QUOTE OF THE DAY: Mummy “what is 9 + 9 Sunshine?”… Sunshine “ummmm…. 6 + 6 is 12…. 7 + 7 is 14… and we just did 8 + 8 is 16…. soooo…. (and mummy is thinking by joves she has got the pattern)…. it’s 18!!! Cos 5+5 is 10 and 4+4 is 8 which makes 18!!!” Oh the child with a lateral brain!!! 🙂
RESOURCE OF THE DAY: The Peter Pan Theory of Seed Dispersal (idea from playbasedlearning.com.au)
We have been looking at flowers and seeds over the last term. Autumn is such a great time of year for scavenging around the parks and forests for treasures. We had read some books about different types of seeds but I could see the kids were only vaguely interested. THEN I stumbled across a great link on Pinterest to a website called http://www.playbasedlearning.com.au. They had seen seed dispersal compared to characters of Peter Pan. FANTASTIC I thought… my kids just love Peter Pan! So below is how we learnt about seed dispersal today…
1. I found free clip art images of Peter Pan, Hook, Tinkerbell, the Crocodile, a pirate ship and a cannon and the children cut them out.
2. I then read out the following cut out descriptions of seed types and they had to match them to the pictures they had cut out.
Hooks
These seeds adhere to animal fur (or your socks) using velco-like hooks and loops to be carried to another location (grasses, burrs).
Wings
These seeds have attachments such as a specifically designed wing or helicopter to assist them to fly to another location (sheoak, hakea pines).
Fly:
These seeds are light and fluffy and have specially designed feathery tufts to help them be carried by the wind (but they don’t have a wing) (lettuce, dandelions, daisies).
Sail:
These seeds are carried by catching a hydro-ride on raindrops, rivers and other water bodies to travel to other locations (passionfruit, water chestnuts, coconut, tea tree, red gum, apple).
Explosions:
These seeds are self dispersers using a special mechanism where the two halves of the pod twist apart and explode, catapulting the seeds into the air (pea, broccoli, wattle).
Digestion:
Fruit eaten by animals and birds, where the seeds pass through the digestive system and is ready to germinate in their droppings (tomato, blackberry, kiwi fruit, cucumber).
3. We also added pictures of the types of seeds and went on an expedition to the local park to find some to stick on our poster.
To top the fantastic morning off, my then very enthusiastic seed experts wanted to watch a clip we had seen before on YouTube. The clip features a collection of footage from the BBC Private life of plants. It shows with such beauty the different types of dispersal and is truly wonderful. Search YouTube “Seed Dispersal” (clip put on by jgerber123)
HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting up at 5:30am and getting all my housework done and I mean everything! Washing, floors swept and mopped, bedrooms vacuumed, bathroom cleaned, beds made, dishes done, kitchen wiped down and everyone fed, dressed, groomed and sitting doing school by 9:20am!!! I now know what I am capable of…. now lets see if I can do that without a looming property inspection from our property manager 🙂
CHALLENGE and MUMMY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
Love truly is disarming! Love truly tames the wild beast! Love should always be our first motive and driving force of all our actions…
“Curly Sue” is 2 and a very independent, strong wee personality. She is as cute as a button but can pack a punch!! The poem… “There was a little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid!”… could have been written about her 🙂
When she is tired or hungry or the wind is blowing the wrong way 🙂 she can lash out in words or actions. Getting cross is a response from me that gets nowhere with her and I have learnt that the hard way. I have been trying to find a peaceful, gentle way of counteracting these thunder clouds and I think I have found my answer…. LOVE!!! I know it sounds simple but this is how I have been responding…
– Yelling = gentle, almost whisper voice.. “I love you curly sue! Do you need a cuddle?”
– Hitting = kissing the hands that are hitting
– Stubborn refusals = gentle, loving voice and gentle stroking actions and removal from situation… followed by kisses and cuddles until storm has past.
When I have disarmed her…. then we discuss the situation and she seeks forgiveness from who was involved.
Isn’t this the way God works in us? That gentle, unwavering voice that convicts us of his love and inspires us to change?
Blessings!
Ruth
Pulchra Doctrina 