Look What I Did with a Leaf!

This week we took a close look at leaves. In our nature journals, we chose a fallen leaf to sketch as realistically as we could. Using our observational skills, we examined our particular leaf to look at its shape, the pattern of veins running through it, any insect damage we could discern and other markings to include in our sketches.

The leaves we see on the ground in the fall are from deciduous trees. We did some close reading to find out more information about leaves such as how they use light and water to make chlorophyll in a process called photosynthesis. When the hours of light shorten after the equinox and the temperatures start to drop with the change of seasons, the tree stops sending fluids and nutrients to the leaves. The stem becomes sealed off from the branch it is attached to and it falls from the tree.

Coniferous (evergreen) trees have needles which have a waxy coating that protects them from the harsh conditions of winter so while they naturally shed their needles throughout the year, they do not have a wholesale drop in the fall as the deciduous trees do.

Using the book "Look What I Did With a Leaf" kids saw how the author/artist had arranged and layered fallen leaves to resemble different animals. With this inspiration, we took a walk to collect leaves that would help us construct images of our own. We were lucky enough to find a variety of colors, shapes and sizes among the fallen leaves of the school grounds and environs.

The finished works of art are attached below. These will soon be displayed in the classroom hallway. We were impressed with the ingenuity and creativity of our young artists!

The Mirror of Erised

This week we arrived at a very exciting part of Harry Potter - Harry discovers the magic Mirror of Erised which reflects your heart's desire when you look into it. For Harry, the mirror shows his parents and extended family whom he has never met. For Harry's friend Ron, the mirror shows an older version of Ron with many distinctions including Head Boy and Quidditch captain (far outstripping his many older brothers).

We asked the kids to think about what they might see if they were able to look into the Mirror of Erised. Answers ranged from seeing relatives they have never met to seeing pets who have passed away to seeing themselves as the best in their field to some other fun and fantastic possibilities.  The students also got to use a piece of "mirror paper" to draw themselves in this desired new light and decorate a fancy frame design.

These introspective works of art are on display in the classroom hallway. Perhaps you will get to view them up close when you come in for a fall conference (sign up sheet to come soon). For now, enjoy the pictures below!

Orienteering 101

This week we continued to talk about the cardinal directions with a link to weather. The winds that come our way from different directions bring different kinds of weather. Generally, winds from the north bring cold weather. Winds from the east bring wet weather. Winds from the south bring warm, often wet weather. And winds from the west bring dry, warm weather.  This week we were able to talk about a nor'easter and how this storm brings cold, wet, stormy weather as winds are coming from a northeasterly direction.

The kids had fun with some "Simon Says" about directions - Simon says point to the south, Simon says clap to the west, Simon says take 10 paces to the north. They also enjoyed running to certain landmarks using directional clues - touch the southernmost wall, the westernmost tree, the easternmost picnic table. It was interesting to see how some kids were willing to just follow the pack while others took a risk when their assessment of the direction diverged from the running mob.     
We capped off by thinking about in which direction we would move in to walk to our different school locations like the gym, the library and the cafeteria. We hope this practice will get kids ready for a compass challenge!

Check out pictures below of our outdoor adventures with north, south, east and west!

Magnetic North

This week we have been learning about the cardinal directions, North, East, South, and West (or, Never Eat Soggy Waffles - our mnemonic device for remembering those directions!). Part of that study has been to explore using a compass to determine which way is north, east, south and west to us as we stand in Sargent Field. In discussing how a compass works, we gave students the background of our poles and magnetic north - the region in the arctic circle with enough magnetic force to pull the needle of a compass to point north.

The revelation of this type of power source opened a lot of questions and curiosity about magnets, so we brought magnets outside and had small groups of students experiment with them. They made a lot of discoveries about the properties of objects that magnets are attracted to. Many of them tested the effects of two magnets together and observed that when sides of the same polarity come together, there is a repelling force that pushes the two magnets apart. But when sides of different polarity come together, the magnetic force attracts them to join together.

Many exciting discoveries were made. Some students were impressed at the force of the magnets to attract each other even through another object (like their hand). One student was amazed to see that when he tried to place the repellent sides of two magnets together, one of them actually flipped so that the attractive poles could connect. Other groups of students were surprised to see that magnetic force can even overcome the force of gravity - when one magnet is lowered over another magnet laying on the ground, the magnetic force will lift it off the ground once the two magnets are close enough together.

You may have your young scientist doing some further exploring with your refrigerator magnets at home! Enjoy the pictures below of our inquiry of these tools.