Team Work and Cooperation

A student/building structure!!

The student inside this structure asked his peers to build something around him. While his friends were building, he gave them verbal instructions on what to do.  A lot of great oral communication going on!

These girls worked on and off all week building in the block centre.

First they made a building. 

When children use their imagination and create something, it is important to ask open ended questions.  When these girls were finished building, they were excited to tell us all about their new creation. We assumed it was a desk or table.............

"This is a car with a table to draw and work on when you have time or need too!!! They also continued to tell us that next centre time, they were adding something really special but we had to wait to see!!!"

 They added a camera.

I wonder what they will create next? 

Lema the Praying Mantis

What happened in Lema's Cage?

On October 17, when we came in from outdoor learning, there was a group of children that discovered that something had changed in Lema's cage. Some of the responses were:

"I think someone split something on the top."

"What did Lema do? Gross!"

"Is she sick?"

We decided to go and research it on the classroom computer and found out it was an egg sack. We also found out that in the Fall, a mother Praying Mantis lays an egg sack. We also found out that sometimes it is empty and other times there may be up to 200 babies in it. When we researched it further, we found out we needed to put the egg sack safely back in its own habitat and it would not hatch until Spring. Therefore, we gave it back to the students family that donated it to our class.

I wonder what will happen to the egg sack in the Spring?

Can we grow a pumpkin inside a pumpkin ??

Science
Can we grow a pumpkin inside a pumpkin?
When searching different kindergarten blogs we found a great experiment with pumpkins........

First we carved the top off the pumpkins.

Then we took the seeds and pulp out. 

Then we added soil and mixed it with the pulp and seeds.

Finally we watered them a little each day. 

 The children decided the seeds also needed sunshine and love to grow so, we put the pumpkins in Mrs. Abela and Ms. Calfus's window in the afternoon and evening everyday and of course lots of love. However, on Monday morning we discovered mold had grown inside the pumpkins so we had to put them in the schools recycle bins. 

When we showed the class and talked with them about what happened some of the children's responses were;

"I think we left it to long."
"Maybe too much water."
"Maybe we should of had it outside too."

We are planning on researching more to find out what we should do different and try again.

Art Centre is always a popular place !!

We put out leaves and scrap paper and let their imagination take over.

Some children created fall trees 

Smudge Painting

We had the children put a scoop of paint on the paper then fold it in half and press down to move the paint around. 

The children were amazed at what they created. 

We also painted with gourds. 

This student decided after she made some gourd prints, to fold the paper in half and use the smudge painting skills she learned earlier in the week.

A busy week

Writing Centre



Building Centre

The Block Centre helps develop both large and small muscles as well as team work when building together. These boys created a bridge that they were very proud of. These students were excited to show us and tell us; "Look, it's strong enough for us to walk on!"


Math Centre Manipulatives 

This student thought his team of animal's were the strongest because he had only meat eaters.

This student thought his dinosaurs would win in a fight because he had mostly
 Tyrannosaurus Rex and they were the meanest and strongest dinosaurs.

Playing with 3D shapes!!  Which ones will stack and which ones will roll?

One of the students' jobs is to sign in every morning.

Sand Table 

What will happen to the sand when you stack the strainer on top of the funnels?

The sand falls through the strainer and funnels!


Playdough

 The children wanted to try something new with the playdough and were really excited to find the 

Potato Head pieces to explore with. 

Art Centre

This student was experimenting with colours.

A hat made from a paper plate and string.


Outdoor Learning

What are we going to find out here?

What should I put in the bucket?