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Fall into Gardening
- Gabrielle Fischer Posted On Sep 11, 2017 | STEM
How do tulip bulbs work?
Choose your bulbs
The best time to purchase tulip bulbs is in late August or early September. For people living in a climate with cool winter that lasts several months, plant your bulbs between September and November. For those living in milder climates where the winter months are shorter, you can wait as late as December to plant your springtime bulbs.
Now it’s time to get planting!
What you’ll need:
- Gardening Trowel
- Watering Can
- Tulip Bulbs
Planting Time: Dig in!
Plant the bulbs.
Place tulip bulbs pointy side up in the hole. If the bulb gets turned around, it can still grow but needs to turn itself around before it flowers in the spring.Water your bulbs
Nuts About Acorns!
Besides the sound of crunching leaves, the pitter-patter of acorns falling onto the sidewalk is another iconic autumn rhythm. We see squirrels run off with them, but what else do we know about this “fruit of the oak tree”? With a bit of help from Learning Resources’ Alphabet Acorns Activity Set, let’s explore the acorn and its many layers.
What is an acorn?
The acorn is indeed a nut and is the fruit of the oak tree. Only oak trees produce acorns. One acorn contains a single seed enclosed in a tough, almost leathery shell. Depending on the species of the oak tree, it can take six to 24 months to mature and drop. There are 90 species of oaks in North America alone.
Why does it fall from the tree?
Oak trees have “boom” and “bust” years in their acorn drop. In a bust year, oak trees produce just enough acorns for wildlife to eat, but it doesn’t allow for any new baby trees. Boom years are called masting, which can happen every three, five, or six years. This is when the oak trees drop a lot more nuts – more than the animals can eat – hoping to make more trees.
Who eats acorns?
Acorns: not just for squirrels. Acorns are some of the most important sustenance for wildlife out there. Deer, chipmunks, wild turkeys, crows, rabbits, opossums, blue jays, quail, raccoons, and wood ducks are all acorn eaters. Can you believe more than 100 vertebrate species feast on that nutty treat?
But keep acorns away from horses – they have been proven toxic!
Can you eat an acorn?
Acorns are high in fats and carbohydrates. They are very bitter and taste woody and earthy. They contain lots of tannins, which can make your insides go haywire or even turn toxic. In a nutshell, it's probably not a great idea to eat acorns all around. But as an interesting side note, there is no scientific evidence that those with a tree nut allergy can react to an acorn by simply holding it!
Fun fall acorn activity
Gather a few acorns as you are out strolling. What color is the outside? Green? Brown? Gently tap a hammer (adults only) to crack one open. What do you see inside? What does it smell like? After exploring a real acorn, it was time to break open Learning Resources’ Alphabet Acorn Activity Set!
Awesome! First, we spill out the little objects and identify what they are. Mission number one is to match the things with the letter sound on the outside of the acorn. Surprise! The acorns themselves open, and you can pop the objects inside. The colors correspond with the letters. Great color and letter recognition activity! Also, on the top of each acorn is the letter in lowercase, which this little one immediately noticed. The next hour was spent opening and closing the Alphabet Acorns, quizzing Mom, and even creating some words.
Happy fall and happy acorn hunting!
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5 Homeschooling Favorites
Back to school is looking different for everyone, whether you are fully online, in-person, or a little bit of both. Learning Resources has you covered, we picked some of our favorite products that can help you elevate your student’s learning. This list contains five products that can be used together or separately in the classroom! As you use these products, you and your little ones will continually find new ways to use them.
Translucent Geometric Shapes
Using our Translucent Geometric Shapes, there are different exercises from sorting and classifying, identifying the shape, building, fractions, geometry, and more! The different angles of certain pieces allow for introduction an introduction to right, obtuse, and acute angles. This comprehensive geometry set includes fourteen different shapes in seven colors! Relational shapes are perfect for combining small shapes to form larger shapes in multiple ways. This set also features circles in whole, half and quarter increments, which open engaging avenues for fraction exploration. Encourage students to classify and sort the shapes by attribute, such as number of sides, number of angles, straight sides, curved sides, and so on. Have your students
Shapes Don't Bug Me
In conjunction with our Translucent Geometric Shapes, the Shapes Don't Bug Me set is bound to be a classroom favorite. Pieces are relational and translucent, so the creative opportunities are endless! Crawling in the garden or buzzing through the park, bold buggy shapes bring geometry out of the dark! Become an artist of geometry with Shapes Don’t Bug Me while learning that math can be as fun as a summer day. The best part about these shapes, is that they can be sanitized in between uses.
Big Time Student Clock
The Big Time Student Clock is a great way to help kids grasp time skills. Besides the fact that it is super fun to play with, hands-on, and will get them excited about telling time, it will also help them learn how a clock works, where the numbers are, and what order they go in. Teaching time can also be done in everyday conversations, have your student move the clock handles to 12:30 and explain that lunch is at that time. Telling time can be fun and the Big Time Student Clock is ready to play!
Lights and Sounds Buzzers
Kids will light up when they reach for the Lights and Sounds Buzzers. The lights and sounds answer buzzers get little ones giggling and imitating these silly sounds just press to listen add buzzers to any lesson for some extra fun. These buttons are great for teaching patience while waiting for their turn. The buttons include the following sounds: a siren, game-show buzzer, laser and voice saying, "Charge".
Patterned Hand Pointers
These engaging hand pointers are the perfect way to liven up any lesson plan-and encourage students to get excited about learning. These pointers draw student attention and interest and provides positive behavioral intervention. Patterned Hand Pointers show up sharply against light-colored surfaces, but works equally as well on pocket charts, word walls and more!
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