Term 1 2018 Room 22 "No Care/ Self- managing Gardens

               Setting up a "No Care" or Self-Managing Garden Terrarium to enable students

       to observe how the Water Cycle works in Nature, 

BUT right in the classroom.

                                   

                    On Friday 9 February we in Rm 22 decided to make a "No care garden" to see                      how the Water Cycle in Nature works in a closed glass jar right in front of us 

in our classroom.

                            First we planned what we wanted to make as a group. Everyone was
                                                        very excited about the hands-on learning.

       Then we collected all the materials we needed from our very own school grounds to make our                                                                                   terrarium

                                  We named the materials we needed and labelled them


                                       
             Only plant a few plants about 3 small plants to prevent overcrowding in the glass jar.

      We all participated in setting up our no care garden, even  Hayley's teacher -aide, E.

                                   

                It was truly a fabulous Friday hands-on activity which everyone in class enjoyed.

                                       
                         We loved that we all could have a hand in making our nature project.

                 Even Hayley, our youngest  classmate got to help by putting the soil into the 
                                                                   terrarium jar.

     Each one took turns to put pebbles, soil and plant small plants in the glass jar. 

It was a bit tricky planting plants in a narrow-necked jar but we managed to do it as a team.

                                         
                        Finally 2 cups of water was added to set up the no care garden. 

                                             

That water is meant to evaporate during the day, condensate during the early morning where the water droplets slides down the glass back into the soil like precipitation to be re-absorbed by the roots.

                   Then our teacher helped to seal off the glass jar around the lid with masking tape 
                                                          to keep the bottle air-tight.

Then she wrote down the day, date and year (Fri 9/02/2018)

That's how to make a SELF-MANAGING garden.

           So when the sun rises in the morning and heats up the water in the terrarium, the water evaporates,  and when the water vapour touches the cold glass it cools and condenses to form water droplets, especially during the early hours of the morning. These water droplets collect and become bigger and then slide down the glass back into the soil like precipitation or rain to be re-absorbed by the roots of the planting.

                      And so this process goes on and on in nature which is known as the Water Cycle.