Gone to Seed

Another wonderful day at homeschool. Today’s theme was really fun: we learned all about winter weeds and seeds. We started the day with a Hitchcock favorite: lizard tails. Everyone has a tail, and everyone is trying to grab everyone else’s tail. I think most of us could have played all day!

We came inside and began morning circle with the spiderweb greeting. Each child has a turn to greet someone across the circle, tossing them a ball of yarn in the process. At the end, we had a beautiful spiderweb.

We shared our home projects about corn. A few people had some corny jokes to share, and others told us about surprising foods with corn ingredients in them (spinach artichoke dip!?). 

Then we read the schedule and morning message. Today’s theme is “Gone to Seed” and the password is “samara.” Before I gave away the definition of samara, I handed one to each student, letting them play with it. They recognized them as the helicopter seeds from maple trees, and played with them, making them twirl to the ground. Turns out those seeds with wings have a name: samara.

 
We read a book called “Seeds Get Around” and discussed the different ways seeds travel: floating like a coconut, blowing in the wind like a milkweed seed, hitching a ride like burdock, fluttering to the ground like a maple samara. Then in partners kids were given a seed to investigate and figure out how it traveled. We made a chart with our guesses of what the seeds were and how they travel.
  
After a quick snack, it was time for our outdoor adventure. We put fuzzy socks on our shoes to see what hitchhikers we could pick up, and set off around the Hitchcock yard on a seed scavenger hunt. At the same time, kids were collecting as many different seeds as they could find. Our first goal was 12 different kinds, enough to fill one egg carton. But by the time we finished our scavenger hunts, we needed three egg cartons! 

We didn’t find too many hitchhikers on our socks, but maybe they were just too small to see. So we began an experiment, putting the socks in a bucket with some soil to see if anything would sprout. Great idea, Carole!

Then we set off on the trails to collect more seeds and also, our favorite winter weed for a class field guide. The rain held off for us as we ran through the woods, looking at interesting plants and insects!   

Penelope spotted this insect, which Ted later identified as a blister beetle. We all thought it looked like a cross between an ant and a bee (which are the same family) but it turns out it is a beetle (totally different family!). They are called blister beetles because they excrete a liquid that gives our skin blisters if we touch it!  Whoa.

We had lunch when we came back, and then got to work on our project: a class field guide of winter weeds. Using the weeds we had collected, we made pages of our guide. We named the weeds whatever we wanted! I will assemble the book this week for display at our next class.
 

Afterwards, we had another project. Remembering the different ways seeds travel, each child was given a bean and they had to come up with a design to make their seed travel. Kids were very creative! Some seeds floated, some were helicopters, some were both! 

When our seeds were completed, we came to the circle for journal time. There was a lot to do: glue in photos, plants and scavenger hunts, and write the date, daily theme and password.

 

Soon it was time for closing circle. We said our favorite parts of the day, and after I couldn't resist showing them a seed parachute I read about. We watched it fly, and then ran to the tables to make our own!

See you next time!