Happy Halloween!

Ah, the long awaited day is here! To match out science inquiry with the holiday, we did a more in-depth Pumpkin Investigation today. First, we read Big Pumpkin, which is a great Halloween story. It has a strong pattern within it, but my students have yet to shout out "It's a pattern!" during a story. Afterwards, I used a pumpkin to do a group investigation. We had to draw the pumpkin, say if it was big, medium, or large, count the lines, measure it with snap cubes, and see if it would sink or float. I was very impressed that as soon as I brought in a plastic tote full of water, a couple of students had close guesses as to what the water was for! They did not use the vocabulary of "sink or float". One told me that we would see if it would stay on top or go to the bottom, and they figured the heavier things stay on top. Interesting! So, we took a vote and then discovered that our pumpkin floated!

I also wanted them to use their five senses, so I cut the pumpkin open. Each student took their turn staying how the pumpkin felt, what they seen, and what it smelt like - both before and after I cut a hole in the top. The kids were a lot more timid about feeling the insides of a pumpkin than I expected!

 

Next, the students did their own individual Pumpkin Investigation with their pumpkin that they've been sketching and photographing for the past seven weeks. We didn't have time to paint their pumpkins, as planned, but it was still a lot of fun with some exciting discoveries. I think their favourite part was checking to see if their pumpkin would float or sink.

In Phys.Ed. we acted out different Halloween characters to get our bodies warmed up for a game that used our throwing skills. The class was broken up into two teams and they had to knock down the pylons of the other team. Lots of fun! They also LOVE to dance for a warm up.

The afternoon brought out the costumes! We had a lion, Captain America, Superman, Batman, a bumblebee, a witch, a devil, and a character from Monster High. Super cute! I wish we got to dress up more often. They look so awesome walking around in their costumes! The energy wasn't even quite as high as I had imagined. We went to the library to get new books, read individually or in pairs, and our high school student helper read us a story, too. When we got back to class, we sang and danced to some Halloween and non-Halloween related songs and then coloured some Halloween pictures.

Last class, the elementary students went to the gym to parade around for parents and won some prizes for best costumes. We had an assembly with the entire school and then it was a bit of end of the day chaos! I hope that everyone has a safe and fun Halloween night! I hear some trick or treaters at my door so off I go....

Happy Halloween!