Sink or Float With An Autumn Theme

Sink or Float is such a popular piece of work at our little yellow school.  While on an Autumn walk around our school grounds, the children collected some items for an Autumn Themed Sink or Float.  (Sometimes the children call this work 'Sink or Swim'.)

Autumn Themed Sink or Float

The children took turns dropping items into the tub of water. There was much discussion over whether the gourd and the pumpkin would float.  Will they?  Scroll down to find out!

Our first student grew the gourd he is dropping into the tub in his own garden!

A gourd grown by this student!  It floats!

A Rock

A Pine Branch

A Small Pumpkin - It floats!

A Stick

A Pinecone

Another Pinecone

The only item that did not float was the rock.  It sank quickly.

Most of our objects floated.  Only the rock sank.

Once we had dropped all our objects into the tub, some children took turns collecting leaves and dropping them into the tub.  The leaves float!

Why do items sink or float?  In the most simplest terms, each item is made up of molecules.  In some items, such as the rock, the molecules are packed together tightly.  In other items, such as the pinecone and stick, molecules are more spread out.  How closely molecules are packed together is called density.  Density determines why some things float and others sink.

In our experiment, most of our objects were less dense than water.  Only the rock was more dense.  Although many children predicted the gourd and pumpkin would sink due to their size, they are hollow inside and filled with air.  This enabled them to float.

Things That Float and Things That Don't by David A. Adler is a great book to further explore this concept.

Baby (Milkweed) Seeds

 During the fall months, the children at our little yellow school have been collecting seeds and other natural treasures during our outdoor time.  There is so much to explore around our school!

Deciduous/Coniferous

Of all the seeds collected, our favourite are those of the milkweed plant.  

Milkweed Pods

One of our playgrounds, the 'soccer field', has a butterfly garden.  It is so nice to share our outdoor space with the butterflies.  We can't wait to plant the milkweed seeds we collected in our butterfly garden next spring.

Milkweed Seeds

Baby Seeds ~ A Rhyme

In a milkweed cradle

Snug and warm,

Baby seeds are hiding

Safe from harm.

Open wide the cradle.

Hold it high.

Come Mr. Wind,

Help them fly!

The Glories of Autumn

At our little yellow school, autumn is one of our favourite seasons.  At this time of the year, our outdoor environment ~ two grassy playgrounds, towering pine trees, flower and vegetable gardens all set on half an acre of land ~ provides us with a treasure trove of autumn experiences.  Here are some of them. 

Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle and Migration

On the first day of school in September, the children were surprised to find jars of chrysalises in the classrooms.   Each day the children watched and waited for the butterflies to emerge.

Observing

Observing

A Monarch Chrysalis

   

A butterfly emerges from the chrysalis.

  

 

 We released the butterflies in our butterfly garden.  

    

The metamorphosis of the monarch butterfly is a miraculous occurrence.  How fortunate for all of us to have witnessed it and assisted in their migration to Mexico.

Life Cycle of a Butterfly Craft

Life Cycle of a Butterfly Book

The Autumn Harvest

Our autumn harvest began with our potato harvest.  The children planted seed potatoes in our vegetable garden last spring.  It was lovely to see the delight on the children's faces as they dug the potatoes out of the ground.  We had a bumper crop!

Examining the Parts of a Potato Plant

Labelling the Parts of a Potato Plant

Life Cycle of a Potato Puzzle

A Potato Plant

Digging Potatoes

Our Harvest

We harvested apples on our trip to the apple orchard.

Picking an Apple

 Back at school, we baked some delicious apple sweetie pies.

Cutting Apples

Filling a Tart Shell

Adding the Topping

Little Apple Sweetie Pies

We had an Apple Taste Test and tasted different varieties of apples - Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and McIntosh.   We picked the McIntosh apples at the farm.

Which one is your favourite?  Our wall graph has the answers.

Apple Taste Test Wall Graph

  

Granny Smith are my favourite.

Deciduous and Coniferous (Evergreen) Trees

During the autumn months, we always enjoy exploring trees.  The children learned the parts of the tree.

Parts of the Tree Booklet

We learned the difference between deciduous and coniferous (evergreen) trees.  Our maple trees are deciduous trees.

Collecting Leaves

Our pine trees are coniferous (evergreen) trees.  Can you believe each of our towering pines began life as a tiny seed?

Reading the book From Seed to Pine Tree .

Those pines are huge!

Looking at our towering pine trees.

There is always so much to discover in our outdoor environments.  The children collected some lovely treasures from our trees.

Our Collection

We worked together to sort and classify our finds.

 

 

 

 

Bark

 

Branches

 

Leaves

Needles

 

Seeds

Our Animal Friends

Our animal friends are preparing for the winter.  The little squirrels are knocking down pine cones from our coniferous trees and storing them for the winter.  We found one of their hiding spots!

The squirrel is hiding pine cones in our 'snag'.

Pumpkins

We learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin and the parts of a pumpkin.

The Parts of a Pumpkin

 

The Parts of a Pumpkin

 

 

 

 

The Parts of a Pumpkin

Hollowing a Pumpkin

Our open outdoor classroom also encourages gross motor skills, observation, and sorting activities.  The natural environment enables us to flutter with the butterflies, watch an earthworm wiggle, hop with the frogs, collect twigs, pebbles and pine cones all the while listening to the sounds of the birds.  We are never happier than when we are basking in the glow of nature's wonder.

Why is a natural outdoor environment so important in Montessori education?  Since the beginning of her work over one hundred years ago, a basic tenent of Montessori's psychology and curriculum for children is the universal need for attachment to nature and the subsequent personality integration that evolves from outdoor activity.  Dr. Montessori believed that Montessori education is not just what happens inside.  She placed a heavy emphasis on nature and the outdoor environment.  The outdoor environment should be an extension of the indoor environment providing children with real experiences in nature.  Our little yellow school could not provide a complete Montessori education without our natural and expansive outdoor environment.  It is invaluable.

There must be provision for the child to have contact with nature; to understand and appreciate the order, the harmony and the beauty in nature.

~ Maria Montessori