Fall Study: Corn Mini Unit Freebie!

After having a super fun week with my kiddos studying corn I decided to put everything we did down on paper and give it away for free! It all started with a pesky common core objective involving measurement but turned out to be so much more! My teacher freind Bev Fleming and I decided that our Autumn theme would be best served by studying fall veggies, which eventually lead us to corn. We decided to create a cornstalk that would "grow" all week long. I made a base out of wood and used an old lightbulb holder to place pvc pipe in. I bought 4 couplers to attach the pvc pipe together as it grew. Here is a picture of our cornstalk on day 3. It grew from 1 foot all the way to 9 feet, with 5 ears of corn on it.

(this is my little boy, Collin) I used butcher paper and green paint to decorate the pvc pipe in sections so it could be easily assembled each day. I attached the paper with hot glue. For the ears of corn I glued 2 pieces cut into corn shape leaving a hole large enough to stuff it with pillow fluff. I then attached 2 green husk leaves. I attached the ears of corn to the stalk with clear packing tape.

I created a workbook for our kiddos to use each day when we measured ourselves next to the cornstalk. On each page is a sentence that the children filled in the height (standard measurement) and # of ears on the stalk (counting.) There is also a box of describing words for them to discuss and circle (vocabulary building). My favorite part of the page though is where the children draw themselves in relation to the stalk on each given day (non-standard measurment). It was so interesting to see who truly understood the concept of size and who didn't. We also took some time to taste several foods made from corn and then graphed our favorites. I also created a worksheet for us to cut and label the different parts of an ear of corn. All of the activities and printables we used are available for free on TpT. Use the link below to download your copy! Enjoy! Christine

Corn Themed Mini-Unit