Unit 7: Watch It Grow

Here’s your chance to really focus on what plants look like and how they grow. These hands-on activities will help you:

• Think about ways you can help children get the most out of plant explorations
• Troubleshoot problems that might arise
• Learn more about the science of plants

REFLECT: As you explore, reflect on how you could best introduce and adapt these activity ideas to suit your students and your environment. The questions in the following sections are intended to spark those reflections.

Activities

Indoor Plants

Planting a variety of seeds and bulbs helps children notice similarities and differences among plants. Children will grow seeds and bulbs both in soil and in plastic baggies and glass jars so they can watch the seedlings as they grow. These different set-ups also let children explore what plants need to grow.

Educator Tip: If you have time before planting with children, plant a few seeds and observe how they grow.

The amount of time it takes for a seed or bulb to sprout varies. The seeds and bulbs used in these activities grow quickly, giving children plenty to observe. After the seeds and bulbs have sprouted, place the plants in a warm, sunny spot so the seedlings can continue to grow.

• Kidney and lima beans are a nice size for little hands. Soak the dry beans in water overnight and they will sprout in two to four days and poke through the soil in about one week.
• Grass seeds will sprout in two to three days.
• Onions grow quickly. Stems can be one-foot tall by the second week.

Outdoor Plants

Head outside. Bring a magnifying lens, a hula hoop or a 4-foot piece of string with the ends tied together, a peeled crayon, and some paper.

Look Down at the Ground

1. Walk around the school and outdoor play area. Look for grass or small plants growing in unusual places, such as sidewalk cracks.

REFLECT: Where are some good, safe places to take your children for outdoor plant study? (Note the Outdoor Safety tips.)

2. Bend down to take a closer look. Are all the plants the same? Are some of them the same? What do their leaves look like? What colors are the stems and leaves?

REFLECT: How would you describe the leaves’ sizes, shapes, textures, colors? How might you use this activity to build children’s descriptive vocabulary?

3. Look at the plants through a magnifying lens. Feel the top, the underside, and the edges of a leaf with your fingers. Do you notice any new details?
4. Place the hula hoop or circle of string on the ground. Get down low and look at the different plants growing inside the circle. Do any of the plants have buds or flowers? Use your magnifying lens to investigate more closely.

Outdoor Safety: Check the areas where you will take the children. Look out for: traffic;

glass and other litter; poison ivy and other plants that can cause rashes; and stinging nettles and bushes with thorns. Be sure to tell children not to touch or eat any plants without first asking an adult.

Earthworms

As worms tunnel deep in the soil, they carry subsoil closer to the surface. The tunneling keeps the soil loose, with many pathways for water and air to travel. Without earthworms, plants would most likely not get the air and water they need. Earthworms secrete a slime that contains nitrogen, an important nutrient for plants. These nocturnal animals usually eat their body weight in food per day. As they eat, they break down and recycle dead plants and leaves, leaving nutrients behind in the soil as plant food. Earthworms breathe through their skin, so they scurry up to the surface when it rains or risk drowning in their tunnels.

Look Up at the Trees

Choose several trees to examine.

1. How big is each trunk? Can you reach your arms around it? If not, join hands with your teacher partner and try again.

REFLECT: How else might you and your kids measure and compare the circumference of trees? How could you chart their measurements?

2. What color is the bark? Look at it with your magnifying lens. Feel the texture. If it is shaggy or bumpy, hold a piece of paper against the tree and use the side of the peeled crayon to do a bark rubbing.
3. Can you reach any of the branches? Look at the place where a branch comes out of the trunk. Is the bark any different in that spot?
4. Feel the roots at the base of the tree. Can you tell how far the roots go? Have they caused cracks in the pavement?

REFLECT: Go for a walk looking for interesting roots or evidence of roots (cracks in pavement). Can you tell which tree the roots are from?

5. Does the tree have needles or leaves? How would you describe the color, shape, size, and texture? Use your magnifying lens to look at the top, underside, and edges of a leaf.
6. Are there any buds on the tree? If so, do you think they are leaf buds or flower buds?
7. Look on the ground around the tree for leaves, needles, twigs, pieces of bark, nuts, seed pods, or pine cones. You may want to collect some of these for use in the classroom.

REFLECT: What are some ways you could help children become thoughtful, respectful caretakers of their environment?

Respect the Environment Helping children learn to respect the environment is an important part of plant study. Collecting parts of plants that have fallen on the ground is fine, but children should not break off bark, twigs, leaves, or flowers. This can hurt or kill a plant.