🌾 Discovering the Living Prairie Museum

Our class had an amazing day exploring the Living Prairie Museum! We learned so much about nature and the world right beneath our feet.

First, we dug into the soil to see what was hiding there. We discovered decomposers—tiny creatures that help break down old plants and turn them into rich, healthy soil. We even learned how composting uses the same process to help gardens grow.

Next, we explored the wild grasses of the prairie. Some were tall, some short, and each had its own way of surviving in the open wind and sunshine. Along the way, we talked about the needs of all living things—like food, water, air, and shelter—and how plants and animals find them in the prairie.

It was a day full of digging, discovering, and appreciating the amazing prairie ecosystem. We can’t wait for our next outdoor adventure!

🌱 Designing for Seed Travel

This week, we learned how plants send their seeds out into the world! We explored different ways seeds are dispersed—by wind, water, animals, and even by bursting open.

Then we became designers! Using the design process, we planned, built, and tested our own seed dispersal models. Some spun like helicopters, some floated, and others stuck to “animal fur” just like real seeds.

It was a fun mix of science, creativity, and problem-solving—and we discovered just how clever nature can be!

Music, Horses, and Science: Grade 3–4’s Exciting Adventure! 🎶🐎🔬

 

Boat Design Process

In science class, we built boats that had to meet specific criteria: they needed to float, hold ten marbles, and move using magnetism. It was exciting to see some boats float perfectly on the first try, while others required slight modifications to succeed. It was a great hands-on learning experience in problem-solving and engineering!

The Pumpkin Drop - Testing Gravity

Thank you, Mr Dyck, for dropping our pumpkins off the school’s roof. All the pumpkins had been cleaned out and carved except for one. We wanted to test how fast they could drop to the ground. We learned that all objects free fall at the same rate regardless of their mass. And don’t worry...no pumpkins were harmed in the making of this experiment! (Well, maybe just a little smashed!) Thanks for making science a smashing good time, Mr. Dyck!

Animal Habitats

arctic animals by cedel

Do All Pumpkins Fall at the same rate?

Pumpkin Drop!

Mr. Dyck offered to climb to one of the higher spots on top of the school. He released each pumpkin while we timed it. We learned that all objects fall at the same rate regardless of their mass. Here are some of the pumpkin drop videos!

Tower & Bridge Challenges

We’ve been busy in science this month learning about structures, strength and stability. Building bridges and towers with limited time and materials was sure interesting. We had a lot of fun and learning at the same time!

Build a bridge with only index cards

Using only a few straws, sticks, coffee stirrers, 60 cm of string, 90 cm of tape some towers successfully held a tennis ball 10 cm off a surface!

Bridges with straws

Bobsled Building

Beans are growing!

We watched beans sprout in plastic bags! Then we journaled their growth and changes. Next we planted them in soil and are anxiously waiting to see how they grow into mature plants. 

Nature Walk

As a wrap-up of our structure unit in science Mr. Ricard took us on a walk of the shelters built by  his students in Outdoor Education. We really enjoyed seeing how the structures were built and spending some time in nature! We also found some burrs and plan on seeing if they will grow in soil. 

Harvesting our Plants

Our sunflower micro greens have grown so quickly! We harvested our plants and looked at the different parts of the plants. Then it was time to taste test. Some said it tasted like cucumbers or peas. The roots had a milder taste than the leaves. We were also surprised to discover that some plants had very few little roots and other plants had long and loads of them. Our next task is to sprout beans in damp paper towels! We predicted that the roots will grow in 2-3 days. 

Tennis Ball Tower Challenge

Our last structure building challenge was the tennis ball tower challenge. We wanted to find out if we could build a structure with limited materials that could support a tennis ball at least 20cm off the table. The available supplies were popsicle sticks, coffee stir sticks, string, straws and 1m of tape. There was no time limit for this challenge and everyone breathed a sigh of relief! Every team finished with a successful tower!

 

Seed Survivors!

We received our Seed Survivor kit so it was time to plant! We are growing Sunflower micro greens. We learned that plants need healthy soil, sunlight, water, air and room to grow. Each cup received 10 seeds. The plants will need one tbsp of water each day. Now we wait to harvest in approximately one week!