How We Went From Haunted Houses to a Masquerade Party!

A small group finally decided to create something different in our home living area.  It has been a kitchen since school started, but some friends sat down with a planning sheet and came up with a plan to create a haunted house for kids to come trick or treat in.  They created ghosts and bats and spiders...

...but then they started turning it into a horror movie haunted house. They started adding blood to the walls by painting paper red and taping it up and some were wanting to make bloody hand prints.  We sat down and discussed that we want a haunted house that would not be too scary for kids to visit.  No blood or gore was the rule! So we brainstormed what would be appropriate to add to their haunted house. They came up with more ghosts, bats, mummies, spider webs and other much more appropriate items to add. 

The kids then mentioned that everyone needed masks to come trick or treating!  We brainstormed types of masks they could make.  One friend mentioned we could make masquerade masks. The rest of the kids wanted to know what those were so we brought up Google Images to find out!  The Promethium Board filled with beautiful examples of masquerade masks. The kids did a collective gasp and there was a moment of silence.  All of the sudden, the room exploded into very excited voices saying " I want to make that one!" "I want to make one with the purple feathers!" "I want to make..."  They wanted to start right away but I told them they needed to let me collect materials first! 

The next day, we looked at the images of the masks again for inspiration and passed out planning sheets. They got right into creating a plan showing what their masks would look like, collected the materials they put on their list, and started creating!  

Look at how perfectly they followed their plans!

A friend then suggested that we should wear our masks for our Friendship Thanksgiving Feast that was coming up soon. They also decided that we should dress up in our fancy clothes like they do at Masquerade parties.  A Friendship Thanksgiving Masquerade Feast!

They added either a stick to hold the mask up to their face, or a headband to staple the mask on to keep it on with out having to hold it. Look at these beautiful groups of friends celebrating together!

Pumpkins- The Project

We ended our investigation by measuring the pumpkins.

The kids recorded how tall they were.

The kids have learned about the pumpkin life cycle through many books that we have read and some videos from YouTube.  We decided to create a display for the hallway that shows how a pumpkin grows. The kids signed up to be on the seed/soil team, sprout team, vine team, flower team, green pumpkin team, and orange pumpkin team. We set out materials and they all created their part to show the cycle. 

Here is the finished product, along with documentation of what the kids explored and learned about during our pumpkin inquiry.

The kids also investigated foods that can be made with pumpkins. We made a list and picked three to include in our Thanksgiving Friendship Feast on Monday.  A friend is bringing in chocolate chip pumpkin bread made by their family.  We will be making pumpkin pies and pumpkin soup in the classroom to add to our feast. They are very excited to try it all!

Our feast next week has taken a very interesting and non-traditional turn!  I can't wait to show you what they came up with!  They are one creative group of children!  The conversation started with a haunted house project a group is working on and ended with a Fancy Masquerade Friendship Thanksgiving Feast!  But that is for another post...

Pumpkins-The Investigaion

The kids have been begging me to start exploring pumpkins, because my husband surprised us by buying a variety of pumpkins to decorate our classroom this fall. During our Exploration time, some started observing and documenting on their own! 

Some noticed patterns on the pumpkins, or made patterns with pumpkins.  Some documented what they looked like as they were displayed. They made a connection to our color inquiry by pointing out the different shades of orange!  During station time, they measured pumpkins by weight and height and documented what they noticed. 

We watched and read many videos and books about pumpkins. We all explored the outside of the pumpkins, noticed the different parts and documented what we noticed by drawing a picture, labeling the parts, and writing what we noticed about the outside of their pumpkins.  They also noticed that pumpkins can be different colors such as red, blue, green, yellow, orange and striped!  

Next, we explored the inside of the pumpkin. They loved to feel the insides. They documented the inside like we did the outside, labeling the parts and writing something they noticed. 

They are taking their documentation very seriously! Some making sure they used the exact colors to match the pumpkins!

The kids wanted to cut open the biggest pumpkin to see how many seeds it had in it. Most of the kids felt that the biggest pumpkin would have the most seeds. We picked out a medium sized and a small sized pumpkin also and had the kids make predictions about which would have the most seeds and why they thought so.  We cut them open and many were happy to dig the seeds out!

We grouped the seeds from each pumpkin into groups of ten. 

Each table helped by counting their seeds by 10's.  Every time we got to 100, we made a tally.  We looked at the tallies and figured out how many groups of 100 we had and added the extra. They were surprised by the results! The biggest pumpkin did not have the most seeds! The medium pumpkin had 570, the big one had 490, and the small one had 460.  We recorded the tallies and numbers, but I did not get a photo!

They came to the conclusion that the size of the pumpkin had no relation to the number of seeds! They also noticed that the size of the pumpkin did reflect the size of the seeds inside.  The biggest pumpkin had the biggest seeds, the smallest one had the smallest seeds, etc!  They are some very observant kids!

Next week, we will finish our pumpkin investigation and work on a couple projects. One will be the life cycle of the pumpkin.  Another thing they have learned about pumpkins is that you can make many different things to eat out of pumpkins!  In class, we will be making pumpkin pie and....believe it or not...pumpkin soup!  They want to make the soup more than anything else! I will post about all of this next week!

Noticing Learning Opportunities During Play

The more I explore play based learning, the more I see how the other parts of the curriculum can be covered during their play...not to mention the practice they get in developing the 21st Century Skills they need to be successful in life such as being a team player, problem solving, conflict resolution, collaboration, decision making, communication, and responsibility.  It makes me realize that when play is taken away, the opportunities to truly practice those life-long learning skills in real situations is also taken away!  Below I have many examples of how learning takes place during play!

They create plans during exploration time. They have been learning that to be successful, you need a plan, focus and persistence.  They are working toward creating plans that consist of a picture representation of what they will create, labels, lists of materials needed and directions to follow.  We have just started creating plans this week and I think they are off to a good start. Here are a few examples of their plans. 

They can also work together as a team on a plan. One child draws the plan as they discuss it. Another creates a list of materials needed. Another can write the directions. Below is a picture representation that a team of three worked on after a Lock Down Drill to create a castle using 3-D shapes.  They showed me after it was finished how it worked. They rolled a heavy wooden sphere off of the turret. It fell on an intruder that was trying to break in.  They collaborated and problem soved until it worked!  It worked brilliantly!

Here is a list of materials and a list of responsibilities one team created when planning to build a zoo.

I was amazed at how organized they were! They started out by collecting materials, including paper for the sky and a bright orange gourd to use as a sun.  They created trees, play areas for the animals using rocks, ramps for them to slide down...it is still a work in progress!  Below, you can see them collecting materials in one place and creating the trees for their zoo.

This picture shows them adding the sky and the sun. 

 I will add a picture of their zoo to this post after they finish it. 

They also used writing to show me they are loyal to my favorite college football team, the Michigan State Spartans!

I am amazed at how much writing and learning experiences happen during during play!  Here are some more examples of things that have been going on as we played!

We let our praying mantis go!  They loved how he blended in with his surroundings! A great example of camouflage that caused a great discussion as they observed it.

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Our playground was taken over by thousands of ladybugs! They were all over our play equipment and us! When we came back inside I noticed a bunch of the kids had tightly closed fists so I brought out our insect viewer and had them put them in so we could observe them. 

I set them up with materials to help them explore them further if they choose. 

One small group opened up a book fair like the one our school had a few weeks ago!

Some researched things on their own that they were interested in.

One group opened up a restaurant. 

Some relaxed with a good book. 

Some documented what they noticed about pumpkins. 

They worked those fine motor skills creating sculptures with clay. I love the mermaid one friend created!

Some chose to practice Numeracy skills.  

I am having so much fun observing and taking part in the things that they are doing!  I love seeing their brains at work while they play and explore!  Our pumpkin exploration is still in progress! I will write about how our investigation is going next week!