Download First Explorations in Flower Anatomy

Resources and conversation on PreK to 2 science
First Explorations
in Flower Anatomy
By Peggy Ashbrook
18 Science and Children
2006 © World Trekker
Children are attracted to flowers in
a garden, wanting to pick and hold
the colorful plant parts. When
drawing, young children
often make a generic
d a i s y l i k e f l o we r,
with a central circle
and surrounding
petals, showing a
limited knowledge
of flowers. To satisfy children’s desire
to hold flowers and
extend their learning,
bring a few bunches into
the classroom to hold, look
at with a magnifier, and then draw.
Children may notice that the flower
they are drawing has long narrow
petals rather than rounded ones, or
an additional structure supporting
the petals (sepals).
Help children explore the idea
that there are many different
flower shapes, all with the function of forming seeds, by allowing
children to dissect flowers after
drawing them, using their fingers
or plastic picnic knives. As children
take apart the flowers, they are
involved in many parts of science
investigations referred to in state
and national standards, including
counting, measuring, describing
things and comparing with others’
observations, and using tools such
as magnifiers. Flower investigation
also addresses parts of the National
Science Education Content Standards A, Science as Inquiry, and C,
Life Science.
With further experience, children will
notice and then describe similarities
and differences
that exist among
different kinds
of plants. Older
children may even
notice differences
between individuals of the same kinds of
plants while the youngest children will describe and sort flowers
by color, size, and the number of
petals (“many” or “few”).
The exploration of a flower is
a good starting place for discussion and investigation into how
seeds develop, seasonal changes in
plants, how plant structures help
them survive in different types of
environments, and how animals
depend on plants for food. Tell the
students that by drawing as accurately as they can and by labeling
their drawings other people will
be able to learn what the children
noticed about the flower. Reassure them that their drawings will
be sketches, or “first tries,” with
much room for improvement, and
that is just fine. As they work, tell
them that even great artists such
as Leonardo da Vinci, Elizabeth
Blackwell, William Bartram, and
James Audubon had to practice
many times before they could draw
a flower or animal exactly how it
looked in nature.
Drawing nature is a long tradition among authors and illustrators
of children’s literature, notably
Beatrix Potter, later Robert McClosky, and continuing today with Jim
Arnosky, Lindsay Barrett George,
Bob Marstall, and Barbara Reid,
among many others. Reading books
and seeing these authors’ carefully
drawn illustrations can introduce
students to the concept of creating
art for scientific purposes.
Although many pollen allergies are caused by grasses,
weeds, and trees, plants whose
pollen is easily carried by the wind
can also trigger reactions. Check for
allergies to pollen before bringing
flowers into the classroom.
Peggy Ashbrook ([email protected]) is the author
of Science Is Simple: Over 250
Activities for Preschoolers and
teaches preschool science in Alexandria, Virginia.
Reference
National Research Council (NRC).
1996. National science education
standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Exploring Parts of a Flower
Objectives:
• To notice the similarities and differences between flowers of different plants
• To discover flower parts
• To practice using magnifiers
• Flowers, 2–5 varieties, one or more per student
Make sure the flowers you select are safe for
children to touch and that they wash their
hands after handling plants. (There are lists
online for unsafe plants www.calpoison.org/
public/plants-toxic.html and safe plants www.
calpoison.org/public/plants-safe.html.)
• Paper and drawing materials
• Plastic knives
• Book or poster showing parts of a flower (See
Teacher’s Picks, page 20, for resources)
Procedure:
1. Discuss the science activity safety rule of no
licking, tasting, or eating any of the objects—in
this case, flowers.
2. Model the close scrutiny you want the children
to do. Choose a flower and talk about it as you
examine it. Describe the flower, saying, “Look
at the tiny petals on this flower. The stamen has
a yellow dust on it called pollen. Do all flowers
have pollen? Do these petals look curved or
flat to you?” Use scientific terminology to describe the flower structure. Children who can
recognize and pronounce the names of their
favorite dinosaurs will soon pick up the plant
part terminology.
3. Draw the flower yourself, while reminding the
children that our first tries usually do not exactly
look like the real object. Label your sketch, referring to a poster or book for names of parts that
are unfamiliar.
4. Put different kinds of flowers into separate piles,
labeled with their common name, or scientific
name if you know it. Keep one flower intact as
a reference sample.
Photograph courtesy of the author
Materials:
5. Have the children select a flower and copy the
name onto their paper.
6. Beginning with recording the color and counting the number of petals, have the children
describe the flower. For the youngest children
this might mean picking out a matching color
crayon while older children can carefully count
the number of petals and measure or estimate
relative length before drawing.
7. Encourage students to use a magnifier to examine the details of the flower and then record their
observations by drawing the flower.
8. Pulling or cutting the flower apart will reveal
additional small or internal structures. Help
the students find these parts on a diagram of a
flower and label those they feel sure of.
Post the drawings grouped by flower type to
encourage further discussion and comparison (of
the diversity in flower structure, not artistic ability). Children may say, “I like pink flowers” or “My
flower had a hundred million petals.” Older students
proudly say, “I found the ovule” or may reflect on
their representation, “In the picture it looks like the
leaves are shorter than the flower, but really the leaves
were longest.”
April/May 2008 19
Teacher’s Picks
Peggy Ashbrook is a preschool science
teacher and enjoys drawing with her
students.
What’s happening at http://
science.nsta.org/earlyyearsblog.
Spring Science
I take cuttings from forsythia, cherry trees, pussy
willows, and whatever else I can find on campus.
We talk about the buds on the branches and
compare how they look. We work in groups
to sketch the branches and try to think about
what will happen to them if we put them in
water like cut flowers. As the buds open in the
warm classroom, we observe the flowers and
identify them. These are our first signs of spring.
Books
The Flower Hunter: William Bartram,
America’s First Naturalist. Deborah
Kogan Ray (Illustrator). 2004. Farrar, Peggy Ashbrook
Straus, and Giroux.
The illustrations show both imagined diary pages and scenes
from the life of William Bartram, from the age of eight years
old, providing an example of journaling in science.
From Seed to Plant (Rookie Read-About Science). Allan Fowler.
2001. Children’s Press.
All about seeds, this book describes the flower’s role in seed production with short text and clear illustrations and photographs. Use to
identify the parts of a flower and for children to read themselves.
Pick, Pull, Snap!: Where Once a Flower Bloomed. Lola M. Schaefer
and Lindsay Barrett George (Illustrator). 2003. Greenwillow.
Great detail is revealed in the illustrations, making this book
with flaps and folds one for close examination.
The Reason for a Flower. Ruth Heller. 1999. Penguin Putnam.
The detailed illustrations and spare text make this a good book to
both read aloud and make available for up-close examination.
We also grow root vegetables in the classroom
this time of year. We use pieces of potatoes
(sweet potatoes work really well). Each child gets
his or her own piece to plant in a cup, plus extras,
just in case.
Gayle Whittle
PreK–3 Science Teacher
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Internet
We use a ladybug house from Insect Lore and
find monarch eggs on milkweeds that we have
planted outside with our preschoolers. This lets
us observe the lifecycles of some insects both in
the classroom, where we can look with magnifiers and flexscopes, and in nature.
Science NetLinks K–2 lesson, What Parts Are There to a Plant?
www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?BenchmarkID=5&
DocID=343
The lesson suggests playing a plant scavenger hunt to find
and match similar plant parts (roots, stems, and leaves), from
either the same vegetable plant or from various plants to increase the challenge.
Angie Dixon
Preschool Teacher
Mobile, Alabama
Read more and join the conversation at http://
science.nsta.orgearlyyearsblog.
20 Science and Children
Rosarian, iVillage
http://www.rosarian.com/redoute/
Choose one of the four sections of prints by Pierre-Joseph
Redouté, and then click on an image to enlarge. Children are
amazed that anyone could paint in such detail, leading to a
discussion on why a painting can sometimes be better at depicting an object than a photograph that records everything.
Flower Power, from Blue Ridge Public Television
www.wbra.org/html/edserv/ntti/2005Lessons/Flower_Power.
pdf
A high school lesson plan that includes a printable worksheet,
Identifying Flower Parts, to use as a guide to the names of
flower parts.