3rd week of May

This week the students continued to learn about plants, taking a closer look at seeds, specifically beans. The students used various types of beans to make patterns, pictures, to measure, to sort, to compare and contrast, and finally to record observations. We soaked the beans in water to start the germination process and were able to break the beans open and see the beginning of the route and leaves inside the bin. The students found this quite fascinating.

A large group of students has taken a keen interest in insects that they find on the playground and in the classroom.

We have had many visitors over the last few weeks, lots of ants, many wood bugs (roly-poly), an earwig, and a snail. The kids have been cooperating to make different traps and homes for the insects and have been sure that they have all they need to survive their short stay in our classroom, water, grass, and dirt. 

We started reading various versions of Jack and the Beanstalk. It's amazing how many different ways the same story can be told. We practiced our cutting skills by cutting spirals to make our own beanstalk. The students took turns hanging from the monkey bars and pose for a photo that made it appear that they were hanging from the beanstalk. 

We worked together to mix ingredients to bake mini banana muffins. We read "Ferdinand" which is a beautiful story about a peaceful bull who loved nothing more than to sit quietly under a tree and smell flowers. The lovely smell of our muffins through the hallways had many teachers and students coming out to see if they could have a taste. 

The kids carefully focused on all their 5 senses during the process of baking. 

The kids enjoyed one of our building provocations this week to try and recreate familiar structures from around the world. There was a lot of amazing teamwork and problem solving. 

The kids continued to interview each other and gather information in surveys. They used a simple bar graph format to organize their data. 

After letting our beans germinate in the window all week it was finally time to plant. The kids were excited to see the roots emerging from the seed coat. We learned about what soil was made of and why it is important to a plant before planting our beans and giving them a good drink before the long weekend. Each student designed a castle to mark their soil pot and now it is a race to see who's beanstalk will reach the castle first.