Sunday Garden Sessions

Before I went to my hockey game today I checked on the celery science experiment I started on Friday. I wanted to see if the leaves were redder and bluer and they were. Then we cut them hot dog style (vertically) to see if the colors were in the center. They were; we could see the red and the blue colors running up the stalks. It rained almost all day today and the garden soaked up over half an inch of rain. While it was raining I practiced writing words, sentences, and numbers. I also read my very first book on my own. It was really hard, but now that I know I can do it, I want to try another one. We also read a big book today, "From Seed to Plant" by Gail Gibbons. To summarize it I created a storyboard of how a seed grows into a plant. Once it stopped raining I went out to check on the garden. Not only are there more strawberries growing, but the bottom of the romaine lettuce head that I planted has all ready started growing. 

Checking out the inside of the celery stalk.

I read this book all on my own today. It is the first book I have ever read.

We read a book about how plants grow.

Today we read "From Seed To Plant" by Gail Gibbons

Click on the arrow to watch me make a

storyboard of the book we read today.

My completed storyboard summarizing the book we read
today and showing the stages of a seed growing into a plant.

LOOK! The romaine lettuce bottoms I planted yesterday
are all ready growing. It isn't taking as long as I thought.

Saturday School in the Sun

The first thing I did when I woke up was look at the celery stalks I placed in the glasses of colored water yesterday. Boy was I wrong on my hypothesis. The red and blue water had gone all the way up to the top of the stalk. I had said it would take ninety-nine days to get to the top. Thank you to everyone who left their hypothesis in the comment section of yesterday's blog entry. I also started another experiment last night. I took the bottom of the celery stalk that we cut off yesterday and planted it in the ground along with two ends of romaine lettuce. My hypothesis is that each will grow into a new plant. I think it will take a little longer to see if I am correct.

Today I asked if I could do my school work on the deck and we did. First I practiced writing the letter D and then the numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Then we read the book "Oh Say Can You Seed?" by Bonnie Worth. It was a really long book, but we read it all at once. I discovered that some seeds blow in the wind and that some have spikes. I also learned interesting facts such as bees carry pollen and some animals live underground near the roots of plants. Finally, I completed a "Let's name..." card. I got to lay in the grass and look up in the sky and name things I could see in the sky. 

Check it out! The colored water all ready made it up the celery stalks.

This is the bottom of the celery that I used for my science experiment.
Now I have planted it in the garden and started a new science experiment
to see if it will grow into a new celery plant.

These are the bottoms of two heads of romaine lettuce.
They are also a part of my next science experiment to see
if they will grow into new plants.

My dad surprised me last night by hanging colored
lights above the garden.

A picture of me writing the letter D.

A picture of me writing my numbers.

We read today's library book in the garden.

This is me with the book we read today,
"Oh Say Can You Seed?" by Bonnie Worth.

I laid down in my garden and named the things
I saw in the sky.

There is a strawberry turning red in the garden!

Click on the arrow to watch me practice my math.

A Growing Garden

I came back from my mom's house early and I have acting camp this week, and today was my last day at CMU Camp which is the school I went to for the past two years. I thought I would do a little of my Summer Project 2013 every day this week instead of just Monday thru Friday.

The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was check on the garden. My dad took good care of it while I was away. There are strawberries and sweet pea pods growing. The carrots, watermelon, and corn are getting taller. The tomato plants have flowers on them and that means the tomatoes will start growing next. I am so excited about the garden growing. I went to the library today to check out more books. I also checked out another movie, Hotel Transylvania. Finally, I came home and did a science experiment. I placed celery stalks in colored water to see how water travels up the stem of plants to help them grow. My hypothesis is that it will take five days for the colored water to travel half-way up the stalk and ninety-nine days to travel the entire way up the stalk. I am going to observe them every day to see if I am correct. I did not read a library book today, but I did read two books at bedtime last night.

Three sweet pea pods growing in the garden.

The first strawberry growing in the garden.

The first watermelon vine growing in the garden.

Me showing Bubby Wubby the strawberries are growing. 

Click on the arrow to see me clipping mint in the garden.

I'm all ready back at the library checking out more books.

My science experiment. How long do you think it will
take the colored water to travel all the way up the stalk?
Tell me below in the comment section.

Rain Helps the Garden Grow

Today I practiced writing the letter A in upper case and lower case. I also worked on the numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. In my math journal I wrote the words nine, ten, eleven, and the numbers 9, 10, and 11. In my social studies journal I wrote the words city, downtown, and bridge. I live close to downtown in my city and there are many bridges here. We read the book "Once There Was a Seed" by Judith Anderson. 

Since I was having a hard time remembering the parts of a plant, I bought one and took it out of the pot. You can watch a video below of me naming the basic parts of a plant. Afterward, I put it back in the pot and in the garden. It has rained for the past two days. The carrots and corn are growing. My dad built a stand to hang my scarecrow on. You can see a picture of it below. Finally, I asked my dad to drive me to the library. I returned some books and check out some others. My dad said he would keep them safe while I'm at my mom's house. I really like the library. I've been there three times this week!

I'm going to my mom's for the week.

Please visit the website again on Monday, June 17, 2013.

Me practicing writing the letter A.

Me practicing writing the numbers 4, 5, and 6.

Bubby Wubby and me listening to today's story.

Today's book was "Once There Was a Seed" by Judith Anderson.

My dad built this stand to hang my scarecrow on.

The scarecrow will keep the rabbits and birds out of my garden.

This is me checking out another book from the library.

Click on the arrow to watch me take care of my garden.

Click on the arrow to watch me name the parts of a plant.

Rainy Day

Today I practiced writing the numbers 6, 7, and 8. I filled in the blanks on the basic parts of a plant. I watched the Talking Words Factory video two times and now I can spell the words mat and sat along with cat and June. I read my first BOB Book, Mat. It was a little book about Mat and Sam, they sat in the book. I also read the book "Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Farm" by Joy Cowley. My teacher read the book in school this year too. It was fun reading the book again. I spelled all the key words from the book and I knew which words rhymed. Since it is raining today, I stayed inside and helped design a scarecrow for the garden. Once I decided which parts should be the head, body, arms, and legs an adult drilled holes and built it for me. There's a picture of it below. Last night I planted window sill potatoes and avocado pits. I think when I get back from my mom's house there will be roots growing from them.

Every day I write the day, month, date, and year on my
Daily Goal Sheet.

This is a picute of me connecting the numbers 1-10.

Here I am writing the word eight in my Math Journal.

Bubby Wubby and I read the book
Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Farm by Joy Cowley today.

Click on the arrow to hear what I want.

Click on the arrow to watch me write the word ROOT.

Click on the arrow to watch me spell a word.

This is my scarecrow for the garden.

Click on the arrow to watch me play UNO.

Limin' in My Garden

I started off today by practicing writing the letter O in upper case and lower case. I also practiced writing the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. I'm getting use to writing my name and the date on the top of all my papers. Today I remembered how to spell the word June all on my own. Last night I surprised my dad by remembering how to spell the word cat. This morning when I got stuck on how to spell cat again I sounded out the letters just like in the Talking Word Factory video. Later, I filled in the blanks on the parts of a sprouting plant. We read the book "Mystery Vine" by Cathryn Falwell and summarized the story by using a sequencing graphic organizer. Afterward I played my first game of chess. It's pretty cool even though I didn't win. Later on today I'm going to play chess again in my garden. Speaking of the garden, I went and checked on it after my studies. The string beans are sprouting and the strawberry buds are blossoming. I played some reggae music for the garden and just limed. My dad says that's island talk for relaxing. I decided I had relaxed enough and asked if we could go back to the library. I returned some books and checked out some more. I like the library. I also got ready for our field trip this afternoon by typing in my address and then the words Phipps Conservatory into Google Maps. It gave me directions and a map on how to get there so I could go to the farmer's market. I filled out a KWL chart on a farmer's market. Before going, I knew what a farmer was and that some had cows and pigs. I didn't know what a market was and I wanted to know if any of the farmers have pumpkins. I didn't ask my question about pumpkins, but I did find out that a market is a place where people buy and sell things. I bought a delicious slice of watermelon and a bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies. 

This is me practicing writing the letter O.

In this picture I am identifying the parts of a seedling.

Click on the arrow to watch a video of me writing the word leaf.

We read the book Mystery Vine by Cathryn Falwell today.
The mystery vine was pumpkins. I'm growing pumpkins too.

Click on the arrow to watch me play my first game of chess

using No Stress Chess. I liked it!

Limin' in my garden.

This is a picture of Bubby Wubby and me getting directions to the farmer's market.

Here I am back at the library. I like it here.

Organic strawberries from the farmer's market.

Delicious watermelon from the farmer's market.

Great homemade chocolate chip cookies from the farmer's market.

Taking Care of Business

Today I practiced writing the numbers 9 and 10. I watched the video The Life Cycle of a Plant again. I finished a worksheet where I labeled the parts of a seedling; seed, roots, sprout, stem, and leaf. I wrote the words seed, sprout, and root in my Science Journal and the words explore, neighborhood, and neighbor in my Social Studies Journal. I completed two assessments today. The first one was on the sounds every letter makes. I got 23 of the sounds correct. I need to practice the sounds that the G, N, and U make. Because I did so well on that assessment I got to move up to the video The Talking Word Factory. I learned today that when I put the sounds of letters together, the sounds make words. My second assessment was on recognizing the numbers 1-100. I only missed six numbers, they were 14, 16, 40, 50, 80, and 90. We read the book "Maisy Grows a Garden" by Lucy Cousins. I completed a Reading Response Journal graphic organizer that I used to summarize the story and predict what would happen next. I also got to draw pictures. Finally, I checked on my garden. I spent some time watering the plants and talking to them. I told them all about how the Pittsburgh Penguins lost the game last night and the Boston Bruins won. I also hammered the fence. When I was finished for the morning my Uncle Brad stopped by to see my garden.

Click on the arrow to watch me write the word explore.

After watching the video The Life Cycle of a Plant,
I labeled the parts of a plant.

Today I read "Maisy Grows a Garden" by Lucy Cousins

I water the plants every day.

This is me watering more plants.

I water the garden every day, unless it rains.
Click on the arrow to watch the video.

My Garden is Growing

Today I practiced writing the letter T and the numbers 7 and 8. I watched a video about the Life Cycle of a Plant. I liked the video because it showed me what the plants in my garden are doing. First I dug a hole, then put the seeds in, covered them up with dirt, and watered them. In the video they showed how the seeds need water and sunlight to grow roots, stems, leaves, buds, and flowers that turn into fruits and vegetables. I wrote the words rabbit, fence, and gate in my Language Arts Journal. I also wrote the words three, four, and five, and the numbers 3, 4, and 5 in my Math Journal. I played a game of dominos. I tended to my garden after we read the book The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. The seeds I planted last week are already beginning to sprout and the plants are growing tall. Finally, we went to the library and returned the books I read last week. There were new books on gardening waiting for me to take home. I also checked out two books about Star Wars and a Hulk video. I had no idea that the library had books about Star Wars or movies like The Incredible Hulk that I could take home. I'm beginning to like visiting the library more and more.

Today we read The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

I played a game of dominos, but not with Bubby Wubby.

I asked the Librarians Michelle and James if they would
help me find a book about Star Wars so I could learn all
the characters. They found it!

My garden is growing.

These are the carrots.

This is the corn.

These are string beans.

This is the first watermelon sprout.