On 10th April, Miss Verissimo's Year 2 class and Miss B's Year 3 class visited Verikiwi Kiwifruit Orchard in Patumahoe as part of their science curriculum.

We had wonderful weather and it was a fun experience for the kids to see first hand how the fruit is grown, cared for, picked and shipped.

Mr Verissimo took the time to sit with the children and give them a very informative talk about kiwifruit and the whole process of how they come to be in the shops for us to all buy. The children had lots of opportunity to ask their own questions and even taste the fruit. Mr Verissimo even had a new red variety that the children were able to experience.

We got to walk through all the rows of fruit hanging from the vines, ready to pick, and they all did very well remembering to look, but not touch as the fruit was very delicate. As the children were walking around the orchard they had a questionnaire to answer based on things they saw and experienced, and things they had learnt from Mr Verissimo's talk.

We learnt that they have a large population of wild peacocks on the farm and the children had fun searching for their moulted feathers around the place.