Spaghetti Squash Inquiry

 

Mrs. Keiver gave us a spaghetti squash on our Garden Harvest Day. After hearing Bryden’s question, “what part of spaghetti is it- the noodles or the sauce?”, we decided to cut it open and cook it at school. Before cooking it on Monday, we talked about the spaghetti squash:

Anika- I don’t like trying new things

Ella- I don’t want to get the squash all over the floor

Sawyer- it will taste like spaghetti and look like spaghetti

Titus- I already know I don’t like squash, but I might try it

Sage- my grandma has squash in her garden

Tyson- I tried spaghetti squash and it tastes so good, so I love spaghetti squash

M- I think the spaghetti squash might turn into noodles

Matthew- I think the squash is going to turn into a squash

Sophia- I know the spaghetti squash will be noodles

Who predicts it will be noodles: Titus, Jax. Ruby, Sage, Sawyer, Mikelle, Jordyn, Ella, Matthew, Oscar, Zachary, Sophia, Easton

Brooke- I think it will be normal, it will taste like every single one. Maybe it will have orange on it, I love the orange ones because they are so juicy

Ella- I think it will be squash, but it has noodles hiding inside it

What should we put on our squash:

Matthew- put a little bit of salt on it

Oscar- a little pepper

Sophia- a little bit of cheese

Sawyer- salt

M- a little sprinkle of carrot juice

When we cut it in half, many students described it as “yucky”, “slimy”, and “just like a pumpkin”. Each child had the opportunity to pull some of the “guts” out, and many were brave enough to try.

 

We then scooped out the remaining seeds and they voted on toppings. One side was covered in butter, garlic and parsley, while the other side was covered in olive oil, salt and pepper. We baked it at 375 for 45 minutes. We went outside while it was cooking, and when we came back into the school, we could smell it right away. We rescued it from the oven, and brought the two halves into our classroom. Each child had the opportunity to pull the insides apart using a fork. We made a pile from each half, and we added spaghetti sauce and parmesan cheese.

 

Most students tried it, even if they hadn’t wanted to in the first place, and most were so surprised that they liked it! M said, “When it was all together, it didn’t look very good, and then when we cut it open, I didn’t want to eat it at all because it looked so yucky, but then when it was cooked, it looked good so I tried it and I loved it. I am going to ask my mom to make it!”. There were many other students who said that they were going to ask their parents to make this for dinner (wahoo!). Oscar loved it so much that he gobbled up all of the leftovers from each pile! We then roasted the squash seeds (mixed with oil, salt and pepper) and again, although some children did not want to try it, they were surprised how much they liked them! A few commented that the seeds tasted like popcorn. During our reflection afterwards, I shared how proud I was of everyone for helping and trying something new, and many of them shared how much they liked trying the squash!