Botany: Years K-2

Week 1
What is a seed and how does it grow?

Objectives:
Learn what a seed needs to grow. Name some of the parts of a plant. See the stages in the germination of a seed.
Plant a bean seed.

Resources:

• a collection of seeds
• several bean seeds for all students,
• several clear plastic cups for each student
• soil or commercial seed raising mix
• bean books.

Welcome to everyone, explain that we will learn about plants, flowers, seeds, leaves and light. The first thing we will do is grow some plants.

Lay out the seeds.

Students to explore the variety of seeds. Put up a chart with the following headings.

Size, shape, colour, texture.

Continue to focus on the seeds and record responses under the appropriate headings.

Explain the seeds are different and they will also become different plants

Do tiny seeds become tiny plants and big seeds become big plants? Students can think about this and discuss what they believe. ( An advacado seed becomes a tree yet a tiny eucalyptus seed also becomes a huge gum tree!)

Ask students:
What does a seed need to germinate?
(Water, oxygen and warmth. Some need light and some need darkness. They also need to be planted at the correct depth.) Observe student's prior knowledge.

Demonstrate planting a bean seed, students all to plant bean seeds. Place the beans in a warm place to germinate.

Discuss what will happen as the seed germinates and grows.

Students to have a copy of the bean book each read it and fill in the missing words.

When above activities are done ask students:

What do you think a seed looks like inside?
Ask students to draw their predictions.

Preparing ahead

Soak some lima beans for 24 hours before the next lesson and students will be able to look at the inside of a seed and draw another picture to show what they observed.

2)
Plant identification.
Collect plant specimens, and press them for later identification.

Collect leaves and flowers and press them between two A4 sheets. Ensure each student has their name on the A4 sheet so they can label and take the leaves home later.

Useful site for teachers information. Leaf identification.

Main words

• Linear: narrow with parallel sides
• Lanceolate: Lance shaped, long and tapering to a point at the tip.
• Oblong: long oval shaped with nearly parallel sides.
• Elliptic: wide at the canter and tapering to equal tips at both ends.
• Ovate: egg shaped, broader at the base than the tip.
• Heart shaped: self explanatory.
• Kidney shaped: as above
• Spatulate: shaped like a spoon.
• Orbicular: round (nasturtium)

Then there are the compound leaves, many leaves joined together to make one leaf, like the oak, maple and ash.

When observing leaves look at the main shape, the edges and the veins.

Collect flowers, teacher to dry some so the sepals, stamens, petals and ovum can be observed.

3)
Plants and light.
Begin light experiment on the bean sprouts. Put some in the dark and others in the light and one in a box with a obstacle course to get to the light. Leave for a week and observe the changes.

Explore the word photosynthesis: when green plants turn sunlight into sugar which gives plants energy to grow, and which gives us energy when we eat the plant. Plants are like factories that turn sunlight into food for all living creatures.

Arrange / sort the leaves collected last week. Classify accroding to leaf shape, vein pattern and the edge of the leaf. Use words like, round, long, zigzag, smooth.

Arrange and glue onto cards.

4)
Plant reproduction.
Explore the different parts of a flower. Show children a diagram and give them one, ask them to label the diagram and colour it in. Observe several flowers closely, look at the differences and similarities. Use a microscope to look really closely at the flower.

Play a fertilisation game with scented tissues. Each child has a scented tissue, and some fine coloured non toxic powder. They 'fly' from flower to flower smell the perfume and spread their pollen.

5)
Carnivorous Plants/ Terrariums

Look at carnivorous plants in a terrarium, explain why these plants are carnivorous. "Due to lack of nutrients in the soil, they have evolved to catch insects to help them grow. They still flower to reproduce but have a different way of getting food." Explain how a terrarium is suitable for growing some plants because they have a mini water cycle. They are particularly useful for carnivorous plants because these plants like a very moist environment. Other plants though will also do well in a terrarium. Children to make their own terrariums out of soft drink bottles. They can plant ferns and mosses or any thing readily available.