Last year Cedar Wood entered the garden show for the first time and we were so proud of our gold medal. After the hard work we said, "never again!" However when the email arrived it said that this year was a 5hr ready, steady plant so not as intense as last year. The theme was Symphony of Spring and we had to plan our concept and back drop beforehand. We spent ages trying to plan a garden design - to no avail. At cedar wood we really battle doing thing just for the sake of something or a mark with no real purpose in mind. Eventually we decided to create a garden that children could actually come into and play music. With that in mind the ideas were countless. We created a piano walk way to our beer bottle xylophone, cutlery and trampoline pipe chimes. The older boys cut and wired up the bigger chimes while the younger children made cutlery chimes. This involved many mathematical, measurement, design and tech, creative and planning skills. To pull in with the ABI recycling requirement we made numerous shakers and clappers, drums and such out of recycled bottles and tins. To top it all off we provided a music wall full of all sorts of recycled bits and pieces for the children to experiment with sound on.
After our 5 hours, of hard work, we had what the garden show termed as, "a delightful, whimsical stand with excellent interpenetration of the theme!" They changed the adjudication process and instead of gold and silver depending on your percent earned they presented a first, second and third placing. We are so proud of all the children for our third prize and for all that they contributed and for how much was incidentally learnt. This was a great experience for us all.
News supplied by Cedar Wood Alternative Schooling Centre.
