Download How Does a Garden Grow

How Does a Garden Grow?
Age Group: Kindergarten – Fourth Grade
Time: 2 hours
Standards of Learning
Science: K.1, K.6, K.8, 1.1, 1.4, 1.7, 2.1, 2.4, 2.7, 2.8, 3.1, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 4.1, 4.4, 4.5
Objectives
1. Students will conduct investigations through experiments with soil, seeds and plants
in which they will make observations, make predictions, collect data
and formulate questions based on data. (Science K.1, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1)
2. Students will investigate and understand that plants have life needs, functional parts,
undergo a series of orderly changes in their life cycle and can be classified according
to certain characteristics. (Science K.6, 1.4, 2.4, 3.8, 4.5)
3. Students will investigate and understand the relationship of seasonal changes and
weather to the life cycle of all plants. (Science 1.7, 2.7)
4. Students will investigate and understand that plants produce oxygen and food and are
a source of useful products. (Science 2.8)
5. Students will investigate and understand the major components of soil, its origin,
and the importance to plants and animals including humans. (Science 3.7)
6. Students will investigate and understand that environments support a diversity of
plants and animals that share limited resources. (Science 3.6)
7. Students will investigate and understand basic plant anatomy and life processes.
(Science K.8, 4.4)
Book List
Soil:
Dirt: The Scoop on Soil
A Handful of Dirt
Life in a Bucket
Soil (True Books: Natural Resources)
SOIL! Get the Inside Scoop
Dirt National Geographic
Rosinsky, Boyd, and Sheree
Raymond Bial
Alin Silverstein
Christian Ditchfield
David L Lindbo
Steve Tomecek
Plants:
Wacky Plant Cycles
The Life Cycle of the Sunflower
The Life Cycle of the Flower
A Seed Grows: My First Look at a Plant’s Life Cycle
Beans (First Step Nonfiction: Plant Life Cycles)
Plant Life (Cycles in Nature)
Tomatoes (First Step Nonfiction –Plant Life Cycles)
Valerie Wyatt
Linda Tagiaferro
Molly Aloian
Pamela Hickman
Melanie Mitchell
Theresa Greenway
Robin Nelson
Amazing Plants (Amazing Life Cycles)
Beans ( Plants Life Cycles)
From Seed to Plant (Rookie Read – About Science)
How a Seed Grows (Let’s Read About Science)
The Tiny Seed
How A Plant Grows (Crabapples)
One Bean
Jack’s Garden
The Reason for a Flower
Pick, Pull, Snap Where Once a Flower Bloomed
Tops and Bottoms
Honor Head
Gail Saunders-Smith
Allen Fowler
Helene Jordan
Eric Carle
Bobbie Kalman
Anne Rockwell
Henry Cole
Ruth Heller
Lola Schaefer
Janet Stevens
Building Background Knowledge
Suggested pre-field trip activities to build background knowledge.
Soil Activities
1. Read any of the books on the book list. Discuss the different layers of soil.
There are
worksheets for the layers on www.EnchantedLearning.com or www.AtoZteacherStuff.com
2. Layers of Soil Experiment
1. Have students collect 1 cup of soil for different locations. Place each dirt sample in
a glass jar with a lid and add water to the top of the jar. Screw on the lid. Shake
the jar vigorously for half a minute. (hold secure with both hands) Allow the jar to sit
until the dirt and the water start to settle down. The soil will settle into layers.
2. Observe the layers in the jar and see what you can discover about them. Draw a
picture of the layers.
- How many layers are there?
- Are all the layers the same color?
- Which layer was the thickest?
- Which layer is made up of the largest particles? Smallest particles?
- In what order did the soil settle? (largest particles on top layer or bottom layer?)
- Can you guess why the layers settled in the order they did?
3. To further examine the different layers and what they are made of, you can sort
the soil materials and examine them. Use a spoon to skim off the objects floating
in the water. Place them on a paper towel.
4. Then carefully pour off the water on the top and scoop out the grains of the next
level onto another paper towel. Repeat this process for each level.
5. After each level has been placed on paper towels, examine them using a
magnifying glass.
- What is discovered upon further examination?
- Did all the different samples have the same number of layers?
- Is there a correlation between the thickest layer and the location where the
sample came from?
3. Layers of Soil Flip Book
1. To assemble each book cut the following:
1 dark gray page 18” X 6”
bedrock
1 light gray page 15” X 6”
subsoil
1 dark brown page 11” X 6”
topsoil
1 light brown page 9” X 6”
humus
1 light blue page 8 ½” X 6”
sky
Staple pages together in the above order with the dark gray page on the bottom
and the light blue page on the top.
2. Using attachment 1, cut out the soil layer labels and glue on the far right bottom
corner of each layer. On the back of each layer glue the definition.
3. Using attachment 2 as a reference, draw appropriate details to each layer of soil
including plants with roots.
4. Does Soil Make a Difference? Experiment
1. Use 5 small pots with drainage holes in the bottom. All pots should be the same
size.
2. Fill each pot with a different soil:
1. soil from your land
2. plain sand
3. rough soil with stones and debris, from a construction site or similar place
4. potting soil from a garden soil
5. fresh, rich organic soil from the woods with little twigs, decomposed leaves,
worms, etc.
Label each pot with a different name or number.
3. Sprinkle 8-10 ordinary radish seeds on each soil sample. Now sprinkle about ¼
inch of soil over the seeds and water very lightly. Water very lightly every day
with ordinary tap water.
4. Keep track of the time it takes for the seeds to sprout in each container.
5. Have the students measure the radish plants weekly and monitor growth.
Radishes mature in 35-45 days.
6. Day 40 pull up the plants in each container and compare the growth.
- Which soil produced the healthiest radishes?
- What was in this soil that produced the healthiest radishes?
- Make a prediction of what type soil will be found in the garden on the field trip?
Plant Activities
1. Germination Experiment
This experiment will help students observe seeds as they germinate.
1. Give each student a quart size Ziploc plastic bag, 3 corn seeds, 3 bean seeds, and 3
radish seeds.
2. Place a thin layer (1/2 inch) of potting soil in the bottom of each bag. Shake the bag
to evenly distribute the soil.
3. Drop each set of seeds into the bag with similar seeds next to each other.
4. With a spray mister, spray 10 shots into each bag and then seal the top closed.
5. Using masking tape, tape each bag to a window with good sunlight exposure.
6. Have students make daily observations and draw pictures using attachment 3.
* Be sure children discover that germination requires the seed to become heated by sunlight
and hydrated by water in order to start to grow. The first root to emerge from the seed is
called the tap root. The first two leaves that emerge from the stem are called the seed
leaves. Seed leaves have a different shape than the rest of the leaves on the plant.
2. Stem Experiment
This experiment will help students understand how the stem of a plant supports the plant.
1. Fill two small bottles or narrow glasses with water.
2. Add a few drops of red food coloring to one bottle and the same number of drops of
blue food coloring to the other bottle.
3. An adult should cut the stem of a white carnation in half so that ½ of each stem will fit
in each bottle.
4. Leave the flower and bottles in a sunny place for a few hours and check them. What
happened?
5. Give each student a fresh cut piece of celery. Allow them to observe the celery using
a magnifying glass. They should look for the tubes that carry water to the leaves of
the plant. Now stick each piece of celery in water with red or blue food coloring.
Leave over night. Next day have the students observe the end of the celery again
using a magnifying glass. The tubes which carry water from the roots to the leaves
should be very easy to observe now.
3. Read How A Plant Grows by Bobbie Kalman to explain pollination and how a seed is
formed. The experiment in the field trip will demonstrate pollination. Background
knowledge on pollination prior to the field trip will be helpful for students.
Enrichment Activities
Suggested post field trip activities to reinforce instruction.
1. Have the students take digital pictures during the field trip. Use the pictures to make
a photo story about their field trip.
2. Have the students draw pictures and/or write about their field trip using attachments
3 or 4. Put all the pages together to make a class book. Students will enjoy the book
during the rest of the year.
3. Take the students on a nature walk to collect different soil samples. Using the
knowledge they acquired on the field trip, students should be able to determine
the best soil for growing seeds.
4. Give students live flowers like tulips or daffodils. Have the students identify the
reproductive parts of these flowers and explain pollination to a fellow student.
5. Math Activity for Area and Perimeter Grades 3 or 4
Divide students into groups of 3-4.
Give each group a large piece of graph paper. Each square on the paper
will equal one square foot of garden. Provide seed packages for the types of
vegetables students want to grow.
Have each group design a garden they would like to plant. They will need to read
information from the back of seed packages to calculate spacing for plants.
Draw the garden design on the graph paper. Have the students determine how
many feet of fencing they would need to go around the perimeter of their garden.
6. Grow a garden at your school. Get donations of lumber for raised beds from Home
Depot or Lowes. They may also donate soil. Contact Southern States for seed
donations or ask each student to contribute one package of seeds. This activity
provides an opportunity for strong community involvement and unlimited learning
opportunities!
Websites
Soil
http://home.howstuffworks.com/science-projects-for-kids-soil-experiments.htm/printable
http://mgonline.com/experimentsforkids.html
good site for experiments
www.urbanext.ed
great site
http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/soil
great site for soil
http://soil.gsfc.nasa.gov
lots of information
www.enchantedlearning.com
good worksheets
Plants
www.fastplants.org
great site
Videos
www.youtube.com
Field Trip Activities
Materials:
Life Cycle of a Plant Photo Story
Soil: per group
4 sample bags with numbers
4 hand lenses
1 small shovel
Flowers:
1 paper cup (per student)
1 green pipe cleaner (per student)
1 wedge of clay (per student)
5 Q-tips (pre student)
1 wooden stick
1 large pompom
Procedure
Pollination
1. Whole Group: (20 minutes)
1. Show the photo story of the life cycle of a plant.
Basic Needs of Seeds:
Soil – provides nutrients and water to the plant
Water – makes the plant grow: 90% of a pumpkin is water
Sunlight – heats the soil in the spring and makes the
Seeds grow; helps the leaves
take carbon dioxide and make oxygen.
Identify each part of the plant and its purpose.
Seed – contains the first two seed leaves and nutrients to grow
Root – supports the plant, collects water and nutrients from the soil
Seed leaves – the first two leaves that appear on the stem, they are actually
found inside the seed
Leaves – take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen
- They use sunshine and air to make food for the plant.
Blossoms:
Female Parts: Carpel
Ovary – round part which becomes the fruit when fertilized
Style – long tube from ovary
Stigma – receptive surface that collects pollen
Male Parts: Stamen
Filament – stalk that holds the anthers
Anthers – pairs of sacs holding pollen
Nectaries – produce nectar that insects collect
2. Pollination Experiment
1. Take paper cup and cut petals. Fold the petals back.
2. Make a small hole in the center of the cup bottom. Insert pipe cleaner fold over ½
inch and tape.
3. Take small piece of clay and shape into the carpel. Identify the ovary, style and
stigma. Glue this clay piece to the bottom of the cup over the end of the pipe
cleaner.
4. The Q-tips will be the stamen of the flower. Dip the head of 5 Q-tips into the chalk
dust. Identify the anthers, sacs which hold the pollen and the filament which holds
the anther.
5. Using the bee, transfer pollen from the anther to the stigma.
6. The pollen travels down the style to the egg in the ovary and fertilizes the egg.
This becomes the seed in the new fruit. The ovary becomes the fruit.
Soil
1. Divide students into groups of four. Give each group a basket of supplies.
2. Soil Hunt:
Students will go to the 4 designated locations and collect soil samples in the
appropriate bags.
Students will then observe the 4 samples using hand lenses, rate the 4 samples
according to the best growing to the worst growing.
3. Explain the elements need to make fertile soil.
Humus – is made up of rotting plants, leaves, wood and animal.
- sticks crumbs of soil together almost like glue
- holds water like a sponge
- decomposers make humus: eat dead plants and leave droppings
the droppings are like vitamins for ne plants to grow
Topsoil – upper layer of soil; best for planting
- roots of plants hold topsoil together to prevent erosion
- best for planting
- rich in vitamins and nutrients for the plants
4. Give groups a chance to revise their soil predictions.
5. What happens if we plant the garden in the same place every year?
How do the vitamins and nutrients get replaced?
Look at the compost pile and the manure to discover the rich looking
elements.
6. Animals Help
Animals make soil better for plants making holes that let air and water reach the roots
of thirsty plants.
7. Go in the woods to look for decomposers.