Seasonal happenings at the Nursery – 10 March 2021
Pōkākā (Year 5/6) and Miro (NE/Year 1) classes from Otatara School visited for the day with a focus of noticing the seasonal happenings and what this means for plants and the bush. Deciduous trees and their falling leaves indicated that indeed it is autumn, and we learnt that many trees adapt to the cold by losing their leaves. This connected to their learning about lifecycles. Exploring the bush track taking notice of all that is happening in the ngahere at this time of year, the class trees were identified – looking at leaves, bark, adult and juvenile forms and learning to notice the smallest differences and changes. Putting on scientific thinking hats the students wondered, inquired and answered queries. The decomposition of the forest was noted, along with the dead possum, and the roles of bugs and insects discovered.
After lunch the tree identification knowledge was put into play, noting which species had seed ready to collect at this time of year. The different size, shape and type of seeds and the different ways these are dispersed around the environment were studied. It was discovered that Pōkākā and Miro seeds are quite big compared to other seeds, but that these plant species were not seeding at this time of year. The blue fruit of mingimingi contained two white seeds, the cabbage tree fruits were still green (but black seeds had still formed inside), kohuhu seeds were sticky and toetoe and red tussock seeds are dry and wind dispersed. For more information on knowing your seeds and when to collect your seeds see Seeds • Southland Community Nursery. The classes took their seeds back to class and are going to sow them and design seed packets, learning all about their tree species, see scn_seed_packet_challenge_-_seed_packet_design.pdf (southlandcommunitynursery.org.nz)
It was great to have these classes out connecting to and noticing the seasonal changes in nature.
Bronwyn
Posted: 11 March 2021