Download Bring On Spring: Planting Peas - Macomb ISD Science Education

Resources and conversation on PreK to 2 science
Bring On Spring: Planting Peas
By Peggy Ashbrook
A
s the month of February
begins, it’s hard to believe
that the year is turning to
spring! Season’s change
may at first seem imperceptible unless we measure its arrival somehow.
Young children can plant certain
seeds outside (as soon as the soil
can be worked) and older primary
students can record the time of the
sunrise on a chart as ways of measuring the arrival of spring. Students
may not be able to understand why
the Sun rises earlier every week as the
year moves to spring, but they can see
that there is a change and also see the
change in a sprouting seed.
In USDA agricultural zones
6 and 7 (see Activity Resources)
peas can be planted on or around
President’s Day, February 16 (it
helps to have prepared the garden
bed ahead of time before winter).
With this early start, the plants
have time to grow, bloom, set fruit,
and the pods have time to grow to
eating size before mid-June when
many schools close for the summer.
Growing peas helps children who
grow food at home make a connection between school and home by
sharing their experience, and those
who have never seen a field of crops
make a connection between soil,
weather, and food production by
growing a trial crop. Learning about
growing plants is part of the National Science Education Content
Standard C: Life Science.
12 Science and Children
For those in other plant hardiness zones, refer to the seed packet
and plant either earlier or later than
Presidents’ Day, or try planting another early crop, such as radishes. If
you do not have outdoor space for
planting, smaller varieties of peas
may do well in containers.
This is the time of year to call seed
companies and request a catalog or
two to stock in your classroom. An
internet search for “seed catalogs”
produces a long list of companies.
Use the catalogs to show your
students that foods of all kinds are
grown from seeds, and use the pictures to plan a garden—real or pretend. If you order some seeds, use
the photos to make labels for your
plants. Even fourth- and fifth-grade
students may not know where their
food comes from before it gets to the
store (Rubenstein et al. 2006).
Planting seeds indoors as well as
outside allows the students to see
the details of a sprouting seed and
compare the growth of plants with
drastically different amounts of sunlight and nutrition. Planting a seed
in dirt or a clear container such as a
plastic bag is an experience that students can refer to in later years when
studying plant cells and how a root
grows. The nutrients in the pea seed’s
cotyledon (seed leaves) will nourish
the plant for a time but without additional food (minerals provided by
soil and food made by the plant using
sunlight) pea plants growing indoors
will become weak. Try keeping them
alive long enough to compare with
the seeds students plant outside by
providing sunlight and a weak solution of plant fertilizer. n
Peggy Ashbrook ([email protected]) is the author
of Science Is Simple: Over 250
Activities for Preschoolers and
teaches preschool science in Alexandria, Virginia.
References
National Research Council (NRC).
1996. National science education
standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Rubenstein, H., A.C. Barton, P. Koch,
and I.R. Contento. 2006. From garden to table: Rural or urban, two effective strategies that teach students
about where food really comes from.
Science and Children 43 (6): 30–33.
Objectives:
To notice and participate in the arrival of spring by
planting seeds, observing them sprout, grow, and
produce fruit.
Materials:
• Pea seeds (best are the edible-podded varieties with
the shortest time to maturity and needing little
support; Avoid the poisonous ornamental
sweet peas.) Rinse the seeds in advance to
remove any pesticides.
• Resealable plastic bags
• Paper towels
• Stapler
• Ruler
• Outside garden area or container of potting soil
• Digging tools (e.g., soup spoons)
Procedure:
1. Talk with the class about any signs of spring they
have noticed—earlier sunrise, longer days, occasionally warmer weather, sighting of certain animals, sprouting leaves and buds of spring flowering
bulbs, and the flowering of bushes such as forsythia,
Japanese quince, and pussy willow.
2. Ask students when it will be time to plant outside—
how do we know? Accept all answers, and then refer
to the USDA Plant Hardiness Map (see Internet Resource) and say, “Farmers and scientists have been
measuring the temperature all over the world every
day for many, many years. This map shows zones,
or areas, of similar temperature to show where different plants can survive and grow.” Older children
can find their location on the zone map.
3. Have the children examine the pea seeds with a
magnifier. Some may express surprise that the peas
they eat for dinner are also seeds, showing how little
they know about how food is grown.
4. Have students soak the seeds in water for several hours,
then place them on top of a damp paper towel (folded
into fourths) inside a resealable plastic bag—one for
the class or one for each child. Using a permanent
marker, draw a line across the width of the bag about
10 cm from the bottom, and have the children staple
along the line. The staples should be 3–8 mm apart (to
prevent the seeds from falling to the bottom but not so
tightly that the roots can’t get through to the water that
will be at the bottom
of the bag). Add 3–5
seeds and enough
water to make a
small reservoir at the
bottom (about 2 cm
deep, then tape to a
wall to maintain the
bag in an upright
position).
5. Ask the children,
“What will happen
to the seed as it begins to grow?” Children’s comments
reveal their prior
knowledge, from a
shrug to “It going to get bigger!” to “It needs dirt,”
to the more detailed description, “The root pushes
out and grows down.”
6. Daily, have students measure and record any
growth of root and sprout with a centimeter ruler
or relative measurement, such as “smaller than a
pencil point,” and draw what they see.
7. Nutrients stored in the seed’s cotyledon will nourish the plant for a time, but without additional
nutrients (minerals provided by soil or fertilizer),
and food (made by the plant using sunlight) the
pea plants will become weak in about a month. A
discussion about the needs of living things may
inspire students to try to find out what needs the
pea plants are missing.
8. If feasible, at same time peas are placed in bags indoors,
have the children also plant peas outside in a garden
area or large pot, about one inch deep (for the children, one pinky finger deep). On any day that it is not
snowing or raining, have the students water the garden.
Compare these plants with the seeds sprouted inside.
Children’s interest level will vary as they wait for the
seed to sprout, as the plant grows, and when the flowers, then fruits appear. Record when flowers and fruit
are first noticed. Celebrate your food production success with a snack of peas, augmented with some purchased from a farmer or grocery store if necessary.
Internet Resource
U.S. National Arboretum USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map
www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone
February 2009 13
photograph courtesy of the author
Planting Peas and Observing Growth
Teacher’s Picks
What’s happening at
http://blogs.nsta.org/
earlyyearsblog
Conference Highlights
Have you wondered about the
primary level offerings at NSTA
Conferences on Science Education? Read about Early Years
columnist Peggy Ashbrook’s experiences at the Portland area
conference, held in November.
Posts include:
• Family Science Day
Session
• Collaboration in
science teaching
• The Rainbow Preschool
Sarah Pounders is an education specialist at the
National Gardening Association (www.garden.org/
home) who loves plants and believes every child
should garden.
Books for Teachers
Botany on Your Plate. Katharine D. Barrett, Jennifer
M. White and Christine Manoux. 2008. National Sarah Pounders
Gardening Association.
Although developed for early elementary, this standards-based, life science curriculum provides a lot of good ideas for the preK classroom too. It
inspires children to explore plant parts we eat, weaving together science
and nutrition.
Gardening Wizardry for Kids. L. Patricia Kite and Yvette Santiago Banek.
1995. Barrons Educational Series.
Gardening Wizardry is a kid-friendly book that includes colorful histories and
folklore of common fruits, vegetables, and herbs, along with indoor growing
projects and engaging investigations for you to use.
Books for Students
Tops and Bottoms. Janet Stevens. 1995. Harcourt, Inc.
An entertaining story of an energetic hare outsmarting a lazy bear by
knowing the different edible parts of plants, this book teaches children
plant parts as you read aloud.
Oliver’s Vegetables. Vivian French. 1998. Scholastic.
Where do french fries comes from? Your class might have their own ideas.
Oliver discovers the answer to this question on a trip to his grandparents’
house.
Internet
Harvest of the Month
www.harvestofthemonth.com
Newsletters for educators and families spotlight a different fruit and vegetable
each month providing background information, activities, and recipes.
KidsGardening
www.kidsgardening.org
This site provides activity and lesson ideas, horticultural background materials, information about grant and award opportunities, and a monthly
e-newsletter.
North Carolina State University Poisonous Plants
www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm
It is always important to keep safety in mind. This site provides a comprehensive list of poisonous plants.
University of Illinois Extension My First Garden
www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/firstgarden
This site offers in-depth gardening information at an introductory level for new
gardeners, including a dictionary to help you create a planting schedule.
14 Science and Children