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  • The Grove School is more than a place to drop off and pick up your kids. We’re in this together, raising smart, conscious children, and we want to hear from you. Dig in and share your knowledge.

 
 
 

    

Van Gogh's Starry Night

During our “In The Sky” unit, the children were given the opportunity to explore a variety of photographs and paintings of the sky. We hung up a picture of the painting Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. We talked about how Van Gogh was a famous artist as the children looked at the painting and pointed out different features.

Layla: “There’s a big black tree there.”

Carmel: “And there is lots of stars and blue sky.”

Asher: “And it’s kind of hilly.”

Lauren: “And there’s a big, BIG star!”

Morgan: “There’s stars right there.”

After discussing the features of the painting, we gave the children paints in shades of blue, black, and yellow and invited them to recreate Van Gogh’s painting. Here are a few of our paintings:

Lauren is the Strands teacher at The Grove School of Plano.

 

 

As part of a study on pumpkins, preschool and pre-K students discovered what’s inside a pumpkin by observing a pumpkin, making observations , and tasting baked pumpkin seeds. During the preschool and pre-K Eco-Friends Strand, children were presented with the question, “What does the inside of a pumpkin look and feel like?” This questioned spurred curiosity for students and made them want to further their education on this mysterious pumpkin. Students were encouraged to observe and describe what they see and feel inside the pumpkin. Here are a few observations from students:

“It looks like a spider web”-Naomi

“It looks like a boy swinging from a tree branch” (talking about the pulp that hangs from the pumpkin hollow) – Brooks

“It feels disgusting and it almost made me throw up” -Brycen

“It looks like spaghetti”- Rishika

“It feels gooey and gross, and I didn’t like it” – Samuel

“YUUUUUCK” – Layne

Even though the kids didn’t like the way the pumpkin pulp felt in their hands, they still enjoyed the experience of observing the inside.

We also made estimations on how many  pumpkin seeds would be inside of the pumpkin. Needless to say, there were waaaaay more seeds than we thought there would be; they decided to stop counting after about 200.

I can tell you that the students thoroughly enjoyed participating in this activity: The funny thing is, they have no idea that we accomplished all of our learning objectives during this experiment . . .Let’s keep that a secret!

 

 

Lauren is the Strands teacher at The Grove School of Plano.

 

 

This is a basic activity we did in Strands as a fun way to examine plant science up close. Many students of all ages – and adults – do not understand how plants get food. The most popular misconception is that plants get their food from soil. In reality, it is photosynthesis that allows plants to absorb food. Photosynthesis is the process that plants absorb sunlight to create their own energy (or food). We decided to find out for ourselves if this is true, so we planted seeds without any soil at all. Basically, we broke down the process of plant science to its most basic level to help build a better understanding from the ground up.

Step 1: We soaked our sponges in water, squeezing out any excess water so that the sponge would be wet, but not dripping. Then we placed it on a plate. Each child was able to pick the sponge color of their choice; they squeezed the sponge until they could squeeze no more!

Step 2: We evenly sprinkled the mustard seeds over the sponges and then placed the plate in a well-lit area. This was the favorite part of our experiment. They loved watching the tiny seeds fall into the holes of the sponge.

Sept 3: We watched and waited. The mustard seeds were planted on October 11, 2011. After 6 days of keeping our sponges nice and damp and full of sunlight, we had mustard seed sprouts. The kids were absolutely amazed when they saw how fast their seeds grew!

Mustard seeds are from the mustard plant, which is a vegetable related to broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cabbage. They are an important spice in many regional foods.

Lauren is the Strands teacher at The Grove School of Plano.

 

 

During the “All About Me” unit in Strands, children had the opportunity to discover the importance of having healthy teeth. We discussed how teeth are important in many ways. Students discovered that if you take care of your teeth, they’ll help take care of you. Strong, healthy teeth help you chew the right foods to help you grow. They help you speak clearly. And yes, they help you look your best!!!   During this activity, each student was given their very own tooth brush and toothpaste to use. The kids really enjoyed brushing their teeth alongside their friends, as well as looking at themselves in the mirror!!

Early Preschool  parents were very thrilled to see their child engaged in this activity. One parent even commented, “Oh wow, that’s why she likes to brush her teeth now. I usually have to put up a fight to get her to do it!” Students were ecstatic to have their very own toothbrush to take home and use (twice a day!).

If you would like to know more about tooth brushing in children, check out this website at http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/pediatricadvice/a/dental_health.htm .

 

Lauren is the Strands teacher at The Grove School of Plano.

 

 

This week in Strands, we discussed how important it is to reduce, reuse, and recycle. On Tuesday, I surprised the children with a REALLY messy playground-litter EVERYWHERE, plastic bottles, cans, paper bags, etc.Prior to observing playground, I asked the children these questions: What if your playground was full of trash? Do you think you would be able to play in a dirty environment? Would you even want to play if there was trash everywhere?  A few of the responses I received were:“Our play ground would never be trashy, it stays clean, don’t you know this Ms. Lauren” (Brycen) “shewwww-weeeeee” (Zachary) “I would hate to play in the trash, then we would be extra dirty” (Waylon). Much to their surprise, they walked out to a completely trashed play ground and literally panicked. After about two minutes of “Oh No! Who would do this to us?” they decided that it would be a great idea to clean up their playground and recycle the items they collected. We also created a recycle bin for the plastic, paper, and metal that we gathered. After that, we sorted the recyclable items that we collected and discussed how the items could be reused. We said that paper and cardboard products can be processed and made into more paper products and other things. Plastic trash can be transformed into many different things, including homebuilding products. Aluminum cans can be recycled. That means many parts of our trash can be recycled and used again in different ways. WAY TO GO TEAM GREEN!!!

Lauren is the Strands teacher at The Grove School of Plano.