We decided to try and answer the difficult question - "What makes the seasons change?" First of all we needed to understand about day and night and why they happen. We squeezed into the sports cupboard with a globe and a bright torch. We learned that the Earth slowly turns around and that the sun does not move. When Outram is facing the sun it is daytime and when the Earth turns away, we get night. Now how about the seasons? Any ideas anyone?
Olivia went on a seed hunt in her garden and came to class with a HUGE collection. We all had to help her hold the different seeds. What a busy time autumn is!
Today we watched a video clip of David Attenborough as he shared the amazing ways that plants scatter their seeds. We especially loved the helicopter seeds and the explosive seed heads.
Autumn is a great time to gather fresh vegetables from the garden. First winter seedlings were planted and then what a harvest! Tomatoes and cucumbers were collected from the tunnel house and carrots, red onions and sweet corn were gathered from outside. Look at the big bags of vegetables going home.
So many children have been hunting in their garden for autumn seeds. Edith brought in a wonderful named display and Andrew carefully pulled a marigold apart to find the seeds. Harrison hunted and hunted and found a poppy seed head. We all thought it reminded us of a salt shaker! Thank you for sharing your investigations!
We all enjoyed "Waiting for the feast" presented by the Penguins reading group. You won't be able to see Ezra hidden under the box! After the play the children asked us some tricky questions to see how well we had been listening! Of course we could answer them all!
Noah, Meg and Demi went hunting for autumn treasures in the weekend. Demi was in Central and found a huge seed pod and lots of other seeds. Meg was staying with her Grandma and came to school with many different seeds all in named containers. Noah went hunting in his own garden and found sycamore seeds and beautiful leaves. Thank you for sharing children!
We tried hard to make our helicopter design work but the sycamore design was so, so much better. Why was that?
In autumn many plants are making seeds.This week we have been discovering all the ways that plants disperse their seeds. Olivia found three different ways - well done! Everyone was given a sycamore seed and we dropped them from the adventure playground. They spun perfectly carrying the little seed away with the wind. What a perfect design! In the classroom we cut out a helicopter shape. We took them to the adventure playground and dropped them too. Oh dear, oh dear! We had to add more paper clips, fold them more carefully, throw them in different ways.... the design was not nearly as good as the sycamore seed!
Today we had a wonderful dress up day at school. Everyone dressed as their favourite storybook character. Evie was the first to arrive as Angelina Ballerina and soon after the whole class had gathered for a photo. Everyone looked brilliant. The judging took place on the courts and prizes were given.
I made a bar graph. I made one about money and one about books. I liked Fynn's bar graph so I made one too!
Autumn is such a busy season. Lots of plants are making seeds. Today Ted brought along this dandelion seed head. We were amazed at how far the seeds traveled when blown. Wind is a very important way to help seeds travel. Can you think of other ways that seeds travel away from the plant?
I got a swimming bag and a gold medal and a bike so I don't have to squeak on my old bike.
Mummy and I got some walnuts and I brought a collection to school. I also brought a beautiful red leaf. What a collection!
We were back in Room 5 this afternoon sharing our readers with our big buddies. The big buddies read the books to us first with fluency and expression. We then tried to read our stories as well as our big buddies. Thanks big buddies for encouraging us. Afterwards Harrison's big buddy Joe shared some of the Room 5 art with us.
Today everyone carefully took apart a marigold flower and inside we found heaps and heaps of seeds. We shared our discoveries. In Autumn many seeds are forming in the garden that we can eat like sweetcorn and beans. Autumn fruits like apples and pears grow their seeds right inside the fruit.
Lily has been sick for two days but this morning she came into Room 9 with her Mum to bring us these flowers. Thank you lovely Lily. We hope you get better very soon.
We all welcomed Hunter back to Room 9 this morning and then listened as he read his hospital visit story. Later in the morning Noah decided to write a letter to Hunter and to publish it beautifully. What great friends!
This is a story about the vicious venus fly trap. It is a plant that turns insects into soup. It magically catches insects by the smell of it's pinky stuff. As soon as the fly lands on the venus fly trap it quickly shuts it's mouth and turns it into soup. "Yum, yum!"
Gosh how curious! Tomorrow when you get to school there will be a new class mate sitting on the side bench. What on earth is it? Can you find out anything about it?
Harrison lost a sprig when it fell off his rugby boot. A team of friends spent the whole lunchtime hunting for it in the playground. What kind friends. We are still looking for it!
Come on! Come on! Hit the ball! You can do it!
Look what we found when we went leaf hunting - a dear little baby hedgehog. We crouched nearby and watched it while it munched fresh grass. What do we know about hedgehogs? Do they hibernate? Do they live in families? Do they make a nest? How curious!
We went searching for autumn leaves in the playground and there were plenty to choose from. We brought our favourite ones back to Room 9 and used them for crayon rubbings. On Monday we will hand them on our huge tree!
