Pumpkins, Squash and Gourds...oh my!

In celebration of Fall and the upcoming holiday of Halloween, we took some time to take a closer look at pumpkins!  The children loved learning about how pumpkins are really just orange, round squash.  

We read the story of The Ugly Pumpkin, who's main character feels left out of the pumpkin patch until he realizes that "Oh my gosh...I'm a squash!"

We also did some research on one particular pumpkin.

 We weighed the pumpkin.

We measured the circumference of the pumpkin. 

 Then, we recorded our measurements in our Nature notebooks.

We then made a delicious dip out of the pumpkin to eat!
Check out the recipe below.

Pumpkin Dip Recipe

• 8 oz. package of cream cheese
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree (3 1/2 cups fresh)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Using a food processor, mix all ingredients together until smooth.  Store dip in refrigerator until ready to serve.  Delicious with apple slices or graham crackers.

Back-to-back Leaf Drawing

We have been busy observing the leaves this week!

The kids had a blast with back to back leaf drawing.  Pairs of children sat back to back, with one child describing a leaf and the other sketching it.  They were amazing!

Fall Scavenger Hunt

This week, we enjoyed the beautiful weather with a fall scavenger hunt.  We went on a hike around the school to find many things, including...

 pumpkins,

yellow, brown, and red leaves,

 

and trees with no leaves left at all.

We also found some interesting things that were not on our scavenger hunt, such as...

 a chrysalis from a black swallowtail butterfly,

 delicious and HUGE green beans,

 a demolished sunflower head,

and all different kinds of gourds.

Check out these cute pictures below of kids with clipboards!

Happy Fall!

Prairie Exploration

Last week, we had the pleasure of exploring our prairie with a discovery box from the Minnesota Wildlife Refuge in Bloomington.  

The buffalo costume was, by far, our favorite part of the discovery box.

 

 When I asked the children what a prairie was, I knew I was in for a fun week.

A prairie is...

"another word for a maze."

"kind of like ears."

"a type of animal - maybe with a tail."

"a kind of zoo."

"a type of monster, but not a scary one."

"a thing in books that we look at, I think horses live there."

"where the water goes when it rains."

"grass - BIG grass."

"My mom is allergic to prairies."

We went out to our small, onsite prairie to measure how tall our prairie grasses and flowers were.

We also discussed the length of the roots of prairie plants below the surface of the soil.  Some prairie plants can have roots that are 15-20 feet long!

We then painted a beautiful mural to show the length of prairie plant roots.  Check it out!