StoryWalk–It’s Pumpkin Time

           
  I set up the book “It’s Pumpkin Time” by Zoe Hall in the pumpkin patch.
                      
                 It’s a perfect story to tell the life cycle of a pumpkin.
      
It also was a way to encourage the families to take time and walk around the patch.
    
Shannon, the farmer, pointed out that the pumpkins this year are reseeding themselves.  As we walked through the story we saw evidence of that happening.
                
                      New blossoms were growing on vines.
                 
           And we saw small green pumpkins attached to vines.
         
I overheard parents making comparisons to the book and their child’s pumpkin choice.
               
                       
   In the end they all found their perfect pumpkin for Hallowe’en.

You can watch a video of the book here.

More Than a Pumpkin Patch

                 Today was our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.
                    It rained but it didn’t dampen the excitement. 
                             Here’s a photo tour of our morning.
        
                     
               
   
                
                          
             
      
              

             
          
   

                  We also did a StoryWalk in the pumpkin field.
             
                            Watch the next post for more on it.

I Am Thankful Tree

Thanksgiving is this weekend and our school has been talking about gratitude.  I chose the book “Thanks for Thanksgiving” to start the children thinking about many things that people are thankful for.  The text is simple and to the point.
 

After reading the book the children picked a leaf shaped paper to print what they are thankful for.
             
                  We then added their leaves to this bulletin board.
              

          Today we shared the book and activity with our big buddies.
    
 
        
               
                  
I am thankful for you following along as I grow and learn with the children.

Watching a Tree Change

                        
We have a wonderful forest behind our school, it’s not school property but it has lots of easy trails to follow.  Since school started we have ventured out to the forest on Fridays. 
     
We’ve been learning what we can do and see in this forest.  The children are given lots of opportunities to use their bodies and take risks.
                     
We’ve listen to the sounds and spotted little creatures, like this slug sliding across our trail.
          
                
Our first walk in the forest our focus was to pick a tree that we could watch change throughout this school year.
 
We picked a maple tree, a large leaf maple.  I tied a green ribbon on it so we can find it each week.

Last Friday we used the school’s nature backpacks with a mission to find leaves from our tree and make rubbings.
                        
All the leaves on the ground were a yellowish-brown.  We wondered if they would work or would they crumble while we tried to rub?
              
Once they each had a leaf they took off their packs, first took out a sit-upon then their clipboard and paper.

They choose a couple of different colour of crayons and began their rubbing.
                   
The dried leaves worked fine.  We could see the different parts of the leaves, the ribs and the veins.
                    
We then packed up and headed back to school.  Next Friday we will be joined by a Science & Nature teacher and lead us through the forest using our animal senses.