It's Pumpkin Time!

Today was picture day at our school! Everyone was looking their best and I was really proud with how well our class sat for the group picture. After working for a school photography company for five years, I have a strong appreciation for well behaved children on picture day! I can't wait to see how the photos turn out.
We didn't end up with a Phys.Ed. class today since the gym was occupied but we shook our sillies out and did a few other body break dances in our classroom. It's quite the workout! Some of our favourites are The Gummy Bear Song and Go Bananas.

Since Halloween is on it's way and the school's Open House is next week, I thought we had better create some seasonal art work to display. So, we combined science and art today! We read the story It's Pumpkin Time. The EA also read a story to the students. I believe it was called The Plumpy Dumply Pumpkin. First, we worked on our fifth week of observing our own pumpkins. They've changed so much in the last week! The students are really beginning to notice the changes. Here is what our pumpkins look like now (the two green ones are replacement pumpkins for a couple that froze and are getting fairly squishy- which is also great for science conversation!):

 

Next, it was time for some art! This particular project had a lot of steps to it, so we had to break it down over two classes. Plus that gave us time to let the paint dry. First, we had to draw pumpkins and leaves on white paper using a black wax crayon. Secondly, we worked on mixing paint colours so that we could paint our drawings. I gave the students blue, yellow, and red. They knew how to make orange and green from reading painting books a few weeks ago, but this was our first try at  mixing the colours. So, that was stage one. In the afternoon, we had larger pieces of black paper. We discussed what you would draw to show a night sky. Students used chalk to create stars, moons, and the ground/grass for the picture. Next, they cut out their pumpkin and leaf paintings and then glued them onto the blank paper. The result~ masterpieces that show pumpkins at night!

 



We also worked on our PWIM words, with a focus on the colour words. The students love Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? so we did two more readings of it with the students acting out the various parts. Then, I gave students their own copy of the book. The only difference is that each page follows the format "I see a...." Since the students have the story memorized, it was easy for them to know what colour words were on each page. They were to trace the words and then colour the pictures. Hopefully they will read them to their parents at home! We have been talking about how we can read the pictures to tell a story.

 

Those were the main highlights of the day. Of course there are all of those amazing moments in between that melt my heart when I witness how sweet and kind the students are, moments of celebration when a students are excited about learning, and moments of joy when I realize a student is meeting curriculum outcomes. Never a dull moment! :)