P2 Trip to Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden
Excitement filled the air as six classes of primary two students got ready to board the bus that would take them to the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden on Friday, 16 July 2010. Accompanied by six teachers and six parent volunteers, the journey took less than half an hour and we had reached our destination located within the Botanical Gardens.
The objectives of this Learning Journey were for the pupils to identify some of the interesting features, name a National Heritage tree, understand the process of photosynthesis and identify the different types of plants and their uses, among others.
Worksheets in hand the pupils went from one area to the next identifying and jotting down the answers to the questions, stopping at the many attractions such as the waterfall, caves, treehouse, the ponds, even the little squirrel scurrying up a tree. They looked on in awe at the 100 year old, giant tree named Pometia Pinnata which was struck by lightning in the year 2002. The trunk of a Rubber tree with vehicle tyres hung on it made it easy for the children to identify. They saw Henna and Pandan leaves, and their uses were explained to them by the teachers.
The Blue Butterfly Pea flowers and the Cocoa tree were a hit with the children for their colour and smell, respectively.
We proceeded to a shelter for refreshments when it started to drizzle. With food and drinks spread out on their mats, the children sat down to a hearty picnic. After that, we boarded the bus and headed back to school, four hours later.
“I enjoyed crossing the wobbly bridge” said Zara, Class Monitor of P2I. “We like the waterfall” commented Guo Yuqing and Nurin, both of P2G. “We like the bridge, waterfall, pond, cave and treehouse!” came a flurry of answers from excited pupils.
Contributed by: Nina Shah










