Congratulation to Theo, our new Greenfingers Gang Captain. For years now Theo has shown dedication and leadership in our weekly lunchtime gardening group. He hopes to be an Eco Leader in Year Six. Well done Theo! All Koru and Kowhai kids are welcome to join the Greenfingers Gang on Thursdays.
Today Year Five began their lesson by taste testing the kumara we dug up last week.
Hazel "It tasted yummy."
Chase "It tasted like honey and a bit salty too."
"There were two types of kumara. The yellow kumara had purple skin. And there was gold kumara that was orange" Madeleine
"It was very tasty" Luci
"I expected it to taste like potato but it tasted way sweeter" Milana
Next, we logged our Wednesday Challenge results.
Today we're learning about how active travel is great for our hearts.
What do you already know about your heart?
Ciara "Your heart can beat 150 beats per minute."
Lakyn "It goes da doing da doing"
Awa "It makes you live"
Audrey "It makes your blood pump."
"Younger people's hearts beat faster" Annie
"Your heart has blood vessels that lead to other blood vessels.
We read about our hearts in our online work book. Here's some facts we found out:
Orlando "Taking your pulse is a way of measuring how fast your heart is beating."
Alice "Your heart is the size of your clenched fist."
Camelia "When you exercise you can feel your heart rate go up."
We learnt how to take our pulse and work out our BPM. Next we graphed how our pulse changed with exercise and how long it took to come back down.
Next time we are going to find out how active travel is good for our muscles and mental health.
Today Year 3 were the first year group to try our 2026 Matariki kumara. What a great way to restart our "Connecting to Kai" Unit. Did you know that Pacific Islanders couldn't fully settle in Aotearoa until they had established kumara gardens? That's what makes kumara such a special vegetable here.
How did the kumara taste?
Sammy "The kumara tasted quite sweet"
"It tasted juicy, sweet and salty" Jonas
"It was mushy" Milan
"It was delicious" Reyna
"It's too mushy to put in a burger" Jaxon
We talked about how kai can effect our mood. If we don't eat regularly we can feel 'hangry' and if we eat too much it can make us feel sleepy or ill. Eating a variety of food regularly helps our us feel good and grow. Some food makes us feel happy because it connects us to special times and people.
Chloe "My grandmother makes me corn and beef dumplings."
Harvey "I ate too much cake at Christmas time and I felt sick."
We drew our favourite meals and the meals that we think will help us to grow.
Next time we're going to think about processed vs. unprocessed food and make a healthy snack.
This morning, K1 dug up the last of the kumara making the 2026 harvest 458 in total! Incredible.
"When we went to the big bed Harry found six kumara." Ren
"Me, Richard and Luca kept finding pink or purple roots and we'd get excited but then annoyed because there were no more kumara." Hunter
"We found like twenty fat worms in the garden" Alysia
"When we were digging up I found a giant kumara" Emily
For the rest of the day Year Six worked in the sunshine weeding the Mara Kai. Thanks Year Six for your hard mahi!
This morning was another bluebird winter's day, Room 5 were first out to harvest kumara.
"It was very fun digging up kumara and seeing how big they could get. I hope we get over three hundred today" Nick
Amelia "My hands were very stiff from the cold dirt, but it was worth it find six kumara."
Theo "There were still a lot of kumara in the other patches. I felt excited."
Alyssa "It was very hard to dig to get the kumara out but it was nice seeing we had a lot of kumara."
In total they dug up 77 kumara!
After morning tea Room 4 found 42 kumara. Unfortunately the buttercup had taken over the beds where they were digging, so the kumara hadn't had room to grow.
In the afternoon Room 6 dug up 22 in a shady bed. Valentin dug up the biggest kumara of the day by far!
So that's 77+42+22 = 141 kumara dug up by Year 4. WELL DONE & lots of fun too.
