Co-op - Wednesday October. 10, 2012

Our main focus today was a Halloween craft with a few other activities thrown in. These were our learning activities for today:

1) Word Work

I provided each child with a copy of a chapter from Paddle to the Sea with some of the words entirely or partially blacked out. As we read, and we came to one of these words, they had to determine the word based on beginning sounds, end sounds, or context. Smile of the day... I thought that they were doing remarkably well until I realized that my 'blacking out' method didn't work 100% and that the kids could see through my blacking out! Oops, we'll have to try this again next week!

2) Halloween Wreath

We worked on these Halloween wreaths on and off throughout the day. The kids did really well with this project and really stuck to it. Their tying skills really came along too! We used a wire coat hanger and 1" x 6" strips of fabric. If I were to do this again, I would buy a wire frame from Michaels (they're approximately $4.50) and possibly make the fabric strips wider and longer. Each family made a wreath and the kids all worked together as a team. Some who were done early, helped others. What a fantastic group of kids!

3) Science Experiment - Why do leaves change colour?

We conducted this science experiment to explore why leaves change colour. We discussed forming a hyposesis, materials and the procedure. They quite enjoyed the procedure. We did get some results but they weren't spectacular. We briefly talked about the different variables and how they could be slightly altered to get different results. If kids want to try it again at home, they could:

• chop up more pieces of the leaf and not just a section
• grind the leaf more effectively
• cover the pieces with rubbing alcohol but no excess
• twirl the cups more often and ensure that the water stays hot

We did talk briefly about our results but we will continue this discussion next week and will learn about photosynthesis and the connection between photosynthesis and leaves turning colour.

4) Frindle

Our new participants were given a brief introduction to our book, Frindle. We read through two chapters, made predictions and looked at word usage. We practised coming up with descriptive statements similar to one used in the book.

5) Outside Games

The sun came out at lunchtime so we took advantage and the kids had a good hour of outside game time.

6) Silent Reading