Harvest Season

We are well into our harvest season and the children have been exploring the natural world to find the Fibonacci sequence of numbers.  

Last week, we cut apples into halves horizontally to reveal the sequential number 5 of the Fibonacci number pattern. The children observed, while labeling the parts of the apple, that if the apple is cut horizontally, between the stem and blossom end, only then can one see the center pattern in the apple that creates a 5-pointed star. The children discovered that it did not matter what kind of apple we cut, the star was always at the core, provided we didn’t cut the apple vertically, from stem to blossom end. Many children discovered there were lots of seeds in the seed compartments, but the 5-pointed star was always present.

The children listed all the many ways to enjoy apples, including applesauce. They took turns coring, spiraling, and peeling the apples and we boiled the apples until they became sauce.

 After a unanimous vote, we added cinnamon and indulged.

Marble painting was a fun way to incorporate primary and secondary colors while discussing pigments. Reds and yellows and greens were most often found in the apples. When the children described our apples, they noticed they are not just red, but red, yellow, green, and even pink. One child observed, "the fleshy parts are always the same color." 

And...  Mr. Alligator says, don't forget to dress for the weather! 

What Do You Wonder About the Sunflower?

To excite curiosity in the children – which truthfully is easy to do in these kids – a head of a freshly cut sunflower was placed on each of their tables. Quick to notice the small details, the children described and drew the attributes of a sunflower.

MT- Sunflowers have leaves and sunflowers have petals, too.

They continued to observe the heads for changes. As the appearance of the sunflowers subtly changed, curiosity and questions increased. I asked the children, what do you wonder? They answered:

I wonder…

MT- Why does the sunflower have petals?

DW- Why does the sunflower have green leaves?

DS- Why the sunflower has polka dots?

EW- Why is the sunflower yellow?

MH- Why the sunflower has teeny-tiny flowers?

MH- are the flowers really dying? Nobody watered the sunflowers.

 

What changes do you see?

DW- They are wrinkly and they are starting to get dry. Because they have been sitting in our (tables) for a long time. The tiny florets look brown. It smells like a regular flower.

MA- I see the mold. This petal is on top of the mold.

 

What is under the florets?

I see/think... 

MT- Green things.

MA- Leaves.

MH- The tiny petals are falling off the sunflower.

LW- I’m really looking under them to see what is under them. It's white and yellow stuff.

DW- White pollen.

MH- Little tiny blacks.

LW- I see white pollen.

It will be interesting to see what the children discover over the next week!

We listened to a short story about a boy who wanted to plant a sunflower garden in the shade, so he and his father decided to do an experiment. They planted sunflowers in the sun and the shade. Our children discussed what they thought would happen. Would they all grow? As a class, the children answered, yes, and they were right! All of the flowers grew, just not in the same way. 

I asked, what did you notice about the sunflowers in the sun verses the sunflowers in the shade? 

EW- Some are bigger, because they were more in the sun.

MH- The bigger flowers are yellow and brown. The little ones are not all yellow and brown.

The boy and his father observed the sunflowers in the morning and in the afternoon. I asked our class, what do you notice about the sunflowers in the morning compared to the same sunflowers in the afternoon? 

EW- It is pointing a different way?

MH- Because it has an abra, abra means it turns this way and this one is turning this way.

MA- Something is at the bottom and something is at the top.

In our classroom, we observe carefully for details and watch for changes. Like Mary Anning and Galileo, we watch, wonder, and explore deeper, just like scientists. 

Attributes of a Sunflower

We kicked off the school year by exploring sunflowers and listing some of their attributes. I asked the children, what do you see? Curious pre-k students used magnifying glasses and started to explore. The children first listed: yellow, green, brown, black; the children quickly moved on to shapes: circles, dots, triangles, and then the conversation took a turn ... 

"Is it dead?" The children started to ask questions about the life of the sunflower and where it came from. Hmm ... I wonder? 

What do you see?  “A big bunchy sunflower; bunchy means – big, huge. So there is one in front that is dying. I think it's dying because all of the petals are turning brown. They are starting to be brown because you are not watering them.” LM

As the children shared what they thought the sunflower needed to live, a livelier topic emerged from several of the sunflower heads. Several arachnids and a few bugs joined us as well. 

"I see spiders." DS  And she sure did! The children calmly observed the animals and how they hid inside the flowers. 

Curiosity about the symbiotic relationships between plants and animals naturally progressed. “The honeybees go to the flower, then they get the pollen and then they go to the hive to get the honey.” LM

We only just started our conversations about the flower heads. As the florets shrivel away, the seeds will start to appear. Some of the children are already noticing the patterns on the petals. As the florets shrivel up, the seeds will be uncovered and our conversations about geometry and patterning will follow.