Autumn Exploration
Source/Author: Betty Gootson, Head of The Experiential School of Tampa Bay
October 09, 2015
With the onset of fall comes many opportunities for exploration and inquiry connected to our students’ environment and interests. Fall gardening, leaves and fruits of the season are all leading to lots of discovery and learning in The Experiential School of Tampa Bay — take a look!
Service Learning starts in Alpha
Our collaboration with Ray Wunderlich of the Boyd Hill Pioneer Settlement Garden in St Petersburg, Florida, is providing opportunities for learning organic gardening at school. It’s also a chance for the Alpha students to learn about the crops at the Pioneer Garden and the purpose of their growth, which is help provide fresh produce for charitable food kitchens. This past week, it was off for their first visit to the Garden where “Farmer Ray” showed them so many things! They watched him pick a papaya right off the tree. Did you know that papaya seeds are edible? They have a peppery flavor that is somewhat bitter. There was also rosemary, basil, and kale to smell, a mango and banana tree to see, and a watermelon to pull from the vines. The children learned about compost and some of the creatures that live in the compost pile. Do you notice how many of the senses they’ve been learning about were used during this experiment?
Back at school, the children spent time feeling, looking at, smelling and tasting the papaya and other fruits. Some of the children even had the idea to shake some of the fruit to see if they could hear any sounds from the inside! After smelling all the fruit, it was fun to try to identify other familiar aromas and record their impressions about them.
Our outdoor classroom was the perfect place to hunt for leaves that were then used indoors for painting and collages. In related experiences, leaf stickers functioned as story starters. The boys and girls picked a few stickers to put on a blank paper, then drew pictures that incorporated the leaves into a story which they then dictated to a teacher. Least, but not least, there was a leaf/letter matching game to play.
Back at school, the children spent time feeling, looking at, smelling and tasting the papaya and other fruits. Some of the children even had the idea to shake some of the fruit to see if they could hear any sounds from the inside! After smelling all the fruit, it was fun to try to identify other familiar aromas and record their impressions about them.
Leaves can lead to math, literacy and lots of creativity
Our outdoor classroom was the perfect place to hunt for leaves that were then used indoors for painting and collages. In related experiences, leaf stickers functioned as story starters. The boys and girls picked a few stickers to put on a blank paper, then drew pictures that incorporated the leaves into a story which they then dictated to a teacher. Least, but not least, there was a leaf/letter matching game to play.
Versatile Pumpkins!
Pumpkins and dried corn provided opportunities for measuring, estimating and making predictions. Unifix cubes were used to measure length and height, while string was used to estimate, then measure the circumference to see if their string was too long, too short, or just right. The seeds from inside the pumpkin allowed for a tactile experience that elicited such adjectives as slimy, slippery and yucky, an estimation of how many seeds they pulled out in a handful, and then actual counting to determine the answer. The Alpha students followed a recipe (literacy), measured ingredients (math), experienced change in matter (science), and used the social skills of collaboration and taking turns as they baked yummy pumpkin bread in class this week.
Read more on Betty's Blog!
Read more on Betty's Blog!
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