Sunflowers!

Hey Science Friends,

It is that time of year that has us dreaming of sunny summer days as we learn about plant parts and life cycles. No unit could be complete without taking a closer look at sunflowers. What is it about sunflowers that we all love so much? My class thinks it is the color that we love so much and it makes us feel happy. Another thing my class has loved this year has been notebooking. They ask me before going to PE if we are going to use our Science Notebooks in science each afternoon. They love it if we cut and glue something in but also love illustrating what we have learned.

Our notebooks are simple...just spiral notebooks. After trying out different notebooks over the years I always come back to simple spiral notebooks. I buy them in the summer when they are on sale. I used to worry if I would have enough to fill them up for the year but now I worry that I will have a second one for each child within a year!

With so many great books to read about sunflowers it is easy to keep the interest going. Our favorite this year was Sunflower House by Eve Bunting. I think it's my favorite every year because I just love her books so much. As I read the book this year, I got a little misty. I asked the kids if when I was reading it made them feel a little misty too. I really enjoyed hearing their responses. I wished I had had a text to self response sheet with me ready to go. Instead we all listened to each other and had a rich discussion. So many great connections were made with this story.

We still have some fun stuff to do with sunflowers before the year is over. We are gearing up to go to visit a farm and we are preparing for that. We are hoping to see some sunflowers along the way.

For more life cycle fun click here!

Going With The Flow!

We had a generous donation of grapes with seeds last week. The kids were excited to have something different for snack. We talked about these grapes because we had tons and tons of them. I told the kids they had seeds in them. One of the children remembered that we had seen something on Sid the Science Kid earlier in the year with frozen fruit. We went to our Science Notebooks and found the entry and talked about it. We decided to freeze our grapes and use our prior knowledge to discuss how to get our grapes out. We had a great discussion and problem solving session. Additionally, this gave us a great chance to review relative temperature.

Once we were able to get our grapes out of the frozen water, we had to cut our grapes into two equal parts and pull out the seeds of each one. We practiced making two equal parts with plastic knives and then we finally got to eat our snack. The children had tons of questions about the seeds. Some children wanted to save some of the seeds in their notebooks and many of the children washed them, wrapped them and took them home. The next morning a few children had already planted their seeds!

Wild Texas Bluebonnets!

These have to be one of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen. When I see fields of Bluebonnets, I know I am home. I have ordered my seeds and I am excited about planting these with my class this year. After a little reading about planting Bluebonnet seeds, we are going to try to help them along a little so our Spirit Garden will have some bluebonnets this spring. If you would like to follow along there is some excellent information I have found here! And it is not too late to get your seeds and start planting! 

One Bean!

I finally got my copy of One Bean by Anne Rockwell. I have to say that this really is the perfect book to take you through the life cycle of a bush bean. This would make a perfect book for both pre kindergarten and kindergarten children as they are learning about plants. What I like about it most is that you could actually follow along with the book investigation because it is way more fun to do it instead of just reading about it! 

How a Seed Grows

This is a wonderful book to use as you are teaching how a seed grows. What I like about it most is that the children are young children in the book and it walks you through the investigation steps and guides your investigation day by day. I wanted to post this before Science Week just in case you needed time to gather your materials so you can join us as we post our progress. 

You will need:

egg shells

potting soil

seeds 

It would be ideal if you could have the book as reference as you work through the stages.