Students enjoy making and growing things
Central Takaka School’s woodwork students with their hand-made bird boxes, from left, Zebedee Fersterer-Gawith, Jack Hill and Cade Nicholls. Photo: Supplied.
In tune with the winter experience, Central Takaka School students have been turning out beautiful bird boxes in the school’s newly created woodwork space.
“We have revamped our old woodshed to create a usable woodworking area,” said principal Liz Batten. “Home and School bought a set of new tools and one of our dads, Jamie Ward, offered to work with the children. It has been a goal to get the woodwork going and it’s great to see it underway.
“The year five and six children had to write a letter to apply to be in the woodwork group and explain why they would like to be involved. We had anticipated that a few children who were really keen and interested in woodwork would apply, but it has proved very popular and we now have a waiting list.”
Woodwork requires the student to draw on a lot of different skills and promotes across-the-curriculum learning, said Liz, and was another way of extending the children. “The children will be using their own designs, and will use materials to create something new. There is a lot of maths and measuring involved, prompting children to ask the right questions.”
The children learn to use and control different tools and to understand safety issues. “It is about putting everything into context and giving learning a purpose. A big thanks to ITM for donating the wood for the projects.”
The same applies to the skills the children are learning in the school garden. A grant received from the Golden Bay Organic Employment and Education Trust has allowed the school to continue its gardening programme and fund tutor Sol Morgan for another year.
“The children have learned so much, and this is reflected in their vocabulary,” said Liz. “They are talking about seed-saving and how plants grow and the lifecycle of plants in the garden. They’ve learned about the different varieties of vegetables, especially pumpkins. We have just had our harvest pumpkin soup feast with pumpkin soup and bread made by the children. Classes enjoy cooking and baking and we have become known for the courgette pickle the seniors made to raise money for their camp.”
To showcase the school’s edible education, it will hold a stall on 22 June in the school grounds, offering a range of pumpkins, potatoes, pickles and chutneys to raise money for future garden endeavours.
Ina Holst
