Download Plant Cycles - Chippewa Nature Center

Dear Educator:
Included in this packet are various materials to use before and after your Chippewa Nature Center (CNC)
program. These activities are designed to be fun and educational while supporting the material discussed
during the program. Below is a complete listing of the items included in this packet. We are looking forward
to meeting you and your students in the near future! Please feel free to contact me at
[email protected] or 989-631-0830 if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Rachel Larimore
Director of Education
Background Information
Vocabulary List
Lima Bean Necklace
Seed Collection Bracelet and Variations
Telling the Story of a Tree
Classroom Plant
Life Cycle of a Bean Worksheet
The Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations specifically mention learning the life cycle of flowering plants,
including seed, plant, flower, and fruit. As part of our program we will go into a little more detail about the
life cycle of plants including seedlings (newly germinated plants), saplings (young trees), and dying and dead
plants. Much of our program is outdoors in a natural woodland setting, so we will also address the life cycle
of conifers. Many children are familiar with these trees, but they have a slightly different life cycle than a
flowering plant. Below is some background information to help you become more familiar with the difference
between the life cycle of flowering plants and conifers.
Flowering plants are called angiosperms. This simply means that their seeds are borne in fruits. The vast
majority of plants we see and interact with are angiosperms. All of our fruits and vegetables, most of our
houseplants, many of our landscaping plants, and many of the plants in our fields, forests, and ponds are
flowering plants. Sometimes the flowers are inconspicuous like those of grass or oak trees, and sometimes
they are bright and showy like gladiolas and tulip trees. In flowering plants, it is the flower that bears the
pollen and ovary. When the flower is pollinated (the ovary is fertilized by the pollen via wind, water, insect or
other animal), a seed forms. When the seed is ready and is in the right conditions it will germinate and grow
into a mature plant. Once that happens, the process begins again with the production of new flowers.
Conifers belong to a group of plants called gymnosperms, meaning naked seed. Seeds of these plants are not
borne in a fruit. There are a wide variety of gymnosperms, but none of them produce a flower or a fruit. In
the case of conifers, the pollen and ovaries are contained on two different types of cones. The pollen-bearing
cones release large amount of pollen into the air and the ovary-bearing cones are fertilized when the wind
brings that pollen to them. Once this happens, the cones have been fertilized and begin developing the seed.
When the seeds are mature, the cones open and the seeds, which rest on the scales of the cones, can be
released. When a seed experiences the proper conditions, it will germinate and begin growing, thus starting
the life cycle again. Examples of coniferous plants include pines, spruces, yews, junipers, and cedars.
There is a third group of plants that use neither pollen nor seeds to reproduce. Instead they use spores and
have a two-part life cycle. This group includes ferns and mosses. We will not address this life cycle as part of
the Plant Cycles program.
Cone – The part of a coniferous (cone-bearing) plant that makes a seed.
Coniferous – A plant that produces a cone instead of a flower to make a seed.
Decompose – Bacteria, fungi, and other organisms break down dead plant material into soil.
Flower – The reproductive part of the flower. Flowers, when fertilized, make seeds.
Life Cycle - The stages in the life of a plant that include sprouting, reproducing, and dying.
Light – Plants need light from the sun to grow.
Nutrients – Minerals that plants need to grow such as phosphorus and nitrogen.
Sapling – A young tree, several years old, but not yet as tall as the mature trees.
Seed – A plant embryo (baby plant) protected by a hard seed coat. A new plant can grow from a seed.
Seedling – A young plant just beginning to grow.
Soil – Plants help hold themselves up with their roots in the soil and they use nutrients found in the soil.
Water – Plants use water to help them grow.
This activity allows students to witness the process of germination.
Materials:
Snack-size Ziploc-style bags (or smaller) (1 per student)
Hole punch
Paper towel (½ sheet per student)
Water (enough to moisten paper towels)
Dried lima beans (not canned or frozen, they will not germinate) (1 per student)
Yarn (enough for each student to make a necklace)
Permanent marker (for putting names on bags)
Instructions:
Each student will need the following materials: 1 plastic bag, 1 lima bean, ½ sheet of paper towel, access to
water, and 1 length of yarn.
Have students moisten the paper towel and ring it out. It should be very damp, but not dripping. Fold it up
and place it in the plastic bag. Place a lima bean in the bag between the inside of the plastic and the paper
towel so you can see the bean. Seal the bag. Punch a hole in the corner of the bag and run the string through
the hole. Tie the string so that the bag can be worn as a necklace. Students often need help with this step as
using a hole punch on a plastic bag can be challenging
Students should wear the bean necklace until the bean germinates. It is best if the necklace is worn inside
your shirt to provide warmth to the bean. It will usually germinate at room temperature if students do not
wish to wear it under their shirt, but it may take a bit longer.
If you really want to speed the process, you can soak the beans in warm water for 10-20 minutes prior to this
activity. This will soften the seed coat and may even begin germination for some of them.
After the beans have germinated you can send them home, throw them out, or plant them in your classroom
and see if you can grow a lima bean plant.
This activity allows your students to explore the diversity of seeds right outside their classroom door. As long
as you have trees or a weedy area in or adjacent to your school yard, this should work well for you, especially
in the fall. If you don’t have access to such an area, you could set this up with seeds purchased at a local
retailer (everywhere from Meijer to Home Depot carries a wide variety of seeds in the spring) or have
students bring in a variety of fruits and vegetables (strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, melons, etc.) that
contain seeds.
Materials:
Masking tape
Access to a variety of seeds
Magnifying glasses (optional)
Instructions:
Rip off a length of tape long enough to make a bracelet on a student. Loosely wrap the tape around each
student’s wrist with the sticky side out. Once everyone has a sticky bracelet on; head outdoors to find seeds.
Encourage students to collect a wide variety of seeds on their bracelets. If students are having trouble finding
seeds, you may have to prompt them or point them in the right direction. Once everyone has had time to
explore and collect seeds, ask them to share their experience and their seeds with each other.
Were there any seeds that wouldn’t stay on because they were too big?
What was the smallest seed you found?
Which seed looks the strangest?
Do you think any of your seeds travel by air? Which ones?
How do some of the other seeds travel?
Did any of the seeds stick to your clothes?
When everyone has finished sharing, allow students to take the bracelets home. Or, as an alternative, you can
plant the strip of tape in a pot in the classroom and see if any of the seeds germinate.
Alternate Activities
Instead of making seed bracelets make window art or mosaics.
For the window art, have students stick seeds to a clear piece of contact paper. Once all of the seeds have
been collected, place another piece of contact paper over the first with sticky sides together (and seeds
sandwiched between). Mount it in a classroom window.
If you wish to make mosaics, collect a wide variety of seeds (for this seed packets, rice, beans, dried peas, or
bean soup mixes work well). Working on a sturdy piece of paper (cover stock or sturdy construction paper),
have students use white glue to glue down the seeds in a patter or a picture.
There are several ways to help your students get creative about creating a story about the life cycle of a tree.
Give one or several of these a try as you help your students think about the life events for a tree.
Interview a Tree
In this activity, students act as reporters, gathering information and stories about a tree they are interviewing.
You can use the sheet following this page to guide the interview process, or you can leave it more openended. Once the students have conducted the interview, they can write up an article for the classroom paper,
write a journal entry based on the information, or make a page in a guidebook to the school yard trees.
Tree Cookies
One way you can learn the true story of a tree is to look at the cross-section of the tree trunk, or a tree
cookie. By looking at the rings on the tree and how they are arranged, you can learn a lot about what life was
like for the tree. Each ring represents one year in the life of the tree (the light colored line is spring/summer
growth from that year and the dark colored line is the fall/winter growth of the year).
Some things you might notice on a tree cookie include:
1.
Tight (or narrow) rings for many years – The tree was
experiencing competition from surrounding trees. It may have
been competing for light, water, or nutrients.
2.
Tight rings for a couple of years – This often signifies
drought. When water is limited, a tree cannot grow as well.
3.
Blackened areas with no growth – A fire can damage the
bark and inner wood on one side of the tree, but the tree may
survive, sometimes even healing over the wound.
4.
Bluish colored stain – This is a fungus that is introduced
to the tree by a bark beetle.
5.
Multiple holes – This can indicate an insect infestation
such as bark beetles or damage by woodpeckers trying to get to
the insects.
6.
Angled ovals – These are often old branches that were
there when the tree was younger.
7. Off center – Trees growing on a slope have their center to one side as the tree adds wood to the downhill side to maintain its position.
This website put together by the Alberta Science Foundation is interactive and teaches kids about the different
factors (drought, infestation, fire, etc.) that can affect tree growth. It walks students through the different
factors that affect growth and then has a fun game (quiz) at the end. It talks primarily about Canadian species,
but the information about tree cookies is relevant to all trees.
http://www.wonderville.ca/asset/tree-cookies
Interviewed by: ______________________________ (write your name here)
What is your tree’s name? ____________________________________________
What kind of tree (oak, maple, etc.) is your tree? ______________________________
Where does your tree live? ___________________________________________________
How old is your tree? _______________________ _________________________________
How did your tree get planted? _______________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
What was the tree like when it was younger? __________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
What does your tree want to be when it grows up? _____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
What does your tree like most about being a tree? _____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
What does your tree like least about being a tree? _____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Draw a picture of your tree.
A great way to bring the idea of a plant life cycle close to home is to watch one take place in your classroom.
Plant a variety of plants and then see what conditions they need to grow best and watch the successful ones
move through their lifecycle from seed to seedling to mature plant, flowering, and producing a new seed.
Materials:
Potting soil or starting soil
Cups or pots with drainage holes (use clear cups and plant seeds along edge if you want to observe
germination)
Seeds for plants that grow well indoors such as basil, beans, or marigolds
Water
Spray bottle, cup or watering can to deliver the water
Sunny window or grow light
Instructions:
Have students determine what conditions are necessary for the plants to grow well.
Where should they be in the classroom? (How much light do they need?)
How often and how much they should be watered?
How deep they need to be planted?
What temperature they should be?
How much space do they need?
Have students fill containers with soil, plant the seeds at the proper depth and water. Most seeds will
germinate within a week or so (check package for specific information).
Students can keep journals noting the changes in the plants, the dates significant things happen (germination,
first true leaf, first flower, etc.), and keeping measurements such as stem length, amount of water applied, etc.
Many plants will mature to flowering and creating seeds in 2-3 months depending on light, temperature, and
species of plant.
Color the pictures on the other page. Then cut them out and glue them in the correct order on this sheet.
Write the name of each part of the life cycle on the dotted line under the picture. You can use the word bank
to help you
Start Here
Flower
Fruit
Plant
Seed
Seedling