Pumpkins!

The students have been very curious and fascinated with pumpkins! 
(I apologize in advance for how long this post is!)

Students shared some of their wonders about the pumpkin in our classroom.

A.L- why do pumpkins start with green?

A.B- I wonder what the white is

D.K- I wonder why when we open it up the seeds look yucky

A.A- I wonder the pumpkin is orange, will it turn to big?

K.B- Because the white on it is dirt on it, we got a rock and we got the dirt off 

D.D- why when we open it the inside isn’t so flat like the outside

M.W- I wonder why when you open it it feels so different 

Z.H- if you open it, I think I’ve felt a pumpkin

E.M- when we see the seeds in the pumpkin, the seeds inside has the same colour of the orange of the pumpkin

V.A- I wonder if it has a mommy

A.M- I wonder if the pumpkin seeds are orange 

Ms. Tompkins asked the students what we should do with the pumpkin.

S.J- carve it

D.K- open it up first and take out the seeds and then carve a face, like a happy face

D.Z- colour it

D.S- open it and colour it with different colours

M.W-scoop all the pumpkin out

A.A- how about the pumpkin was too big and lets see what the green on it

T.K- you can make eyes and a face

The students touched the outside of the pumpkin and described how it felt.

S.P- soft

A.B- hard

P.D- can we make pumpkin pie and pumpkin soup

M.W- smooth

A.L- stripes on it

D.K- it felt flat 

D.S- pumpkin, make pumpkin apple

A.M- it feel so soft and hard

Ms. Tompkins cut the pumpkin open and students had a turn to look inside and describe what they see.

A.L- seeds

Z.H- seeds

E.M- white seeds that are not stuck on the orange

V.A- I smell 

P.D- I see something and smell orange

S.P- I see slime

T.K- lots of seeds

K.B- there are seeds

E.K- I see pumpkin

A.B- I see lots of seeds

N.M- pumpkin

S.J- orange

M.P- seeds

C.C- seeds

A.K- I see it’s yucky and seeds

M.W- pumpkin

D.S- pumpkin pie

During Thinking and Learning Time, students had the opportunity to put their hands inside the pumpkin and feel it. Many students did not want to touch it. The students who did had a variety of reactions to the texture of the pumpkin!

Ms. Tompkins: What do you feel?

D.K- slimy

A.L- soft, seeds are hard

E.M- there are like a thousand seeds in here!

A.K- yucky

Students were excited to get their hands in and feel the flesh of the pumpkin.

A.M- I want to grow a pumpkin, we need to plant the seeds, we put dirt inside first then dump the seed, then water and sun and air

We asked the students if anyone else wanted to grow a pumpkin with A.M. Many students showed interest in planting seeds, so we quickly searched around to find the materials we needed. The next half hour was filled with dirt, laughs, excitement and learning about what plants need to grow.

P.D, M.W, and A.L- they are by the window because they need sun

We decided to put soil inside our pumpkin to see what would happen. The students had many theories about what might happen to our pumpkin.

A.B- maybe it will grow other pumpkins

E.M- a little bit of seeds in the pumpkin but if we put soil in our pumpkin with the seeds and put water in it it might grow

A.M- and sun

D.D- grow plants if you put soil in, just plants

A.A- pumpkins grow bigger

P.D- might get die

A.L- maybe it will broke this pumpkin

K.B- if you put too much in the pumpkin might explode

D.S- put water for pumpkin

The students helped by using a measuring cup to add soil to our pumpkin. 

P.D- I see lots of soil, it’s high

The students are keeping a close eye on their pumpkin seeds and the class pumpkin.

We have been keeping a close eye on our pumpkin and students began to notice that it was cracking. We realized it was beginning to rot and break!

 

Students described how the pumpkin felt:

• squishy
• soft 
• slimy

 We then decided to cut open the pumpkin to see what it looked like inside and to see if any of our seeds had begun to grow. K.B suggested we cut it open outside so that we didn’t make a mess in our class.

 We saw that some of our pumpkin seeds had begun to grow.

We put the seeds on the table. M.W said "we put the book beside because we needed to look which our pumpkin seeds were at"

M.W: Our seeds grew tall!

 M.W: they are growing with seeds on top of them

 M.W: my plant has lots of roots!

 M.W: I see the leaves with orange dots on it

 A.A is looking at her cup with the plant growing

 P.D. is looking at her own and ours (the class seeds are in the bowl).

We now have lots of growth in almost all the students pumpkin plants. We have been wondering why the class plants that were planted in the pumpkin grew so much faster than the ones planted in the cups. What do you think?

M.W: the roots feel cool and smooth. There are two leaves that are open 

(This blog post was written with the help of M.W!)

Room 122 Library!

Here is the story of how 'Room 122 Library' was created! It has been so exciting for our team to see the students engaged and proud of the amazing writing and illustrating they have been doing.

Our team was noticing the students were asking us to staple paper together regularly so they could write books. They were so excited to use their 'Thinking and Learning Time' to write stories! We encouraged the students to be authors and illustrators by providing them with pre-made blank books and opportunities to share their hard work at the end of the day. The number of books being written everyday was increasing and some students were even working on their books over the course of a few days! 

Our team was really excited to see the students so engaged in a task and so proud of themselves afterwards. We talked about a way to celebrate the accomplishments of our little authors and decided we should have a classroom library. We brought this idea to the students and they were so excited! With this as a prospect, even more books were written.

The following day we asked the students if they wanted to change our home centre into a library as a way to celebrate their stories. This suggestion was met with cheering! We began brainstorming everything we would need to make our library. 

We voted on a name for our library as well. This was when 'Room 122 Library' was created!

All students wanted to help create the library, so we divided up everyone who wanted to help into different teams.

We had the ‘Creative Team’, who helped provide ideas for the library. 

We had the ‘Planning Team’, who helped plan where the furniture needed to go.

We had a 'construction team', who helped move the furniture where it was planned to go.

The library began to take shape.

Even Mrs. Eslami, Mrs. Landolfi and Ms. Tompkins were excited and wanted to help set up the Library!

 

Students decided that we should cover the stove top and dials. A.M suggested we unscrew the doors, but we thought opening the doors might be easier! 

Students began creating signs for the library. They created labels for the book bins, a sign for the entrance, a 'quiet please' sign, and a binder to sign books in and out.

Students were excited to be able to write books and put them into the library. 

Students created invitations for special guests they wanted to invite. They created and delivered invitations. 

We had our Grand Opening Ceremony on Wednesday, October 30th in the afternoon. We decorated the library just as the students planned (balloons, streamers and a ribbon)! We had special guests come and check out our library!

There was a formal presentation by the students welcoming guests and opening the library. 

K.B & A.B- Welcome to the Grand Opening of Room 122 Library

M.W & A.A- We are excited you are here!

S.P & A.L- We have worked hard to make our library.

D.D & D.K- All the books in our library are written by us!

C.C - We are authors!

P.D & A.M- Please look around and enjoy our library.

A.B & D.S- Thank you for coming.

T.K & E.K- The library is officially open!

After this presentation, we drew names for two students to cut the red ribbon. It was very exciting.

Once the library was officially open, students and guests went in and explored the library! Our guests signed our guest book as a way to remember our special visitors.

Our authors are excited to continue adding books to the library and to spend time being librarians in 'Room 122 Library'!