When a parent brought in some fresh corn and a dried stalk, some terrific curriculum opportunities were taken in the Nuthatch Class.
Children explored the corn stalk at meeting, laying it out on the carpet first to see it’s length (how many pieces of corn would it take to be as long as this corn stalk?), and then holding it up to discover that the stalk reached the ceiling!
Children husked fresh corn, and had a taste of raw kernels (delicious!) for snack.
After this investigation, children and teachers worked together to think about how to make their own stalk. What could be better as a classroom growth chart?
Everyone began the work that would take many days. Children used brayers on bubble wrap to print their own corn kernels. They twisted paper bags into a corn stalk as tall as the natural one and found a spot in the classroom to display them side-by-side. They used brayers and green paint on large paper to create just the right shade for the leaves they would cut out together. They wrapped their corncobs in paper husks. Then everything was ready for the construction of the classroom corn stalk!
Now that the stalk is in place, teachers will help children measure themselves and mark their height periodically.
When classroom projects emerge from family resources and child interests, teachers can offer children opportunities to investigate, observe, document, create, taste, measure, revisit knowledge and past experiences, graph, write and learn in an integrated and engaging shared experience!