Farmer's Market Adventure

We started our trip with a visit to the market. The children learned about using money, healthy eating, and building a connection to their food sources. 

STEM Challenge

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. STEM challenges are rich tasks that build problem solving, team work, inquiry and academic skills like math and science in a fun way. 

Our students are often doing STEM tasks, though they usually instigate them on their own during play at centres. For example, the child who is trying to build a house for cars with a roof out of blocks is using STEM skills. 

This week, we tried doing a teacher-directed challenge. We started by reading a book about a young engineer dealing with failures and frustrations as she builds a scooter for her and her dog.

Then the teams each got a mystery bag filled with items to use, and given the challenge of building a Pom Pom Launcher. 

They got to work tinkering with the materials and trying out different models. 

Some teams worked together, others worked in parallel. Some teams talked and talked about their plans, others didn't communicate at all.

Some teams also ran into frustrations and failures, like the girl in the book.  We talked about how all builders feel frustrated, and that's how problems are solved. 

In the end, we had some proud builders!

In the end, we had a contest to see who's launcher sent the Pom Pom the furthest. Ben took the gold, while Lily and Violet we runners up. 

Great work by our little engineers!

Duck Party

Look who waddled into our class! We were so excited to give them a swim this morning.

As we watched them dip, dive, preen and swim, we observed and described the ducks. The children compared them using rich oral language and inquiry skills.

They inspired some art today as well.

Last night, the ducklings escaped their pen and had a walkabout all over the classroom. What a sight for Mrs. Vowles first thing this morning!

We asked the children to make a hypothesis about what they did while they were out and about in the class.

Claire expressed her ideas with paint, and showed the ducks nibbling on our books.

Max wrote out his story...."Maybe the ducks played ring around the rosy!"

And some other friends transformed themselves into the ducks to tell the story from their point of view. CLICK HERE to see the short video.

Food Forest

Gardening not only connects people to their food, it also brings a sense of wonder and joy about Nature. As we planted in the garden today, we learned all about the magic of a bee's kiss. 

We worked in small groups to plant onions, potatoes, pumpkins, ground cherries, carrots, radishes, and sunflowers. They join our peas and strawberries already growing. 

Writing can happen outside!

Watering in the new seeds.

The water barrels are empty, so are only good for shade. We had to get water from the classroom. 

Tucking in some onions. 

Spreading mulch to save water and keep down the weeds. 

Chirp chirp

Thanks to Karen at Critter Visits, we have some special guests this week!

The children are learning all about empathy, kindness, and being gentle. They are forming connections to their food that will lay foundations for a healthy lifestyle. 

Look for a Baby Chick trading card coming home tomorrow!

Worms below our feet

Over the last two weeks we've been inquiring into worms. Where did these holes come from?

The clue was there in tiny piles of worm poop!

A-worm hunting we go!

We tried the technique of worm fiddling, which to our delight worked great! The worms came squiggly get out of the soil within a few minutes. 

Boys being boys, they tried pounding on the ground to replicate the fiddling results. To everyone's surprise, it worked!

What a wonderful world right below our feet.