Flowers, Flowers Everywhere!

Baz's 5's and 6's (aka Prep) class had a culminating activity on flowers last week. For about a month or two, they learned about the different parts of the flower, what flowers are used for, what flowers need to survive. They also learned about 2 painters who were famous for their flower paintings - Vincent Van Gogh and Georgia O'Keeffe.

They had 3 field trips. The first to see different kinds of flowers at Greenbelt Park - a bit poetic since as we were growing up, the park near Shakeys that became Strumms, now Greenbelt 5, looked like a lush mini-forest. The second was to Flower Farm in Tagaytay where they saw greenhouses, learned that chrysanthemums are "tricked" into thinking that there was continuous sunlight by the use of light bulbs strung across the flowerbeds. The third was to Market! Market! where they interviewed people from a flower shop, learned about the flower trade, how to make flower arrangements and put some math into action by buying flowers and making sure they received the right amount of change.

In science, they dissected a flower and saw first-hand what the stamen, pistel, ovules, ovary - in addition to the run-of-the-mill stem, leaves, roots, petals and sepal. They witnessed capillary action at work when they put white flowers into 3 separate jars containing yellow, red and blue dyes - causing the flower petals to change colors. They learned how to measure flowers and chart the lengths.

During the culminating activity, the 5's and 6's opened their very own flower shop - aptly named Flowers & Flowers. We were wisely instructed to prepare P10 and P1 coins and were given an order slip showing how much our order cost. Raffy had his film-tubes of coins and Baz counted out exactly how much he needed - P95 to be exact. The business part out of the way, Baz went into flower-arrangement-mode. His aesthetic was Ikebana-esque. And he snipped and cut away like an expert.

Then we got to see their paintings - all inspired by Van Gogh and O'Keeffe. I couldn't believe how artistic these kids are. There's something to be said about not requiring kids to do projects at home. Their skills are really harnessed and honed - no parents doing their kids' projects here! Still, it's a lot better than I would have expected from these 5 and 6 year olds.

To cap the activity - the kids sang "Starry, Starry Night" - a song inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's life and paintings.

Obviously, we're mighty pleased about what our kids are learning at Keys. And what's more, they are REALLY REALLY happy in school.




Next post: Hadrien's shoe culminating activity....