Our Surprise Pumpkin

Last year, as part of our science curriculum, we left a pumpkin to rot in our whiskey barrel garden.  We watched for weeks as it got softer, moldier, and darker. Eventually, it went away completely except for a moldy little stem, not unlike the witch's hat left behind in The Wizard of Oz.  However, unlike the wicked witch, our rotting pumpkin left behind something magical. Can you guess what that was?

A fertile seed, which sprouted this year.  Nobody knew what was growing there, but over time we were certain it was a squash of some sort.  It took a while before we even saw the fruit, as most of the flowers were snipped off at the stem by our local animal population.  Birds and squirrels make our garden part of their regular morning route.

But one day, we saw something green and round...and now we have a big orange pumpkin! It wasn't until Guada pointed out that the seed came from our rotten pumpkin last year that we even made the connection.  We got to watch the full cycle of reproduction in the most natural, seasonal form, right in our garden.  Just one of many lessons inherent in our finely tuned relationship with mother nature.

Nests: Clay, Paper Plates, and Collective Work

After finding a birds’ nests in the play yard and all of the recent hubbub about eggs (post-Easter dialogues), we wanted to study birds and their habitats. So last week we introduced our bird theme. The theme certainly caught the interest of these children at the clay table.

 Last time we used clay, we used tools like hammers, rolling pins, and presses.  This time, the children’s only tool was their hands. They molded, smoothed, created texture, rolled it into balls, pushed with their thumbs and fingers. They used fine and gross motor movements, small and large muscles.  The best part was that after they made the eggs inside the nest, they broke the eggs open and described the imaginary baby birds that emerged from their carefully crafted eggs.

Now that the discussion about birds’ nests had begun, the children had enough base knowledge about nests to create their first one. Each child used a plate with an adhesive coating to stick natural items to their “nest”. We talked about how we were using adhesive but that birds used mud as their adhesive. Many children hurried to find mud for their nest.

The next day, we asked the children what they know about birds’ nests.

• “They use sticks and leaves and all of that stuff.”
• “They put dirt inside to make it stick.”
• “Birds put dirt and mud and they wait until the sun comes and it’s dry and yellow.”
• “Birds use paper, cotton, mud, sticks. Water goes with mud.”
• “Birds pinch sticks with their beaks and put them in their nests.”
•  “Birds make nests so eggs don’t crack.”
• “And so other birds don’t crack them.”

On Friday, after analyzing the nest we found in the yard, we worked together to make a big bird nest together. Some children added a few things, and others spent lots of time finding sticks and leaves and mud to add to the nest. A few "issues" came up that the children had to work out among each other. Was it okay to add huge sticks to the nest? Would it be okay to break them into smaller sticks? What will happen if we let one of our friends dump a bucket of water into the nest? Will real birds lay eggs in our nest if we put it into a tree?

The team work was significant and fruitful.

 They were careful to make it soft and cozy for mama birds and their babies.

Don't you just want to jump in and cuddle up???

Next, we will…

• discuss different types of bird nests and how they are made.
• continue to discuss eggs
• begin to talk about different species of birds by finding out what the children know and what they want to learn about birds

Floral inspired art

This idea originally came from my friend Kim, who may very well have the deepest sense of aesthetics of anybody I know.  She first planted the seed in my mind that aesthetics and beauty have a place in the preschool classroom years ago.  She inspired me by setting up activities and the classroom with beauty and often an unnecessary yet beautiful embellishments like flower bouquets or framed photos.

As most of you know, Beansprouts Preschool occupies half of my home. The most beautiful part of my house is the classroom!  There, I prioritize beauty (colors, organization, arrangement, natural materials) because I believe children deserve (and appreciate) it.

This activity, offering children a bouquet for inspiration but not instruction, and a few paints from the floral palette, will definitely be one we do often during the spring as children develop a connection between nature and art.  We will see how it unfolds in the weeks ahead.

I will post a few photos of our floral inspired art and then bid you adieu until next week, when we come back from our spring vacation.

Happy Easter!

Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

Pumpkin seeds from a freshly opened* pumpkin (leftover from--that's right--Halloween!)

Water

Boxwood leaves

Nasturtium 

Clay

Dirt from the mud pie kitchen

Poison to shrink Abiyoyo

*I am planning to develop our woodworking curriculum, so we took advantage of this opportunity to use a handsaw to open the pumpkin.


I'm linking up at:

Fava beans

My friends at Barron Park Preschool are constantly inspiring me with their ideas.  I made a humble attempt to copy them during this activity.

We explored and "planted" fava beans this week at preschool.  The children touched and looked and almost all of them had to smell the fava beans.  I told the children that the beans will pretend that the coffee filter is soil, hoping that would make sense to them why we were sprouting beans in cups.  Many children went home with fava beans in their pockets yesterday...

 We also stole some beans from Guada's morning activity!

In the photo above, Be is helping Br by explaining the process of planting the beans in the cups. After explaining it to the few children who had risen from nap, I thought I would charge those children with the duty of mentoring the longer nappers.

Meet Frederick

Frederick is our new classroom plant.  This umbrella tree has gotten a lot of love from the children.  While he takes up a lot of space, it's space well designated, as plants and natural materials infuse a very positive aesthetic quality to any environment.

In the photos below, Te dons the identifying "plant care" bracelet, designating her to be in charge of the cleaning and watering of the plant.  Here she is using a tissue to gently wipe the dust off of the leaves.

Here, Te fills up a cup to the delineating marker on the watering cup to water Frederick.

Double checking that she has the right amount of water, she ensures that she will give Frederick enough water while leaving some room for other children to water him as well.

And there are definitely lots of children who are ready to help with the watering!

Garden Fresh Produce

That's one of my little gardens. I planted it but the children tend to it when needed. Well, we noticed that our volunteer cantaloupe vine had dropped a couple of melons that were waiting to be eaten.

[and I had to look up how to spell the word 'cantaloupe' after five unsuccessful attempts at spelling it correctly!]

We threw the waste into the compost bin in hopes that we get more volunteers next year!!!