the children suddenly fell silent, as they heard sheep noises coming from a field somewhere behind a hedge on the other side of the road. (Class 1o went looking for them the next day and sure enough, there they were, but only visible through a hole in the hedge.)

As we traced the familiar paths, our newer students learned about the fairy dell and the troll, which unbeknownst to me, lurks under the little bridge on the way back up the hill.

We enjoyed the amazing views across the lake, wondered at the brilliant autumn colours and were once again (or for the first time) amazed by the sight of the "lightning" tree.

We are so very lucky to have this beautiful park, so near to school.

Even more gardening news......

More planting to do.... On the Thursday after the October break, Cova had bulbs for the children to plant. "Remember which way up they need to be", she said. Most of the bulbs were planted in fruit crates lined with plastic, but Cova made sure the children understood that the plastic needed holes for drainage. Each group used trowels to fill the planters and then put in the bulbs, making sure that they left enough space between them. Some of the planters will be left outside, but others will be kept in the dark. We are going to wait and see what happens... One of the things I really enjoy about gardening with Cova is that there are always wonderings and questions.... Uncertainty seems to be very much a part of gardening.



Did you ever stop to wonder what the children had done with all the old boots and shoes you sent in? Well here they are nestling among the "green compost" waiting for something to grow inside them.

Last week Cova once again asked the children to help with the tidying up. They set to work with a will, raking and piling leaves. Then Cova, as usual, had a question for the children. "What do you think is happening under the piles of leaves we made before the holiday?" she asked. No-one was really sure so, she raked off the dry leaves and underneath we were able to see that the leaves had become dark and wet and sticky, and were starting to decompose. There was a mouldy smell which made the children turn up their noses. Cova told us how wonderful this compost was going to be for our garden soil in the spring.
Then she brought out a head of garlic and wondered if the children knew how big the seeds were. Quite a few of the class had no idea what they were looking at and how we use it. Amazingly most of the group expected the seeds to be small and were surprised when they saw the garlic cloves, which are relatively
large, as seeds go. With the help of the class 2o gardeners we now have garlic growing in our garden. I can't wait till spring to see if the plants grow well.