We worked with our pumpkins. We measured height and circumference in standard and non-standard units. We weighed the pumpkins by weighing ourselves first, then ourselves with the pumpkins in our hands, then subtracting to discover the weight of the pumpkin itself. We hypothesized whether pumpkins would sink or float and then tried it out in a tub of water. Finally we recorded our findings. We discovered the average pumpkin weighed 7-8 pounds.

 At the pumpkin farm we experienced a real working farm and got to participate in chores. We harvested apples in the orchard and learned about the tiny, bitter, wild apples they grow in order to pollinate the orchard. We harvested carrots and tasted fennel. We learned that fennel is a main ingredient in some candy. We fed goats and chickens, went on a hay ride, and finally picked out our favorite pumpkins. Despite the rainy weather we had lunch at the farm in a greenhouse that was growing tomatoes. It was a great day!

 Today, with the Ladybugs and the Sphinx, we read the book Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. The pigeon is very sad to not be allowed to drive the bus, so students designed and built vehicles the pigeon could drive, put in a paper pigeon, and they were off! When everyone had a first prototype of their vehicle we began racing them. This STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) project brought out our most creative selves as well as our competitive side as we raced down the ramps.

 On Tuesday, with our 5th grade mentors, we constructed marble runs out of half foam pipes, tape and marbles. We experimented with elevation, curvature, velocity,and accuracy since at the end of the run the marble had to land in a container. We found lots of challenges in how to make the pipes stay where we wanted, how to keep the marble on the run as we increased the elevation and how to get the marble to land in a predictable location for the container. Lots of great thinking and trial and error!

 As our final community helper experience, Bumblebees and Ladybugs visited the fire station. We experienced life as a fire fighter, putting on the gear, driving the truck and putting out (digital) fires with the fire extinguisher! The chief, the captain and the firefighters answered all our questions and  helped us learn to be fire safe in our own homes! We learned children don't wake up to fire alarms so as adults we need to make sure getting to them is our first priority.

 A hill of baking soda, vinegar dyed blue, green and yellow, and droppers led to scientific work in chemical reaction, and color mixing . As the baking soda and vinegar mixed together volcanic eruptions of bubbles formed leaving craters of color. Mixing the yellow and blue made hills of  many shades of greens. At first we dropped small amounts of vinegar and eventually we poured it on! The reactions became dramatic. As a last event we transferred our color mixes onto paper that we later turned into many shades of green apples.

 Bike day was an exciting day! We biked and scootered in the sunshine, graphed the different kinds of bikes we brought and their attributes in bar graphs, tally graphs and pie graphs, talked about many methods of transportation, examined size of wheels, talked about bike safety and how exercise improves our heart and lung function.