Our Potatoes are Growing!

Our potatoes are really growing!

Last week we went down to the foyer to observe how much they had grown and then we "hilled" them.  Do you know what it means to hill the potatoes?  We had to carry the bags of compost down . . they were heavy!  It took 2-3 of us to carry one bag!

We poured more dirt and compost around each plant and then packed it loosely around each stem.  This is so the plant can continue to grow without the stem breaking.  We talked about the job of the leaf which is to catch the sunshine and make food for the plant.

 Once we had hilled them we chose one plant in our bucket to look at very carefully.  We measured how high the stem was and how many leaves were on the stem.  We also observed the colour of the leaves.

 After we got back to class we recorded our observations like scientists would - using accurate drawings, colouring and labels.

The weather has been so sunny and warm we decided to move our potatoes outside so they could get lots of fresh air and direct light.We picked a perfect spot for them!  It will be exciting to continue to watch them grow!

Pots of Potatoes!

On the last day of school before our break we came to school dressed in our pajamas, ready for a cozy day of learning.  We began the day by looking at our Warba seed potatoes.  We used magnifying glasses to look closely at the potatoes.  We noticed that they had sprouts and "eyes!"  We practiced our scientific skills of observation and drew a picture of what the potatoes looked like.  We were careful to record exactly what we saw!

 After recess we went outside with Mrs. de Jager's class to plant all the seed potatoes.  We planted a total of 25 potatoes in six tubs.

 It was hard work to mix up the fertilizer and get the soil ready for planting!

 We planted the potatoes with the sprouts facing up so that they can reach for the sunshine.

 Once the potatoes were planted, we brought them inside to the front foyer so that they can get some natural light from our skylights during the break.

Then we did a bit of an estimation about how many potatoes we think will grow.  Most of us think that each potato will grow two new potatoes, so we will harvest around 50 potatoes in total.  How many potatoes do you think we will harvest?  We'll keep you posted as our potato plants start to grow!

One Hundred Days of Learning One Hundred Days of Fun!

We celebrated 100 days of learning and fun on Wednesday!  We know that some classes around the globe were celebrating on different days but this day was perfect for us!  What's a party without hats?  So the first thing we did was make a 100 day hat!  We had to think in groups of ten and draw 100 little symbols. We realized how easy it is to keep track of your count when you group by 10s.

After our hats were done we began to share our ideas of what we loved about our school.  Our goal was to come up with 100 reasons why we loved our school.  We had some help from Mrs, de Jager's class and Mrs. Drew's class.  The reasons were heart warming. . . Here's just a small list of what we love about Chantrell Creek:
meeting new friends
playing with old friend
the teachers are nice, kind and fun
we get to gone on fun field trips
we get to have big buddies
centres time
hot lunches
two recesses

We put all our hearts together  and made a big heart for our front foyer!

In Math we made a "math mix."  Each person brought in 100 small food items to add to our mix.  Mrs.Betts put it all in a big bowl, stirred it up and then put spoonfuls into small bowls.  We each got a bowl and had to count out 100 things onto a snack mat.

 We ran out of time to do the graphing activity but we did discover that most people had more Gold fish than anything else.  That got us to wondering why.  We had some good guesses and then finally someone said, "it must be because more people brought fishes so there were more in the bowl!"  That's some great critical thinking and problem solving!

In the afternoon we were given the challenge to work with either a partner or small group and build something with 100 things!  The creations we made were amazing!

                                      Engineers at work!

             

                                                              Architects . . . .

                                         More Engineers ~ Designing and redesigning their ramp!

                                                    Ta da. . . . our castle!

                                                                 Testing the design!

                                      The top of this actually spins!!!!!

All in all it was a great day of fun and learning!  How did you celebrate 100 day?