Gardening indoors

Over the past few days, Christchurch has brought beautiful

sunny weather to us. To our delight, it meant that the children
were able to get out and do some gardening with Teacher
Manal. Teacher Manal brought in with her a big bag which
caught the childrens attention- they knew they were up for a
treat! Teacher Manal explained to the children that they would
be doing some gardening, planting chick pea seed.

Despite the beautiful weather as of late, there was an unfortunate turn on today as it began
raining. However to not disappoint the excited children, Teacher Manal went ahead with the
gardening indoors.
To begin the activity, Teacher Manal distributed seed to the children and they were asked to
describe the shape of the seed. They came up with It is circle, Teacher and some also said
It is oval. The children were given the opportunity to use their senses to look and feel the
chick pea seed. One child instantly said, It feels hard, Teacher. The children also were
asked to count collectively the number of seed held in Teacher Manals hands. During the
activity, the children were also asked to share ideas of what plants need in order to grow. The
children gave great responses including the necessity of water, soil and sun in order to grow.

Teacher Manal then showed the children how to plant the seed. During her demonstration,
Teacher Manal spoke to the children about the important steps of planting a plant. For
example, digging the soil and assuring all the seeds were buried and covered entirely under
the soil, making sure the seed is not showing on the top surface of the earth in order to grow.
The children had a lot of fun during the demonstration as they were given the opportunity to
participate and help Teacher Manal with digging up the soil and adding water to it for
moisture.
Manal and Mahirah

Group story

November 2015

More importantly, while helping Teacher Manal, the children also demonstrated great
coordination skill which was evident when they were holding onto seed and filling in the hole
in the earth.
The gardening activity was very successful with the
children as in one activity, the children were able to
demonstrate multiple mathematical understandings
such as the ability to describe shapes, count, and
positioning/location. As well as this, it was heartwarming to see the children engaging in gardening
and giving new things a go. We are looking forward
to see how our plants will turn out in the next
couple of weeks!

Manal and Mahirah

Group story

November 2015