Grouptime events

leaf rubbing tree hunting  During our forest walk Paxton observed that you can tell the trees apart by looking at their bark and leaves.  We gathered some loose tree bark and leaves to compare and describe what they look like. They are very curious about finding out the names of some forest trees so to begin our research we did a matching game where the children had to look for the tree which matches the leaf they are hoofing. It was quite challenging because some leaves look very similar.  They had to carefully examine the features like the lines and shape to distinguish one from the other. The children listed variety of descriptive words about bark and leaves. We will be using these words to create cinquain poems later on in the unit. observing a curly tree bark observing features of leaves

observing Dandelion roots In this grouptime the children answered Cameron and Damon's question: How does water go up the tree? The children observed roots of a dandelion plant and compared it to the roots of the trees we see around the picnic tables.  They noticed that tree roots are much bigger and harder than other plant roots.  Some roots can be as thin as hair while others are hard like wood and can stick out of the ground. We did a short song game "Stormy Weather"  to demonstrate other functions of the root: hold down the plant on the ground and bring nutrients to the rest of the tree Big roots stick out of the ground and hold the tree so it won't fall Multi-media painting of a tree: blow painting for the roots torn brown paper for the trunk sponge painting for the leaves. How does water get to the roots? The children pretended to be the roots sucking up water (juice) to help them grow.

Plants are living things. What does that mean?  Paxton: it means they are alive like me; I'm alive.  Kathryn: how do you know you are alive. Mila: because I can walk, I can run, I can blink my eye like this... Kathryn: what else do living things do?  Matthew: they eat food and drink water so they grow and grow and grow. Seems like the children already know a lot about what living things. We looked for samples of living and non-living things inside the room and sorted out pictures. The children went out to the forest to dig for soil samples to bring inside the centre and looked through for some living creatures. They were so surprised and excited to see so many creepy crawlies and roots.  This triggered more questions and thinking about roots and why they are all over the soil. They also wondered why insects love to be in the soil and what worms like to eat.  sorting pictures I found a living things..it's a worm! I just saw a ...

"We want to learn about trees" In this formative week the children gathered ideas and questions they have about plants.  With the sun shiny weather we took a walk in the forest to observe our luscious forest trails. We are so fortunate to have the forest as our backyard and what better way to learn and explore the plants in our immediate environment.  "Dandelions are everywhere!" Here are some of their comments: Kathryn: Tell me what you know about plants? Children: they are tall and big, they have leaves, they have flowers and fruits. Matthew: These are weeds!! (Pointing to a Dandelion) Kathryn: is a weed a plant? (Got a puzzled look from the children) Francine: They have flowers and they grow everywhere. I like them; they are pretty. But some people don't like them. "Some leaves are prickly!" "This tree is dead!" They were also very curious about naming the plants. Francine most of all wanted to know the name...

For our summative assessment the children presented a drama play they wrote together. They were required to create a story about a problem in the community and how to resolve it. This is how their story goes: One sunny morning a girl was happily outside her house when she found matches on the ground. She picked them up at started playing with them and started a fire. Now their house is on fire! She ran to the neighbour's house and together they balled 911. The firefighter quickly drove to the house, connected the house, climbed up the ladder and sprayed. The firefighter broke down the door to make sure no one was inside. Then a police officer came and talked to the child about safety and not to play with fire. The end.

Stone soup is what you need when you have some friends to feed. So step right up and put it in the big pot  Found the onion! The story of Stone Soup illustrates how a something great happens when people work together.  We thought it would be a wonderful idea to connect this to our grocery store idea so we decided to make our own Stone soup to share with everyone. We went to the IGA store to buy the ingredients.  It was quite a long walk but we enjoyed seeing all the community helpers along the way.  The best part was making the soup sharing it with the rest of the group. children preparing the ingredients Damon is checking our list Soup made out of stone!