I love gardening!

Whenwe wereasked to volunteer for the CIP program, I immediately raised my hand. I was very excited to be involved in thisgardening project. My friends and I can do weeding, and in the process, help the other plants grow better.

I do gardening at home too.I have 4 pots of cactus, 2 pots of money plants and 1 pot oforchid. I water the plants everyday and trim them when necessary with the help of my family.

I hope to be able to help out more and Iwill volunteer for the next CIP gardening project again.

- by Tan Qi Min, Pri 4B, Concord Primary School

Hi, I am Auntie Sharon. I work as a Lab Technicianat Catholic High Primary School.

Look at the bean plant that I was posing with. Have you ever seen such huge bean pods?This bean plant is sponsored by the Singapore Environment Council and grows so big under the tender care of our young ‘green fingers’ from the school.

The teachers are thrilled as they can use the bean plantsas a teaching aid. The boys also have such great time charting and observing the growth of these bean plants.This will certainly create a deeper impression for thestudents learning about the life cycle of bean plant in their Primary 3 Science syllabus.

-by Sharon, Lab Technician, Catholic High Primary School

After so many discussions and ponderings,a group of us from Concord Primary School questioned ourselvesand came up with the reasons as to “WhyKeat Hong Park is so unpopular?”

Most of us agreed that Keat Hong Park lacks beauty, which is why not many locals even know that such a park exists, as compared to other parks like East Coast Park.

We then went on our quest of exploration and evidence gathering at the park itself and armed with our IT equipment, wewent around to put our theory to the test. We found some interesting things and confirmed some of the things we already knew.

Here are our thoughts and feelings after our excursion:

• “Yes! We did prove ourselves with a lot of the evidence that we got. Throughout the whole time, I was able to think and come up with many different reasons. I was also able to prove my reasons when we went to investigate the place.”
• “I am happy that we can prove our statement. I was also very happy to present my thoughts as we were recording. I enjoyed using the IT equpiment such as the camera and video recorder. It was very fun for me as I can learn about new things.”
• “I enjoyed being the ‘video man’. I was also presenting, but not that much. It was good to see the things for myself instead of just talking about them in class only.It helps me tounderstand what I was taught better.”
• “The part of using Google earth to put my research in was very fun. I enjoyed seeing the path we took from school and to the park. I also enjoyed putting the pictures into it so people can see our research and enjoy it.”
• “I love to walk around and investigate. When we went there as a group, all of us had something to do. We all went around looking for different things to find. Then we also had to think about our statement as we needed to prove it. But our teacher told us that if we cannot prove it, it’s okay! So we just went around enjoying ourselves while trying to gather as much evidence as we can.”

- by students of Concord Primary School

Hi, I am Soh Sing Wee from 2F. I am thrilled by the amount of plants in our school’s eco-garden.

My favourite plant is the Spider Lily. It may look normal but I can find a lot of spiders near this plant.Isthe spiders attracted to the name of the plant or is there some special scentfrom this plant that attracts a lot of spiders?

I will try to find out more by visiting websites on plants.

-by Soh Sing Wee, Pri 2F, Catholic High Primary School

I fell in love with gardening and plants ever since my father brought some plants home.Themoney plantis the only plant whichlasted the longest, ascompared to the rest that my father brought home.

Recently, Iwent to theschool eco-garden with my friends to dosome research. We leant that antsDO live inside the bark of some trees! Our aim was to observe a caterpillar and we did manage fo find one although we do not know which species it was.

During the CIP program, we had to pull out weeds. My friends and I had a great time learning to tell the difference between a weed and a useful plant. We also learnt about the need to removethe roots of the weeds that had formed along the leaves or else the weeds would grow back.

I was surewe pulled out some useful plants along the way, since it was our first time learning how to identify and differentiate the two. Oops.

Nonetheless,I would definitely like to help out more in the school garden.

- by A. Rekha, Pri 4B,Concord Primary School

I found lots of caterpillars eating the leaves of the eggplants in school. I told my teacher and suggested that we should get rid of these pests as the caterpillars create lots of holes on the leaves.

However, my teacher explained that butterflies must have been attracted by the scent of flowers in our science garden and have chosen the eggplant as the breeding ground and have laid their eggs on their leaves.

From this anecdote, I find nature amazing. Plants support the lives of insects such as caterpillars and these caterpillars support the lives of other bigger animals such as birds. It is wonderful to have an ecogarden in school, where we can learn and observe food chains live in action.

-by Joshua Tan, Pri 3F, Catholic High Primary School

I like to go for the Community Involvement Programme (CIP) which involvesgardening because it is fun. I like plucking out the weeds and the dead grass. CIP gardening teaches us how to take care of plants.

It is important to water the plants daily. If we don’t water the plants daily, they will turn brown and die.

Plants are very useful to us. Some plants bear fruits for food for us like the banana tree in our school garden and the vegetables in the vegetable garden. Some have nice flowers with nice smell which help to make the air smell nicer. But we have to be careful of some plants which are harmful like the dumbcane when we do our gardening.

I have learnt a lot of useful information about the caring of plants during the CIP program. I thinkthe gardeners will be very happy because we are helping them take care of their lovely plants. Being a gardener is not easy. But in the future, I will still take part in CIP gardening to help look after the plants in the gardens again.

- by Cheryl Ng, Primary 4B, Concord Primary School

I have learnt about many new things by conducting tours around the herb garden. For example, I have learnt to talk eloquently and confidently to other people, including people that I have never met before. Other than that, I am now more aware of the many uses of plants, especially the herbs in medicine and cooking. I was given the responsibility to explain the characteristics and uses of the herbs to visitors from China, parents and residents that visit our school.

Most importantly, Ihave learntthat I need to take responsibility for everything I do.

-by Ong Su Min, Secondary 1A, Kranji Secondary School

Even though I am a Primary 2 pupil from Catholic High Primary School, I am able to identify the different species of orchids in school. This is because our school has a orchid trellis. This allows us to learn more about our national flower.

I find orchids amazing, as they come in so many shades and patterns. I would like to join the school’s Green Science club as a CCA, so I can participate in the orchid hybridization programme.

Someday, I want to create a new species of green orchid to be the “Catholic High orchid”.

- by Kendric Tan, Catholic High Primary School

I often had a great time with my friend Teng Yi as we pulled weeds, loosen the soil and tend to the plants.The garden is spacious enough for us tospend hours on weeding.

Even thoughthe gardening tasks can be hard work, but doing it with my friend makes it totally easy and fun as we chat while gardening.

Gardening is COOL!

- by Mah Teng Yue, Sec 1D, Kranji Secondary School