I’ve just posted the Animated Step-by-Step Planting
… the first of hopefully
many science projects!
When creating this step-by-step, I tried to keep the project
as flexible as possible and tried to incorporate some background knowledge as
to where seeds originate. Two pages
encourage students to guess the origin of six different seeds. A series of
hints can be provided to help students guess.
For the younger grades, there is a page encouraging students to use words
to compare and contrast seeds that differ significantly in color, size and
shape. In addition there is content stressing the fact that plants need both water
and sun to survive.
Spring is not that far off. When Spring rolls in, there is
usually a planting activity underway in the early grades. Morning Glories are especially fun to plant as
the teacher can run a string from each pot to the top of the window to create a
lively competition. Whose plant will reach the top first? “Looks like Shanira’s
plant is ahead this morning. Can you remember whose plant was in the lead just
yesterday?” "Oh look, someone's plant has a bud!" In addition it creates a
lovely screen of flowers in the classroom window.
Planting is also a wonderful unit for incorporating functional
math concepts and introducing scientific observation (counting how many leaves,
measuring how tall their plant has grown, noticing the first bud). In addition
to the benefits of reading, the planting unit can serve as a writing unit encouraging
students to keep a daily log of these observations. Depending upon the age of
the students this can be as simple as checking off a series of observed events visually
depicted on a chart (sprout … first leaf … second leaf … third leaf … 1” tall …
2” tall) or can require students to keep daily entries of their own
observations. Most importantly, however, the planting unit can provide a valuable lesson on the importance of being
responsible, someone you can count on. Each plant needs to be cared for …watered
but not overwatered.
In the weeks before Mother’s Day many classrooms plant their seeds in a plastic cup. Closer to
Mother’s Day they might conduct an Arts and Crafts activity to decorate a flowerpot
into which the plastic cup can be inserted. Hopefully the timing will be just right and the flowers will
be in full bloom by Mother’s Day.
...’til the next post …
© 2015 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.
canadiangoosse@gmail.com
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