How Many Seeds In A Pumpkin?

We met up with friends from our Nature Club and did a fun project based on the book 'How Many Seeds In A Pumpkin?' by Margaret McNamara. This a fun book that walks a class through an experiment to see how many seeds are in pumpkins and why that might be.

For our group we started with pumpkin observations, estimations of how many seeds might be in our various pumpkins, then the seeded them and counted, graphed their results and we compared our results. This is a fun project to do this time of year with a small group because it makes the collective data more interesting versus just one or two pumpkins.

A great fall activity!!



Me On The Map

We have been wrapping up some studies on maps, where we live in the world and making a connection to the big concept of a whole earth and where we fit in. While review continents and oceans we have really spent some time on North America, Washington state and our local community.

A fun book to help drive this concept home is Me On The Map by Joan Sweeny. It is easy and fun - yet really helps to solidify the bigger picture. We've read this a few times, talked about it and then Holly set to work creating her own little booklet of 'Holly On The Map'. It is done in layers starting with earth and working our way back to our home.

The layers are as follows:

• Earth
• North America
• United States
• Washington State
• Puyallup Washington
• My Home

She drew our her work and then colored them in! It was a fun little project that she really enjoyed creating!

Owl Study

With part of our winter bird observation we also included a small study on owls. We have spent a few days this week reading on various owls, enjoying some owl books from our own collection and the library. I also gave Holly the challenge to go through her Ranger Rick and National Geographic Kids issues to find any articles she could on owls... she found a couple of items. We also enjoyed this little clip from National Geographic Kids

Through our small study Holly learned about various owls who live in our region, the Pacific Northwest, such as the Northern Pygmy Owl, the Great Horned Owl, the Short Eared Owl, the Western Screech Owl and the Barred Owl. We read on their habitats, physical descriptions, listened to some sound footage of their calls, learned of their breeding habits, the young and their diets. With this we compared photos of the owls and discussed their body types and used a tape measure to see the size differences in some of then.

After reading several books and using the internet as a good tool Holly then created a little owl book using some of the knowledge she gathered. The book was a perfect project to bring it all together for her. We chose some topics of interest and a couple of items I wanted to bring in. The final product is adorable!!!

Tomorrow... we get to dissect an owl pellet - should be fun!

Our Week In Books ~ Thanksgiving

We have a pretty good collection of Thanksgiving books in our home. We have had some of these a few years now and in years past have read them to Holly but this year she is pretty much reading this collection of books to me and then I read them to her after that. Her reading has come so far that she enjoys sitting down with a book now, she has even finished chapter books and lined up her next reads. So, it is fun this year to have her read these Thanksgiving books to us first - a whole new experience!

These are our Thanksgiving books we are using this month. With this collection we are also using a few from last month that are simply pumpkin based, fall harvest or hibernation. We also have a few from the library as well - but we'll be returning them very soon. They have been fun to read!!

Simple overview of the Thanksgiving Story but a bit more to read for Holly.

This book is beautiful book written from the perspective of the native Squanto. Well done and very thorough!!

Simple look at the basic story through a school play production. Fun!

Real photography offering a glimpse into what life may have been like!

Beautiful poetic book looking at the November all Fall season.

Cute book on the Mayflower story.

Silly book about today's Thanksgiving and family.

Another cute and silly book on Thanksgiving and family.

A look back through seek and find and simple counting.

Tot book - but a good overview of the story.

Light first chapter book - cute story.

A turkey hunt... or are they really hunting???

And, a cute twist on the Twas the Night Before....

Our Week In Books

I always enjoy when I visit other blogs and they share about the books they are reading... I have found so many wonderful books that way! Book are HUGE in our family, one area we really don't hold back on - meaning we'll buy a good book we really want to read. We buy books for our kids, we check out books weekly from the library - we are book people. So, it only feels natural to share the books we are enjoying this week. I think I might do this a bit more often - if you have good recommendations for me, please share them!

Here is our week in books! These are books Holly has read to us and we have read to hear - most of the time both. They are pretty much all Halloween or seasonally themed. Some we have done artwork with or a story map and some we will still be doing that over the next few weeks to enjoy a bit more of the fall season. You will find a few of these are simply non-sense silly character books... ones Holly has enjoyed reading. But some, are beautifully done - Chipmunk Song or Every Autumn Comes The Bear or Pumpkin Soup are all wonderful books. How Many Seeds In A Pumpkin or  Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie are great educational books. Then we have some fun movement and sound books, a poetry book and some silly stuff too! A well rounded mix to read, inspire, discuss, laugh with, think on and more! Our week in books: