November 2015

​October was spent experiencing fall! The leaves falling from trees were a perfect area of discussion. The children enjoyed using our wonderful outdoor environment to collect many different types of leaves and place them in our leaf collection. (We now have at least 30 different kinds of leaves, just from our campus alone.) They were surprised at how many different types there are. The children also enjoyed learning about the job leaves do for plants. Photosynthesis is when the leaf turns sunlight into food for the plant. Students learned the different names of each part of the leaf and especially enjoyed painting posters to record this information. The students favorite lesson by far this month was the leaf tasting and cooking project. We had a wonderful experience trying some flavorful leaves like kale, baby bok choy, cilantro and watercress (ooo spicy). The students especially enjoyed the Kale chips we made as well.

Additionally the class spent some time defining the physical geographic space of North America. They were also introduced to the various countries and especially enjoyed finding out that Greenland is not green, but very icy and the same with Iceland. We will continue to explore Canada, The U.S. and Mexico for a few more weeks. If you have any currency, cultural objects or pictures from any of these places we'd love to add them to our continent study.

Lastly, does your family celebrate a specific winter holiday? I'd love to hear about is so we can share it with our community.