Monday, May 7, 2012

Plants, Plants, and more Plants!

This week we continued our study of plants.  We began by creating a tree map about plants.  We listed their parts and their needs.  We used our tree map to write nonfiction pieces about plants.  



In shared reading, we read different versions of the classic tale "Jack and the Beanstalk".  We compared their titles, setting, problem, and solution.  We found out that they all pretty much had the same setting.  


Next week is the K-2 Science Fair.  For our project, we decided to investigate how plants absorb water.    So we took two cups and filled them with water.  We put red food coloring in one and blue in the other.  Then we put a celery stalk in each one.  We let them sit overnight.  


When we cam in the next day, we took a close look at our celery.  


We didn't see much of a change so we cut off a piece from the blue cup.  We saw blue water inside of the piece of celery.  After doing some more research, we found out that plant stems are like straws.  They suck up water and nutrients for the plant.  This was a fun experiment and we can't wait to share our findings with the rest of the school next week!  


On Tuesday, we planted some grass buddies!  Everyone made their face, cut it out, and glued it onto a clear cup.  Then we added soil and grass seed.  We watered them and put them on the windowsill so they could get sunlight.  



Each morning for the rest of the week, we looked at our grass buddies and recored our observations.  


We didn't see any changes all week.  But when we came in Monday morning, this is what we found!  Too cute!  They were so excited!  


We have had a lot of fun learning about plants these past two weeks.  Next we will be studying insects and their life cycles.  We will have some new additions to our class on Wednesday.  I am sure you have all heard about them by now!  We will get to see these mealworms change into beetles and the kids are so excited!  :)  

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