Harvesting Learning

On Thursday of this week, Year 2 rounded off their learning about fruits and vegetables with a trip to Ibis Farm, some produce stalls and Chandarana - it was a busy day packed full of learning took place!

The children started the day by hopping onto the bus and driving to Ibis Farm where they were greeted by a Year 2 parent who was kind enough to organise the visit for us - a very big thank you to them! The children visited three different fields. The first field was for carrots - the children learned about how they are irrigated, how long they need to be in the ground before they are harvested and how they are harvested.

The children were very quick to identify that the farm was a ‘commercial’ farm as they spotted the large fields of one crop and a host of machinery. When hearing that the carrots are first harvested using a machine and then workers collect them, it confirmed to them that it was a commercial farm.

The children could not believe their luck when they were invited to pull up some carrots. They were surprised at how difficult a task it was, but those carrots were very ‘rooted’ in the ground. The carrots were no match for our strong Year 2s who managed to come away with a fair few hefty ones.

Next, was a tender-stem broccoli field. Here the children learned how broccoli are sold and that they are grown for export. The children enjoyed applying their newly-acquired vocabulary really well during the discussions.

Finally it was sweet-bite peppers. This was the children’s favourite vegetable to explore as they got to venture in and out of the tunnels, picking ripe peppers as they went. They even had to use their hats as carriers to bring their loot back to the bus. It was fairly challenging for the teachers to stop the hungry children from taking bites out of the veggies before they had been washed - who could blame them!

Once snack was over (including some bites of the freshly picked and washed veggies), the children headed out to some roadside produce stalls. The children filled out their pre-prepared charts, asking the vendors the costs of certain fruits and vegetables and if the produce items were imported or found locally. They used this information to compare the costs of similar produce items later in the morning when they visited Chandarana. With the help of a very kind attendant, the children were able to purchase a few fruits or vegetables of their choice. Ms Kamau was in charge of the money and helped the children make their purchases.

Back to school, with shopping bags bursting and a trail of carrot tops in their wake, the children settled down to complete their comparison tables. They found that the majority of the fruits and vegetables sold at the produce stalls were grown locally and were much cheaper to buy than the produce found at Chandarana. Watermelon turned out to be an expensive fruit in comparison to bananas. Great investigating Year 2!

To complete the day, the children created fruit and vegetable ‘shape poems’, using similes and adjectives to outline and fill the shape of their chosen item. (Click on the pictures to have a closer read)

They also put their artistic hats on to draw the items that they purchased or picked on the trip. It was a fantastic day filled with plenty of learning opportunities and fruit and vegetables galore!