- assortment of leaf and stem vegetables
- children’s bean plants
- magnifying lenses
- newspaper
- leaf
- plant
- root
- seed
- vegetable
MA Standards:
Language/L.PK.MA.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, listening to books read aloud, activities, and play.
MA Draft STE Standards:
Life Sciences/From Molecules to Organisms: Inheritance and Variation of Traits/LS1/3.D: Recognize stages of the life cycle of plants and animals they have observed and discuss ideas about what happens at each stage. [Patterns, Change]
Head Start Outcomes:
Logic and Reasoning/Reasoning and Problem Solving: Classifies, compares, and contrasts objects, events, and experiences.
Science Knowledge/Scientific Skills and Method: Observes and discusses common properties, differences, and comparisons among objects.
Science Knowledge/Scientific Skills and Method: Participates in simple investigations to form hypotheses, gather observations, draw conclusions, and form generalizations.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 2: Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and answer relevant questions.
Science and Technology/Living Things and Their Environment 16: Observe and describe seasonal changes in plants, animals, and their personal lives.
Explore Together (indoors): Revisit Our Bean Plants
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: Many foods that animals, including humans, eat come from plants; We eat certain leaves, roots, fruits, and seeds
ELA Focus Skills: Listening and Speaking, Vocabulary
Educator Prep: Before the activity, take one of the bean plants (including the soil) out of the pot and spread it on newspaper so children can explore the roots.
Safety Tips:
- Remind children to wash their hands before and after the activity.
Have children return to their bean plants. Gather children around the plants and ask them to make connections between their bean plants and the root and leaf vegetables they have been discussing during the week.
Have children explore the changes their bean plants have gone through. Encourage children to use their magnifying lenses to look closely at the different parts of the plants. Have children describe their bean plants to one another and point out changes that have occurred. Prompt children to refer to the drawings, charts, or photographs they have taken over the past several weeks to record changes.
Circulate as children explore. Listen and engage children. You may want to prompt pairs or small groups to assign “part experts.” Have one child be the “root expert” and explore and talk about the changes the roots have gone through. (Another can be the “leaf expert," another the “stem expert,” etc.) You may want to prompt with questions such as,
- What do you notice about the size of the roots compared to the size of the plant?
- What is different about the shape of the leaves since the last time you explored the plant? (offer a photograph if possible) Why do you think each stem is a different size?
Encourage children to look at/touch/smell/feel the bean plant spread on the newspaper. Ask them to describe what the original bean seed looked like and to compare that to what the bean seed looks like now underground.
Reflect and Share
Have children share their observations. If assigned, have “experts” share their part of the plant for the group. Encourage children to ask questions and offer new ideas they observed.
Help children understand that the bean they planted held the seed of the plant, which is now grown. Show children the roots of one of the bean plants and ask,
- How has the seed has changed since you first planted it?
- What do you notice about the roots of the plant? Do they look like you thought they would look or do they look different? Have the child explain.