Garden School

We are in full on Garden Mode around here.

I look forward to our garden unit every year.  There are so many excellent resources out there and most of the lessons are totally hands on.  Sometimes I think I'd like to try methods like Classical and others that are less unit minded, but weeks like this really show me how much both Josie and I love this style of learning.

We started this unit out by going to my favorite nursery to pick out our seedlings.

We had a blast going through the greenhouses and talking with the chickens.  I had a list of what we were getting and let Josie pick the plant that we would bring home.

The next day was planting day.

I let her do all the work and just supervised her.  Girlfriend has quite the green thumb.

Flower Observations

Josie loved this simple project.  We picked a flower and then used all 5 senses to observe the flower.  I can't find the link but I will share it as soon as I do.

Roll A Flower

I've seen these all over but this was our first time doing one.  You roll a dice and put the corresponding part of the flower on the sheet.  It's kind of like a puzzle.  Josie had a hard time not going in order, but I think it was good for her following directions skills.

Flower Art

I found this wooden flower at Hobby Lobby for less then a dollar.  

Math

We are working on patterns.  I found these flower pattern cards on 2 Teaching Mamas.  They have a whole unit on flowers.  Some of it is more geared for pre-k, but we are using the parts that Josie needs some practice on.

Science

We used this book for a few science projects.  We will be using it all month.  There are a ton of great hands on experiments and really good explanations of the results.  I've never used a book from Usborne that I wasn't impressed by.

Seed Dissection

We soaked a seed overnight and dissected it the next day.  It was pretty neat to see the protective casing and the inside of the seed.

Bean Plant Project

We started our bean plants.  We haven't had much luck with these in the past.  I'm hoping this is our lucky year.  I found this Plant Observation Book.  We will fill out a page every few days to track the growth of her beans.

Gabe's been sitting in with us all week too.

He sits at the table and "E-O's" (writes) the whole time.  He repeats Josie's answers, which I love.  I hope he's catching some of our lessons!

Next week we are wrapping up flowers and seeds before moving on to worms and trees.  It should be a fun month!