Once we got to the playground, it was dry and we stayed to play. Suddenly, everyone was finding ladybugs. It really WAS warm outside today!

We also spotted what we think is the biggest worm ever.
Do you agree? It’s very big!

This morning’s warm, wet weather gave us an idea: we didn’t want to use the playground wet, so we went on a Fun Friday Expedition… first stop, the rocks and “the berry tree forest” along the Nine Creeks Trail. Students hid in the lower branches while others watched robins eating berries in treetops.

Today, the last group of students worked on making poppies with the leaf-printing technique we learned last week. Here LS shows the second step: roll the leaf and lift to reveal the print. Beautiful!

We went out around the schoolyard this morning before the rain came. AJ and CS gathered a bunch of leaves, when A called me over. He said, “It’s Canada, see?” And C held up one of his maple leaves to compare. Yes, 🍁 like 🇨🇦. The leaves lead to so many observations. #TreeInquiry

The best part was the reveal, when each one was peeled back to “show the magic!”
Worth walking to the far side of the tennis courts for those tulip tree leaves. SB shows his paint magic in the video clip. He asked if he could share. 🌈🍁🖼️

Another day of students collecting leaves, so another day of experimenting with paint.
Yesterday’s leaf prints were fun but they turned out muddy & splotchy. We decided to try again. Today, we used sponges instead of brushes and added a roller to smooth the leaves out. It was an interesting process.

Another way exploring teaches us about painting is when we notice different effects.
This leaf print didn't show the shape as TB expected it to. Was there too much paint, or not enough? These questions fuel further exploration and our observations help us refine techniques.
Play is learning.

Painting explorations continues in K2. As trees give us free materials, we keep trying new things.
We have tried painting on leaves and pressing them. We have tried painting over leaves and leaving a cool shape. We painted on crayon resist prints. What else to do? We'll see what tomorrow brings!

CS found an interesting creature while we were out riding bikes, & protected it. It was bigger than any beetle we’ve seen around here. CP thought it might be a cricket until he looked closely. HC wondered if it could be an “oil bug” but we weren’t sure.
Has anyone else seen this big insect before?

Next steps: adding the “wets” to the dry ingredients, and giving it all a good stir.
It sounds much quieter now, as most of the class had already headed outside to play after helping with the cake recipe. Our stirring group added pumpkin seeds on one of the two cakes, too.

Here’s what it looked and sounded like as we started to make our mashed pumpkin and spice cake. Everyone had a chance to help in one part or another. Many hands helped today.

And part 5: carving.
As a bonus, Ms. Moore (who usually takes the class outside or to the gym) joined us in time to carve the face the class voted for. It looks great - what a fantastic day in K2!

Part 4: finishing the cleaning inside the pumpkins so we could carve. It took a lot of work to get all the stringy bits and last seeds from the biggest one. A few friends worked steadily for over an hour, while others came and went through the play & learn time. Good, messy work.