Year Three Connecting with Kai & Eating Kumara

 

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.

2026 Year Six Finish Off the Kumara Harvest - 40 = 458 grand total

 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!

2026 Kumara Harvest Still Going with Year 4 - 141

 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.

We're looking forward to eating them!

Our 2026 Kumara Harvest Begins - 65

 22/07/26 Today Room 7 started our 2026 kumara harvest.  Out of just one bed we dug up 65 kumara!

Marko "I felt happy when I was digging. I found small kumaras"

Amelia "I found a worm and I also found a big kumara.  It was stuck and we had to dig around it."

Chevan "It was damp because of the dirt."

Mahina "The kumaras are so dirty"

Nixon "I had fun digging."

Kayleigh "I found two big kumaras and I felt so excited."

We are looking forward to roasting the kumara next time to see what they taste like.

Year Three Kai Continued

Today, Year Three were back out in the Mara investigating kai.  First we observed the differences since we were last there in March:

Zoe "The leaves had gone from the fruit trees.  Last time there was lots of fruit and leaves"

Augustino "Cabbages were growing"

Evie K "There was no more leaves on the apple trees and no more apples"

Isla "The leaves will come back in spring"

We tried silver beet fresh from the garden.  

Next we thought about the differences between home grown kai and kai we buy in the shops.  Kai we grow at home is fresher and takes a lot less energy to transport and store so it's better for the environment.  We can't grow all our kai, but it's great if we can have a couple of fruit trees or a small veggie garden at home.

We created diagrams to show the differences between homegown and store bought kai. 

Lastly we thought about the senses that we use when we eat and created a vocabulary bank.

Next time we are looking forward to finding out the groups we can put kai into and how the different food groups are good for our bodies.

Room 7 had a slightly different afternoon because they had the big job of collecting all the bins from around the school for tomorrow's waste audit.  Also, when they were in the Mara Kai they say a HEDGEHOG.  At first it was curled up and then it was waddling around the garden. This led to some hedgehog research.  Did you you know they can swim? Their quills act like a life jacket as they are filled with air.  Unfortuanatley they below in England - they are now considered a pest in New Zealand.

Next time we will be doing a special Civi Defense lesson, then we are looking forward to finding out the groups we can put kai into and how the different food groups are good for our bodies. The children want to end this unit by making kumara soup from the mara.

Year Three Kai Inquiry

 Today Year Three began their inquiry into kai by talking about what we had for breakfast in a sharing cricle.  There was lots of fruits, breads, porridge, cereals, eggs, and milk.

Next we used kai cards in groups to talk about our experiences with different kai and how we can group food. Some groups used colour to categorise while others used sizes, how they are eaten and one group even put them in alphabetical order. We shared our experiences of different foods like taro, tofu and dahl.

Afterwards it was time to go on a kai hunt to see all the food we grow at school with our very own compost.  We spotted kumara, slilverbeet, feijoas, strawberres, quince and apples.  We picked the apples and feijoas to try later.

Back in the classroom we designed a cut and paste menu,  We were careful to select at least five fruits and vegetables and a variety of different colours and types of food.

The apples and feijoas were DELICIOUS.  Next time we are looking forward to finding out about the journey our kai can take.