Descriptive Writing

We have been learning to use lots of interesting words to describe things in our writing. Listen as Stone describes lighting a candle.
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Our Treemendous Tree Study

Last term we studied three New Zealand native trees found in our school grounds.
Here's what we found out!

The Pohutakawa Tree.

 

Pohutakawa trees live by the water. They grow in the north of New Zealand. Pohutakawa trees are extremely big. If you cut a branch off a Pohutakawa tree and it still survives. New Zealand's biggest Pohutakawa tree has 22 trunks. The Maori people used to use the Pohutakawa trees for medicine to help them with diarrhoea. You could chew the inside of the bark to help with toothache Pohutakawa trees can have red or yellow flowers. It is often called the New Zealand Christmas Tree because it has red flowers at Christmas time. Some Pohutakawa trees are protected and no-one can chop them down.

                                          The Kowhai Tree
                          
The Kowhai tree stays green all year round. It has yellow flowers that are about 3cms long. The scientific name of the Kowhai tree is Sophora tetraptera. The Kowhai flowers from July to November. Tui, Wood Pigeon and Bell Birds love to sip the nectar from Kowhai flowers. There are eight different kinds of Kowhai trees.               

                                               The Nikau Palm.

The Nikau Palm is the only native palm in New Zealand. The Nikau can live for up to 100 years. The Nikau Palm grows to between 10 and 15 metres tall. The rings on the trunk of the tree are marks left when the leaves(fronds) have fallen off. The fronds of the Nikau Palm can grow up to 3 metres long. The flowers of the Nikau are sticky and sweet. It has round, red fruit which takes a whole year to ripen. In the past the Maori people used the leaves for making mats and wrapping food. They liked to eat the flowers and the inside of the pointy leaves. The Kereru's favourite berries are the Nikau Palm berries.