Year 3's very own herbal tea blends

After learning about the history and cultural uses of herbs and tea around the world, Year Three created their very own herbal teas today.  

We chose from these plants in our Mara Kai:

Lemongrass

Sage leaves

Mint

Pineapple sage flowers 

Kotu Kola

Kawakawa

&SunnyHoney

Before we drank our tea we said the school's new Karakia kai. 

Ranger "We made our own tea. We used herbs from the gardens"

Milana "It tasted like mint and honey"

Constance "It tasted like lemon"

Luke " I can smell mint and honey" 

Hunter "It smells like an ice block"

Kirsten "It tasted interesting with all the flavours"

Olivia "My tea is called Olivia's Special Pineapple Sage Tea"

Matty "My tea is called Mint & Lemon Tea"

Emily "My tea is called Fun Tea"

Karuna "We grow gotu kola in India too.  We eat the leaves and make tea with it. We have it because its healthy."

Madeleine "I learnt that tea is delicious"

Albert "I learnt how to make tea out of herbs"

Ruby "I learnt how to try tea"

Zoe "Even if you don't like the plants you put in your tea it can make it yum".

Tino "We can grow herbs to make drinks"

Coby "I learnt about a plant called lemongrass. It is very hard to chew.  It smells like lemon"

Maddison "My tea tasted like cucumber and it smelt really good"

Chase "We learnt how to make really yummy tea with herbs"

Using our pineapple sage with Year Three

 Today Year 3 continued our inquiry into how we can use the herbs we grow in the Mara Kai. We discovered the amazing history of tea beginning 6 thousand years ago in China and spreading ALL over the world.

Next we picked pineapple sage and made it into refreshing cold fusion tea.

Maddison " The tea smelt like pineapple gummies" 

Camellia "The tea tasted a little bit like pineapple"

Chase "It smelt like pineapple but it tasted like water"

Tino "It smelt like juice"

Annabelle "A man in China poisoned himself and a tea leaf floated into his mouth and saved him"

Alice "Shennong invented tea 6 thousand years ago"

Pineapple sage is like it's cousin mint and as well as having alovely aroma is great for stomach issues. Next time we are looking forward to exploring Maori Rongoa by using our kawakawa.

Year Three Get Thinking and Explore the World of Herbs

 Today Year Three learnt we don't just grow fruits, vegetables and flowers in our Mara Kai: we also grow lots of herbs and plants used for non edible reasons.

We got thinking about what we already knew about herbs in a group brainstorm, before we went on a  senses explore around the garden.  We smeilt and felt lemongrass, mint, sage, rosemary, oregano, gotu kola and kawakawa.  We saw gourds and squash growing. There was a big fat cucumber, so we picked and ate it. Yum!

Afterwards we came up with wonderings about our new topic:

Camellia - What do we do with the gourds? Hazel - Can you eat the herbs? Tino - What herbs make tea in tea bags? Emily - What kind of herbs can smell good? Camellia - how many types of herbs are there in the world? Annabelle - how long does it take to grow? Coby - can we grow herbs with just sunshine? Awa - who invented tea? Hunter - what do we do with the gourds?

Room 18 collected compost and filled the empty garden beds.  Room 8 potted up beetroot seeds and Room 7 watered the kumara patches.

Next time we're looking forward to finding out who invented tea.  We might try some fruit tea and hopefully our beetroot seeds will have germinatedp

Cucumbers

Apples

Using our senses

A big fat cucumber 

Look, there's a gourd! 

Mmm mint

Potting up beetroot seeds

Planting our Tea Garden

 This week our Year Three's weeded & composted in preparation for planting a tea garden.

We planted kawa kawa, camomile, kola, bergamot, sage, mint and lemongrass. 

Thanks to everyone who bought Sunnyhills Sunflower Seeds; money from the sales helped us buy our tea garden plants.

We can't wait to make signs for our tea garden in different languages next week.

Brian with Bergamot - he's our inspiration for this inquiry!