How Terrariums work like the water Cycle in Nature

 

This is a diagram of how the main processes in the Water Cycle works in Nature. Our class had decided to show this complicated phenomena by creating a miniature water cycle process in a simple terrarium.

To kick off our class terrarium, we first did some research on google in our inquiry groups to find out how terrariums work. Then we drew a plan and labelled the things we would need to make the experiment. Thereafter we discussed the different steps involved in the method. 

 

 

The next day we went on a tikkie-tour or nature walk to collect small plants from our school gardens for our terrarium,

 

"Will this plant do?" asked Virgil. "No! a terrarium should have small plants," replied Margaret. The students used their research inquiry to make informed decisions. Great choice guys! 

 

Awesome nature walk! We love this kind of learning Mrs Naidoo.

Back to the schoolroom to put all our research into action.

First take a clear or transparent container and cover the glass bottom with little pebbles to drain the extra water from the plant roots."This is to ensure that the roots don't rot in the container."

 

Now add some charcoal or dried twigs to keep the soil moist enough but not soggy. Next put in the loamy soil and add a half a cup of water to the soil. 

After that make little holes to plant the little plants by pressing their roots in firmly.

Make sure you do not put too many plants inside the container as the  plants will need space as well as air to grow and transpire.

 

And all this can be done in the classroom for us to participate and observe.

 

All you need to do now is to seal the cap with masking tape and place the terrarium on a window sill where it will get indirect sunlight.

 

Write the date on the seal of the container to find out how long it can survive without adding anymore water to it.

 

 

 Observe the natural processes of evaporation (water vapour), condensation (droplets of water on the glass) and how this water drips down again (like precipitation) into the soil (through infiltration)and gets absorbed by the roots of the plants and is given off by the leaves (during transpiration) to be recycled and re-used several times over like the Water Cycle in nature.

 

 

Wow! like an amazing Water Cycle genie in the bottle- and to think all this can be observed on a small scale - as a simple glass container.

What a way to bring learning of difficult concepts like evaporation and condensation alive in the classroom. Thanks to Science. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yolanda, a Face painting Artist

Guess who came to our class on Friday the 7 of June 2013. That's right, Yolanda.

who is a parent of one of our classmates,Layla.She is 34 years old with a Dutch background and she loves to do face and body painting and share her artwork with everybody in the universe. (Kilipati, Trey)

 

Yolanda is an artist who is as tall as the traffic light. She has short reddish blond hair that makes heads turn as she's one that stands out in the crowd. Everybody goes "Wow, she's looks like shes on FIRE!" (Levi, Virgil)

  

She is a fabulous "show and tell" artist and she loves to share her body painting artwork with others, be they young kids or adults. She has something to entertain and capture everybody. What an awesome talented artist! (Sylas, Nelson)

 

Yolanda is a responsible artist who never walks into a room without a bag full of surprising stuff to inspire the children. She can manage a class all by her self by saying" Class can you move back a little please, so that the others  can also see the fake zombie skin?" They looked really freakie. (Alexis, Sione )

Yolanda is an absolutely famous and special artist who has heaps of fans throughout the world. She travels around the world and does TV shows and interviews with people from different countries. She also participates in body painting art competitions. We hope she wins and becomes world famous. (Terrie, Tanya)

 

Finally Yolanda is a unique artist who has been selected as a judge for a world famous body art competition. For a wonder people want to be like her- creative, generous, graceful and sensational. Rrrh! (Margaret, Nia)

 

 

 

Our Trip to the Panmure Basin

On Wednesday 29 May 2013 Room 15 went on a trip to see where the fresh water meets the salt water in the Panmure Basin area.

 

We saw the mangrove trees growing in the salt water basin. We were wondering how is this possible? Some said that seawweds and coconut trees also grow in areas that have lots of salt. We also looked at the bird life in the basin.We learnt heaps about how the Water Cycle works in the Basin area.

On the way back the children looked at the salt water in the Basin and asked "Where does the salt water come from, when we just saw that fresh water flowed from a stream under a bridge on the way to the Basin?" That was a great question to ask I thought.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob, our awesome school caretaker

 

Bob is a fabulous caretaker who keeps Sylvia Park School spotless. He is about 65 years old and is meticulous when it comes to fixing up jobs. He is also a superb handy-man who has carved a magnificent sheild with our room number 15 on it, with his amazing Jigsaw. Now aren't we fortunate to have such a  talented man around in our school!

 

Bob comes well- equipped to build useful stuff such as a rack to hang our bags to help keep our class neat and tidy. Wow! what a helpful caretaker!

 

Bob is also awesome in the classroom explaining to kids how to do stuff like drill a hole, screw on things with his amazing screw driver and hammar nails. He gives clear instructions like "Turn the screw clockwise." I thought that there was only one kind of head on a nail- but Bob told us that there were the square head, flat head and so on. Bob "knocked the nail on the head" when he said that we learn quickly- and so have we. Now we know heaps about fix-up jobs.

" I think I want to be a janitor just like Bob when I grow up" said Sylas and Trey.

 

 

Bob is a responsible and careful worker around students. He tells us the rules or the 'precautions ' we have to take when using dangerous electric tools like the jigsaw and drill. He never shouts when we break safety rules but he says in a quiet as a mouse -voice "What did I say? " to Sione, the fidgeter,who was putting his hands too close to the cutting tool.

 

 

Bob is an expert when it comes to actually using the different tools. He is a dextrious man who seems to have the technical know-how to use his tools to do a job, safely. Bob is "a place for everything and everything in its place," man. That's our man!

 

 

Bob loves to talk to others about the job he does. He knows how to progress the sequence of his "show an tell" lessons from one tool to the next by merely saying "Shall we move onto the jigsaw tool now?" No arresting the lessons by saying 1,2,3 or bus stop! Gosh, that's the surest way to kill the lesson. But not with Bob- he knows how to motivate and lead kids from one tool to the next, without making as much fuss. That's Bob 4 U!

 

 

Now check out his precision work! "Would you like me to cut out your room number?" he asked us and of course we all screamed "Ya!" After that he asked "Would you like me to cut out a circle to screw on the numbers?." Again we called out "Yes, Bob!" He quickly drew a circle with Armand's short stubby pencil and away went the jigsaw, zzzing around and before long he had cut out a perfect circle. "Yay! Thanks Bob for that magnificent shield." cheered the children.

 

 

Bob is an alien from outerspace who is invading planet "SPS". Bob wears yellow earmuffs like the captain of a UFO spaceshuttle and goggles like the shadowed eye-patch of a meerkat. Wow! what a unique mixture of character.