Last Wednesday all of the kindergarten classes went on a field trip together to visit "Miller's Farm and Market" to go pumpkin picking! The children were all eager to get there as this was a first trip to a pumpkin patch for a lot of them.
Off we go! Lot's of smiling faces anxiously awaiting our arrival to the farm!
On the way we talked about some questions that we've been discussing in class leading up to our trip. How many pumpkins can grow on a farm ( The answer, A LOT!) Will there be any white pumpkins? Will they have any tiny pumpkins? How heavy will they be?
Getting comfy on some big barrels of hay on our tractor ride to the over to the patch!
It was wonderful to have parents come out and volunteer and share the experience with our class! Thanks guys! :)
It was a lot of fun to drive through the corn fields! We noticed up close that they are very tall and we could see corn growing too!
WE MADE IT!
Time to go explore!
Most children are naturally curious about their surroundings. They have an interest in exploring and investigating to see how things work and why things happen. Children have an innate sense of wonder and awe and a natural desire to explore and learn.
Dissecting the pumpkins inside and out! We noticed that this pumpkin looked different from the rest. Norma-Jean is showing some children a rotting pumpkin which some friends found "yucky"!
We learned in class that when pumpkins grow they first bloom into large bright yellow flowers. After spending time in class looking at books and pictures about pumpkins it was very exciting for us to explore the patch and see these discoveries up close.
Did you know that pumpkin flowers are edible?
More exploration, we discovered that as well as using pumpkins for carving Jack-O-Lanterns and cooking delicious treats, a pumpkin can also be a home for worms to live under.
We found a lot of different sized pumpkins. It was fun to determine how heavy one was from another.
This one looks like the perfect size!
Going pumpkin picking can sometimes turn out to be quite the dirty job but somebody's got to do it!
Great job boys!
Frank Miller is teaching the children how to sweep so they can help all their mom's and dad's tidy up at home!
It was really interesting for us to see how we can make a tool we use daily using natural resources.
Frank Miller is showing the children how brooms that we use to sweep with can be made out of broom corn.
We were lucky to enjoy some freshly picked apples right from Millers's farm while we listened to some SpoOoOoOoky Halloween stories.
The apples were incredibly juicy and delicious!
Once we returned to school it was time to measure our pumpkins, these fun and engaging activities help to encourage numeracy development.
How many squares high is your pumpkin? How wide?
We had quite the variety of shapes, shades and sizes!
While on pumpkin was measure at 2 squares high another was 9! The children enjoyed comparing their pumpkins to determine differences and similarities. No two pumpkins were alike.
Once we measured our pumpkins, we documented our findings by tracing the squares used for measuring. Using manipulative tools to construct and discover mathematical concepts in a hands-on, meaningful, and connected ways allows students to create concrete representations of abstract concepts as they form their own mathematical understandings.
Ode to a Pumpkin
I think that I shall never see,
A pumpkin so big as a tree.
A gourd that I could gut and carve
Providing food so I'd never starve.
A pumpkin so big it would be
The scariest Jack-O-Lantern all would see.
Or, I could live in it every day
Until it all would rot away.
Oh, it would be so grand to own
The biggest pumpkin ever grown.
A pumpkin so big as a tree.
A gourd that I could gut and carve
Providing food so I'd never starve.
A pumpkin so big it would be
The scariest Jack-O-Lantern all would see.
Or, I could live in it every day
Until it all would rot away.
Oh, it would be so grand to own
The biggest pumpkin ever grown.
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