Oh, there is so much to do with pumpkins! We cut a jack-o-lantern to watch him rot! First, we had to cut him open and remove his pulp and seeds. Then, the students voted on the shapes of his eyes, nose, and mouth. I took home the seeds to bake with oil and salt. We had a taste test with our snack the next day. Many of the students asked for seconds (and even thirds). Some thought the pumpkin seeds tasted like popcorn! After about a week, we are starting to see some changes in our jack-o-lantern. One student accidentally poked a hole in Mr. Rottenhead and discovered how soft his shell had become. Today, we cooked Rice Krispies Treats in the crockpot and made made them look like pumpkins! We transformed our Homeliving Center into Pumpkinville! The students compared pumpkins and gourds by color, shape, size, and weight. They even stacked all the pumpkins and gourds on the scale to see how high they could get the weight. 23 lbs was the heaviest amount they could make. The students made music using a dried birdhouse gourd. They did most of the scenery decorations, too! We used a pumpkin, push pins, and rubber bands to make a Geo Pumpkin. And my favorite activity so far, was planting pumpkins inside a pumpkin! We cut open some pie pumpkins, pulled out some of the seeds, but not all. We added soil and then pushed some of the seeds in the soil near the top. We watered the pumpkin planters and left them in the window. It only took a week for the sprouts to shoot up! We will continue to watch one of the pumpkins, as the sprouts grow into plants. Since one had no sprouts yet, we decided to investigate. The students pulled out the dirt and found that some seeds had not grown at all and some were growing underneath the dirt. Update: 5/9/16 We left our composted dirt from the fall outside our classroom door. We used some of the soil for Spring time planting. One day, we noticed the pumpkins that had been composted had started to grow. We watered and watched as a new pumpkin plant grew! And look! We have a flower. :)
We had so much fun on Teddy Bear Day. The class loved bringing a friend from home to school. We started the day by introducing the Teddy Bears. Some of the bear names were: Brown Bear Brown Bear, Mrs. Stephenson (who later became Mrs. Tucker), London, Rainbowie, Little Bear, George, Hayden, and Bear Bear. Some of the bears did not have names, so the class helped to name them. Many offered their own names as a suggestion. The bears joined the class for Table Time, Morning Meeting, Centers, and even part of Nap Time. However, during nap time, they snuck out! When the class woke up, they were shocked to find their bears missing! It didn't take the kids long to find that the bears had started the Teddy Bear Picnic without them. One of the bears ended up with a tear, so she had to visit our Teddy Bear Medic. Fortunately, the Doctor was in and she was able to track down the tools needed for mending our injured Teddy Bear.
After reading The Shape of Me and Other Things by Dr. Seuss, we were inspired to trace the shapes of our class! We traced an outline of each child. They added clothes and hair to their outlines to make life size self-portraits. Some students added the sun above their heads, or flowers beneath their feet. A couple of students even added hair to their arms! We filled the hallways with our creations! Wow do they look great. :)
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AuthorKatelyn Stephenson, Archives
February 2017
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