Can plants grow without oxygen? by Fa'amanu

Can plants grow without oxygen? My hypothesis is that the plant might not grow without oxygen.

I planted two bean plants, one with oxygen and one with no oxygen. I tied it up with a plastic bag.
I wanted to find out if plants can grow without oxygen.

I noticed that the plant went curly when it grew inside the plastic bag. I also noticed that the leaves of the bean plant were thin and small. When this plant grew it took so long to grow. The plant that was out the plastic bag grew very fast and well. It looked very healthy and strong. The next thing I noticed was the size of the plant. The plant that was out of the plastic bag was the size of a book. The one in the plastic bag was the size of a pencil.
I found out that the reason the bean plant inside the plastic bag grew really slow because it didn't have any oxygen in the plastic bag. The bean plant in the plastic bag did not have any space to grow that's why it grew curly. The reason the leaves were thin and small was because it was not strong and healthy. I still think that if the plant had no oxygen it would not grow, but there were holes in the plastic bag that's why it grew a little bit.
I found out the plants need oxygen, sunlight, water and nutrients to grow big and healthy.

Lost in the Forest by Faamanu

Once upon a time there lived a nice and quiet family, Mum, Lucy, Dad and baby George. They lived in a  wooden house  with a big  giant clock.The clock always went  tic toc tic toc. One night  mum was reading a  story to the family near the fireplace. The  book she was reading  was  called, Little Red Ridding Hood. When she was reading the story the house started  turning into a forest with a wolf standing near a river. 
Mum said “what’s wrong  with our house?” Dad said “why are trees in our wooden house?” “Oh no!” shouted George.”Lets get out of here!” said Lucy.The family got lost in the forest.”How do we get out of here?” said Dad.
The family were searching their way out of the forest when they met a little girl called Little Red Riding Hood. The girl was so small and she was holding a picnic  basket.”This girl looks similar to the girl in a book,”  said Lucy. 
“Hi my name is Little Red Riding Hood” said the girl. 
“Hey she is Little Red Riding Hood in the story” said Lucy! 
"Help me, there's a wolf coming to eat me” replied Little Red. The wolf has sharp teeth and sharp claws and big muscles. "Can you help me,"  asked Little Red.” 
"Ok," said mum, "but if we help you would you help us?”
"Ok," said Little Red. When Little Red got home with Lucy’s family she saw her Grandma wrapped up inside the closest. The wolf jumped out of nowhere and tried to eat Lucy and Little Red. 
“Give me your picnic basket” roared the wolf. 
“No!” shouted Little Red and she threw the picnic basket to Lucy. Lucy ran to the wolf and whacked his head with the picnic basket and the wolf fell on the ground. 
“Are you going to help us or not” asked the mother. 
“Come with me and I will show you the way out of this place” said Little Red. Here is the place to help you get out of this spooky forest. 
“This is a cave”, said Dad.
“Come on” shouted Mum. “Let’s go”. 
The cave was spooky and so dark. Lucy ran inside and broke her ankle on a rock. Lucy felt hurt and she cried out loud to her Dad. So dad had to carry her all the way home. 
“Are you forgetting someone?" asked Little Red. "Can me and my grandma came with you?"  
“Sure you can" said mum. 
So they got out of the forest and they had a picnic and they lived happy ever after.      

Photosynthesis - by Fa'amanu

The coolest thing I learned about photosynthesis was learning about the four steps - the carbon-dioxide going through the stomata all the way through to the oxygen coming out of the stomata.

Independent Writing - Fa'amanu

Room 4 have been practicing their writing goals. We would love it if you could help us by commenting on our writing. Please tell us if you think we have achieved our goal, and what else you think we can work on!

Thank you for listening to all of our stories.

Helping Bob in the garden 16.10.12

On Tuesday Jacob, Fa'amanu and Paige enjoyed helping Bob in the garden at school. They planted broccoli, lettuce and cauliflower. They watered plants and pulled up weeds. They got weeds from under the rocks and put it in the compost pile. Their favourite part was the planting!

Thank you to our media team (Patience and Mairangi) for taking the photos.

Getting ready to do some planting!

Jacob getting the weeds from the ground.

Paige putting the weeds into the bucket.

Jacob digging the rocks and weeds out of the path.

Fa'amanu and Jacob getting the weeds from the sand.

Shaking the soil from the weeds!

Fa'amanu pulling up the weeds.

"The door hates me!" says Jacob!

The three gardeners

BELLA AND TROY By Fa'amanu

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a family, which were called tigers. The father tiger had three daughters who lived in a huge jungle with wild animals everywhere. There was a pretty tiger called Bella. She was gorgeous and she was the only one who had to clean up all the mess from the other two daughters.

The family were all coloured orange and black.  One day wild humans destroyed their home. So they decided to move to a poor part of the jungle. They were so sad and they were hungry and thirsty. Bella said, “I’m scared Dad.”

One day, father tiger went hunting in the jungle, running through the trees, Father tiger heard a noise. The noise was coming from behind the trees. A lion called Troy kidnapped Father tiger. Troy was a handsome lion and he could roar louder than an elephant and run faster than a cheetah. 

Troy had decided to kidnap father tiger because father tiger had stolen food from Troy’s den. “Please don’t eat me! I just wanted food and water for my poor family,” said father tiger. “Too bad. You stole from my den,” replied Troy. Troy was very angry, as angry as a monster.

Troy decided to let father tiger go, but said to him “Bring me the first thing you see when you get home.” He explained that if father tiger didn’t bring anything Troy would destroy his family.

When father tiger got to his poor home he saw Bella and he said “Oh no! I don’t want to take my beautiful daughter to Troy because he might kill her.” But father tiger had to take his glorious daughter to see Troy.

Father tiger said, “I don’t want to lose my splendid daughter. She’s the most beautiful thing in the jungle.” But father tiger had to take Bella to Troy. Father tiger didn’t want his family to get destroyed. “Come with me,” said father tiger. “I will take you somewhere special.”

When Bella get’s to Troy’s den Bella saw Troy and Bella fell in love with Troy. Troy tried to look handsome at the front of Bella. Troy didn’t want to kill Bella he wanted Bella to marry him. Bella and Troy had a picnic near a cave. Bella kissed Troy and Troy said, “Will you marry me.” Bella said, “Yes, I will marry you.” The other two daughters were so jealous. Father tiger was happy and they lived happily every after.