it begins with a seed

We looked at seeds and saw that they have different colours, different shapes and different sizes.

A great book to marvel at the variety and beauty of seeds is A Seed is Sleepy  by  Dianna Hutts Aston and illustrated by Sylvia Long.


The Surprise Garden by Zoe Hall tells the story of a child planting mystery seeds and growing a surprise garden.

My student teacher brought in some mystery seeds for our kidlets.


The big one is an avocado seed (or pit).  It is a bit of an interloper, being added at the last minute.

We observed how different the seeds looked - long and thin, tiny and round, striped, round and bumpy.  We did not tell the kidlets what kind of seeds they were.  We did not even give any clues.  

Most of the kidlets could identify the sunflower seeds.  

That left three mystery seeds.

So my student teacher gave them a clue.


With the clues, the kidlets worked together, pooling their knowledge and experience, and identified the seeds.

Then the kidlets predicted which seeds would sprout first.  I believe that the sunflower seeds got the most votes.  

(I think that we will have to learn the word germinate.  Student teachers don't always know that kindergarten kids love big scientific words.)

What have you got growing in your classroom?



Tuesday Tots
We love to read Jan Donaldon's book The Gruffalo.

And we love to cook and eat yummy food.

Time to make some Gruffalo Crumble.



We have had a glorious week of Spring weather.

But all good things come to an end, and rain is forecast for tomorrow.

So, it seemed a good time to read The Rain Came Down.


written and illustrated by David Shannon
published by Blue Sky Press (2000)
themes:  cause and effect, rain/weather
amusing reading for ages 4 - 8

beginning lines
On Saturday morning the rain came down.  
It made the chickens squawk.  
The cat yowled at the chickens, and the dog barked at the cat. 
And still, the rain came down.

summary
A summer storm provokes a series of unpleasant interactions. From the chickens, cat, and dog whose squabbling results in a man yelling and waking the baby to an altercation between shopkeepers and an eventual traffic tie-up, the rain sets off a chain reaction of misunderstandings, mishaps, and messes. Yet when the rain suddenly stops and a rainbow appears, folks find ways to mend fences and make the best of things.  -- School Library Journal

why I like this book
The text is simple and straightforward while creating the feeling of noise, chaos and general grumpiness.  My students liked the refrain, "And still the rain came down" tying the story together.  What really captured their attention were the illustrations.  


Booklist writes: "Wild, detailed street scenes, filled with richly drawn characters and shifting perspectives, show the absurdity and humor in each incident that contributes to the larger chaos."  Five year olds seem to enjoy a connection with the absurd, and find it, literally, roll on the floor laughing, kind of funny.  

resources
As we read the The Rain Came Down, we counted how many people and critters had rain induced grumpiness.  We counted 19.  We also counted one person who was enjoying the rain; a boy who was chasing a small boat down a stream in the gutter.   

We get a fair bit of rain here.  Very little snow in the winter, but a lot of rain.  It really does not do to get grumpy every time it rains.  You might as well embrace it.  

source: http://bibledude.net
We made a list of fun things to do in the rain.
  • splash in puddles
  • play with water toys outside
  •  fill a bucket with raindrops
  •  catch raindrops on your tongue
  •  dance in the rain
  •  make an action movie with a rain scene
  •  have an umbrella parade
  •  enjoy hot chocolate when you come back inside
As well as enjoying the rain, rain can also inspire art.  

A tour of my school hallway, showed some umbrellas between the spring pictures.

kindergarten fly away umbrella

umbrella art by grade 6 and 7 students

grab a fun pair of rubber boots and play in a puddle





            
We have been playing with beads.


You know that jar of beads at the back of the cupboard.  Someone probably gave them to you a couple of years ago.  You said, "yes, please - there are so many things we can do with beads".  And they have sat there collecting dust ever since.

That's what happened to me.  Until I pulled them out of the cupboard and introduced them to some new lovely round chocolate (white, milk and dark) coloured balls and some other cool shaped beads I found at Michaels.

I added some thrift shop finds:  wooden salad bowls, wooden salad tongs, a wooden candlestick, wooden napkin rings, and a small basket.  The beautiful wooden spoon was carved for us by a local First Nations elder.

I love all the natural colours mixed together.  I love the feel of the beads. We had to talk about how I loved the quiet sound that they made connecting with each other (but not the sound when they crashed into each other.)   And I love the creativity and stories the kidlets brought to the bin.


After a few days, I added some pipe cleaners.  Excellent concentration on fine motor skills.  Patterning.  Bracelets. Designs.  An extra dimension of planning. 


The bead bin has moved on to another classroom for other kidlets to enjoy.  It felt kind of sad to see it go.  But, it's good to know that children are playing, talking, creating, sorting, patterning, touching, and adding new life to the bead bin.  


And we will always have our memories ...






Happy Earth Day!

We decided to spend part of Earth Day enjoying being part of nature.

In the forest.

With about 90 kids and a smattering of adults.


It was brilliant.

Perfect weather. 

Happy kids.  

Doing forest kind of things.

Sitting on stumps.


Throwing rocks into water.


Admiring big trees.

I thought it would be cool to see if we could make a circle around a big tree.



And sing our Earth Day song together.


But we couldn't make it all the way around.

And we all started laughing.

So we ended our time in the forest laughing.

It was good.


happy Earth Day






linked up with



Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall
We have been composting our scraps from snack and lunch time since school started in September. 

Spring time and Earth Day gives us the nudge we need to check out what has been happening to all those scraps.

We read about it.  This is my favourite what-is-composting-all-about book for kindergarten.
Compost! Growing Gardens from your Garbage
author: Linda Glaser
illlustrator: Anca Heriton
publisher: Millbrook Press (1996)
non-fiction
themes: environment, gardening
happily informative for children 4 - 7

Before the story starts, we are welcomed into the garden.  Where it all happens.


first lines
In my house, we grow
      sunflowers, sweet peas, strawberries,
      potatoes, petunias, pansies,
      corn, carrots, cucumbers

last lines
So that's how composting works.
It keeps on going around and
around from garbage to compost
to garden gain and again
and again.

summary
In this nonfiction picture book, a little girl explains how her family turns garbage and garden waste into soil using their compost bin. She throws in lima beans from dinner, a moldy jack-o'-lantern from Halloween, grass clippings, wilted flowers, her rabbit's droppings, and fallen leaves. Over the winter she helps water the pile, watches her mother turn it, feels the heat of the compost, smells its earthy smell, and helps spread it on the garden for spring planting.  - Booklist

why I love this book
The text is lyrical and gently inviting.  The bright pastel water colour illustrations are attractive, making the garden through the seasons, a living, changing place.  Most of all, I like the message:  composting is easy and benefits the earth.

resources
Compost your fruit and veggie food waste.   Greenlving says that 14.1% of household garbage could be composted.  That's a pretty big chunk of waste that could be kept out of the landfill.  Straightforward and easy tips here.

Read about creating a compost here.

Check out some worms.  This is my kids' favourite part.


I brought a bucket of soil from my home compost in to school.


The kidlets found worms, spiders, lots of woodbugs and a couple slugs.

We looked for the worms' hearts.  Made sure that the worms stayed damp; we know that they need to be damp to breathe.  Watched them use their body segments to move.  A lot of excellent scientific observation.

It was hard to believe that all that dirt used to be apple cores, egg shells, old leaves, orange peels...

Make a worm hotel.  Complete with 24 hour buffet.  Check out the instructions here.


Our worms got layers of sand, dirt, sand, chopped up compost from the kids' snacks and dry leaves.  They seem to be very happy in their 5 star accommodation.  



happy composting and happy Earth Day




rubberboots and elf shoes on Facebook
rubberboots and elf shoes on Pinterest
rubberboots and elf shoes on twitter


linked up with




We have been learning about worms (in honour of Earth Day) and talking about the letter W w this week.

My student teacher did a cool worm experiment to show the kidlets.  She put a q-tip dipped in nail polish remover near the worms body.  That part of the body moved away from the q-tip.

Back to W w.

A few weeks ago one of kidlet's mums asked if we were going to make waffles when we talked about W?

Great idea.

Today, we connected the brain with the stomach.

We mixed up the waffle batter.



I cooked up the waffles while the kidlets were at music class.

Waffles, with wildberry jam, whipped cream and a worm on top.


There were no leftovers.






boom de yada   boom de yada  boom de yada  boom de yada

edited 2021

A gazillion and four years ago (or sometime in the last 20 years) I came across an Earth Day version of  a song that I used to sing at campfire when I was a Girl Guide.


Discovery Chanel found the song and made it their own a few years ago.


Fun tune.  Easy to sing.  Great for Earth Day.


Click on the graphics to download a copy.





edited to add:

I wanted a fully black and white copy of the song to use with my class - so here it is.  Click on the graphic to go to Google Drive to get a copy. 



Enjoy Discovery Channel's take on the song. 

                             


remember, reduce, reuse, recycle





            

Back to Top