Friday, October 28, 2011

Weeding IS Learning!

Who'd have thought that getting children to weed would also be educational? Well, it worked and it was fun! We are currently studying the parts of a plant and the job of each of those parts. This past week, students went out into the field by our playground and searched out "flowers," which we grown-ups call pesky weeds! Students brought them, taped them down and carefully labeled each part of the plant. We then had more discussions about the value of each of those parts.
Now they have a real-life example to support thier learning and Chets has a few less weeds cluttering the field. Now that's a win-win if you ask me!
Parts to know: flower (makes the seeds and the fruit), leaves (collect sunlight and make food), stem (carry the water from the roots to the leaves and hold the plant upright), roots (collect water and nutrients from the soil and hold the plant firmly in the soil)


Pumpkins, Siamese Cats and Chihuahuas??

Yep, that combination really does go together! Recently we created a display of literary pumpkins for one of our favorite book characters, Skippyjon Jones. The display turned out really cute.



Check out: http://skippyjonjones.com/ to see his books!


This is also a cute picture of our class dressed up for our literary parade!!