Planting a Promise

BC Agriculture has expanded their Spuds in Tubs program to use the soil left from growing our potatoes to grow daffodils.. This allows us to continue our gardening from spuds in the spring to planting the daffodil bulbs in the fall.
 

We shared our Spuds project with our grand friends last year so decided to
share Planting a Promise with them too.

With our grand friends watching we discovered the promise within the bulb.
I showed the group a daffodil bulb and said that inside of it there is a promise,
a promise that it will grow into a flower.  The daffodil needs to be planted in
the fall but will grow in the spring.

      
We are doing an experiment with these bulbs; Will they grow just
as good in a pot as they would outside in soil?

We drew pictures predicting what our flowers will look like when they bloom.
    
           Then shared them with our grand friends.

At school, a few weeks later, we planted more bulbs in our front flower bed.
            
First, Mackenzie, my new practicum student helped move the spud soil
                       to the flower bed.

We started our lesson indoors the same way we did with our grand
                friends by cutting a bulb open.

The handbook is a great resource, full of information and pictures to
aid in the understanding of how this flower grows and what to expect.
                 
The kit comes with 35 bulbs, we planted 4 with our grand friends
        and used one to cut open so 30 left to plant.
    
We had a great time digging holes and making sure we placed the
        bulb in the hole with the roots pointing down.

        We talked about what the bulb will need to grow.
                     The soil, the sun and water.

Now we’ll wait, watch and record the growth of our promises.

We’ve Been Planning

Some of our families have expressed that their children are interested in space.  I created a brain storming board and encouraged the grown ups to talk with their children to find out what they know about space.
          
                    Lots of ideas came out of the discussions.
                    Planets, stars, rockets were some of them.

           As the grown ups wrote ideas, the children drew.

         We now have plans for building a rocket to play in.

                          We'll include planets and stars.
           
       During our talks we came up with some questions and wonders.
 
                This is our beginning.  Next step is to begin to build.

Halloween Gym Fun

Many, many families came in to play today but I managed to take a few pictures. 
        Here are some Hallowe’en activities I set up in the gym.
              
               Witch hats on pylons to use as ring toss targets.

 
        I brought in an old jack o’lantern candy bucket to use as a
                           target for a bean bag toss.

          
                               Paper bats on clothespins
                   to transfer from one bucket to another.

  Hope you had a safe and happy Hallowe’en.

October Play Trays

 
Sorting by shape or colour.  Matching shapes.  Pattern building.

Eye to hand coordination by threading beads on pipe cleaners.
 
     Sorting by colour and shapes.  Strengthening pincher grip.
            
 
Recognizing numbers, counting dots and sticks.  Matching amount to number.
           
  
Working fine motor and eye to hand coordination by pushing picks into hard foam.
           
  
                   Homemade stick puzzles. 

     Old McDonald treat toys to talk about costumes.
        
 
Wood cookie with holes drilled randomly.  Golf tees to push in and remove.