Gardening & Plant parts

Thank you to Emily for putting together this awesome lab!!!


Same volunteers as last time?
email me! musicalmom@cebridge.net

Thanks so much for helping (any extra help in earlier classes would be great!)

Friday April 11, 2014
Meghan Goodman 8:15
Station 1. Morton_____
Station 2. Jennifer______
Station 3. ____
.
Kelly Johnson 8:15
Station 1, Brittany ______
Station 2. Emily & Amy _____
Station 3._____

Can anyone from Duerringer's class come early?

Cheryl Kennedy 9:15
Station 1. Morton (Ross)______
Station 2. Melissa_______
Station 3.  Emily & Amy________
.
Emily Duerringer  9:15
Station 1. _Amanda & Teresa   ___
Station 2._Shannon & Jason_____
Station 3._Jamie ___

Can anyone from Welch's class come early to help with Kennedy?.
.
Teresa Welch - 10:15-11:15
Station 1.  Jennifer, Amy
Station 2._Emily -_____
Station 3._ .

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First Grade Science Lab

April 6^th, 2011 – Plants

Lab Stations:

Station 1 – Plant Seeds

Students observe various seeds with hand lenses.  Next they plant various seeds.  They will take care of their newly planted seeds (watering etc.) and observe plant growth the next few weeks.

           

Station 2 – Plant Parts

            Students learn about the six main parts (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, and seeds) of most

            plants.  Next they are given various plant parts and asked to correctly categorize them.

Possible Station 3 - Plant predators!!
Bugs, rabbits, mold?  and plant defense mechanisms.
If you see an interesting bug around your yard, pop it in a jar, and bring it to lab!!

The Introduction will be 5-10 minutes.  Then each class will be divided into four groups.  Two groups will separately do Station 1 while the other two groups do Station 2 together.  After ~10 minutes the groups switch.

• This lab will be conducted OUTSIDE in Elmer’s Garden (weather permitting).

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Station #1:  Plant Seeds

Objective:  To better understand plant seeds.

Materials:  Different seeds of various plants (lettuce, radish, cosmos, lima bean) along with the packets they are sold in, plant seed diagram, cotton w/seed sample, plastic drop clothes, potting soil, cups, trays/bowls to plant seeds, water spray bottles.

Introduction:  Show students the Plant Seed Diagram sheet and review what a seed is.  Next show the Seed Germination sheet and explain germination.

Every seed is a tiny plant (embryo) with leaves, stems, and root parts waiting for the right things to happen to make it germinate and grow. Seeds are protected by a coat. This coat can be thin or thick and hard. Thin coats don't protect the embryo well. Thick coats can let the embryo survive some tough conditions.  Seeds also contain a short term food supply (endosperm) to help the embryo grow.

Seeds remain DORMANT (inactive) until conditions are right for it to germinate (grow)…  All seeds need water, oxygen, and proper temperature in order to germinate.  Some seed require proper light also.  When a seed is exposed to the proper conditions, water and oxygen are taken in through the seed coat.  The embryo’s cells start to enlarge.  The seed coat breaks open and a root emerges.

Germination happens when a baby plant is growing.  When a seed begins to grow, we say it germinates.  When the seed starts to germinate, the first thing to come out is the main root. The skin starts to split and the tiny shoot straightens.  The main root gets bigger.  Side roots appear and so do leaves.

Procedure: 

Hand out one hand lens to each student and allow them to inspect the various examples of plant seeds.  Also pass around the cotton w/seed sample for careful inspection as well.  Encourage the students to compare and discuss the seeds… different sizes, coats, colors etc.  Show them the pictures of what the seeds ultimate grow into (photos on the seed packets).

After putting away all hand lenses and seeds, explain to the students that they are going to have the opportunity to grow their own plants.  Each class will grow lettuce, radish, cosmos, and lima bean.

Have the students take turns….

• Fill container half full with good moist potting soil (cup provided).
• Sprinkle ~5 seeds on the soil surface. 
• Lightly cover with soil. Even 1/8 inch is enough.
• Water seed with light spray.
• Place near a sunny window (Classes without windows need to transport plants outside for sunlight).

Your plants need attention and care. That means you must water them properly (not too much and not too little water… ensure moist to the touch) and make sure your plants get enough light. 

Station #2:  Plant Parts

Objective:  To better understand plant parts (roots, leaves, seeds, fruits, flowers, stems).

Materials:  Plant Parts Listing Page; Different sample plant parts: beans (lima, pinto, red kidney, black eyed pea, lentil, mix), carrots, iceberg lettuce, turnips, spinach, tomato, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, celery, white boiler onion, sweet bulb onion, mushroom, bean sprouts, Japanese eggplant, corn, apple, cabbage.

Introduction:  You can eat certain plant parts. They are important food sources for both humans and other animals.

Roots:  help transport water and nutrients from the soil, provides support “anchoring’ the plant… stores sugars and carbohydrates.  

Stems:  Stems carry water and nutrients taken up by the roots to the leaves, provides support/help leaves reach sunlight.

Leaves:  designed to ‘catch’ sunlight, have openings for air/water to come/go, veins carrying water/nutrients within a leaf,

  Location of food making process: photosynthesis (w/ green leaves) 

      CO2 + H2O + chlorophyll (aka green pigment) + sunlight = glucose (plant food) + O2

Flowers:  usually the ‘pretty’ part of the plant, part that makes the seeds,

Fruit:   ripened part of the plant containing seeds

Seeds:  Every seed is a tiny plant (embryo) with leaves, stems, and root parts waiting for the right things to happen to make it germinate and grow. Seeds are protected by a coat. This coat can be thin or thick and hard. Thin coats don't protect the embryo well. But thick coats can let the embryo survive some tough conditions.  Seeds also contain a short term food supply (endosperm) to help the embryo grow.

Procedure: 

One by one, show the students the example plant parts.  Ask them to identify which part of the plant they are looking at.

Roots:  Carrot, Radish, Turnips, Potato, Beets, Rutabagas

Leaves:  Iceberg Lettuce, Spinach, Cabbage, Kale, Collards, Mustard

Seeds:  Sugar Snap Peas, Beans (Lima, Black-Eyed Peas, Pinto, Red Kidney, Lentil, mix), Green Beans, Sunflower Seeds,

Fruits:  Apple, Tomato, Cucumber, Corn Kernels, Japanese Eggplant, Strawberries, Blueberries

Flowers:  Broccoli, Cauliflower, Squash Blossoms, Nasturtiums

Stems:  Celery, White Boiler Onion, Sweet Bulb Onion, Asparagus, Rhubarb

Notes: Bean Sprouts (not sure if it is a root or a stem or both?);    Mushroom – fungi (not plant), but fruit of mushroom ‘plant’

EXTRA INFO:

Mushroom - It is the fruit (like an apple) of the mushroom "plant" and contain mushroom "seeds" called spores.  Mushrooms are fungi, and are usually placed in a Kingdom of there own apart from plants and animals.

Mushrooming up over night? If the body is spread out and microscopic, how do mushrooms grow so quickly? There are two basic reasons: 1) Since they store up compounds between fruiting and most fruit once a year, they have a lot of reserve available to support the mushroom. 2) Mushrooms develop differently than plants or animals do. Plants and animals grow through cell division - to get bigger they have to produce more cells. Cell division is relatively slow and requires a lot of energy. The mushroom body also grows by cell division. However, the mushroom fruit does not grow by cell division. Just about as soon as it starts to develop, a mushroom has almost the same number of cells that the mature mushroom will have. The mushroom increases in size through cell ENLARGEMENT! This means that the cells can balloon up very rapidly. Very little energy is required, basically the cells just enlarge with water. So a mushroom can increase in size as fast as water can be pumped into its cells. Almost overnight a mushroom can go from a pin head to a large mushroom.

Possible Station 3 - Plant predators!!
Bugs, rabbits, mold?  and plant defense mechanisms.

http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/topics/Pages/OverviewOfPlantDiseases.aspx

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3493419/

Living/Non-Living, Air & Wind

Thank you so much to Anneliese for putting together this awesome lab!!!

This is just an old volunteer list, let me know what has changed?  We can also use more help if you are willing to hang out for more than just your child's class!

Friday April 11, 2014

Meghan Goodman 8:15
Station 1. Morton_____
Station 2. Amanda______
Station 3. Jack__ 
.
Kelly Johnson 8:15
Station 1. Pilar____
Station 2.  _____
Station 3._____ 

Can anyone from Duerringer's class come early?

Cheryl Kennedy 9:15
Station 1. Morton (Ross)______
Station 2. Melissa_______ 
Station 3.  ________ 
.
Emily Duerringer  9:15
Station 1. _Amanda & Teresa   ___
Station 2._Shannon & Jason_____
Station 3._Jack ___

Can anyone from Welch's class come early to help with Kennedy?.
.
Teresa Welch - 10:15-11:15 
Station 1.  Anneliese
Station 2._Emily -_____
Station 3._  Jack.

Rough draft, Check back the night before for any final touches!

The weather outside is beautiful, this lab will be outside :).  We'll walk out the door near Mrs. Welch's class, and use the tables and grassy area by the front BBE sign.


Station 1: Living/Non-living Nature walk 
Station 2: Wind (Making a Pinwheel)Station 
3: Air (Pressure)

Station 1: Living/Non-living Nature walk

Materials:

• Clipboard,
• pen/pencil,
• paper for recording living and non/living objects.

   

Start the activity by asking the students if they know how to tell if an object is living or not living.  Ask them for examples.

Some of the questions you can ask are:

•  Does it need air? 
• Does it move? 
• Does it grow and change? 
• Does it breathe? 
• Does it make more just like itself? 
• Does it need food and water to live?

Next tell the students we will walk around the school grounds and they are to look for living and non-living objects.  Record these on the sheet of paper under the living column or non-living column.  Return to the rest of the class and in the station walk through each object that was not classified correctly (i.e. if tree is listed as non-living, ask the students the questions above)

Station 2: Wind: Making a Pinwheel

Materials:

• Square pieces of pre-cut paper
• straight pin
• pencil 
• Blanket to sit on in the grass

Start the activity by asking the students about wind.
.

What is wind?
Wind is air in motion. It is produced by the uneven heating of the earth’s surface by the sun. Since the earth’s surface is made of various land and water formations, it absorbs the sun’s radiation unevenly. Two factors are necessary to specify wind: speed and direction
.

What causes the wind to blow?
As the sun warms the Earth's surface, the atmosphere warms too. Some parts of the Earth receive direct rays from the sun all year and are always warm. Other places receive indirect rays, so the climate is colder. Warm air, which weighs less than cold air, rises. Then cool air moves in and replaces the rising warm air. This movement of air is what makes the wind blow.
.

How is wind helpful to Earth?
Wind is the fastest growing source of electricity in the world. It's often one of the least expensive forms of renewable power available. Some experts say it can sometimes be the cheapest form of any kind of power. Generating power from the wind leaves no dangerous waste products behind. Best of all, its supply is unlimited.
.

How do windmills work?
Windmills work because they slow down the speed of the wind. The wind flows over the airfoil shaped blades causing lift, like the effect on airplane wings, causing them to turn. The blades are connected to a drive shaft that turns an electric generator to produce electricity.

Make a pinwheel!

Fold pre-cut pieces of paper as shown above, press pin into eraser of pencil.

Point the pin wheel in different directions, is there any wind today?  Which direction is the wind blowing from?  If there is no wind, have them blow on the pinwheel to make it spin.

Make a Paper airplane!

If there is enough time after making pinwheels, have them make paper airplanes, and experiment with what designs fly higher and farther.  Line them up, and have paper airplanes races!

How do airplanes work?
One important principle to remember is that wherever the air pressure is higher, there will be a stronger force or push against an object.
 

This principle is used in airplane wings to make planes fly. When a plane moves along the runway, the air above the wing speeds up more, lowering the pressure, so that the air below the wing can push the plane upward.  An important thing to remember is that higher pressure always pushes things around.

Station 3: Air (Pressure)We'll have this station at the tables in the front.

Start by asking the students if they know about air pressure:

Air pressure is the force exerted on you by the weight of tiny particles of air (air molecules). Although air molecules are invisible, they still have weight and take up space. Since there's a lot of "empty" space between air molecules, air can be compressed to fit in a smaller volume.
When it's compressed, air is said to be "under high pressure".
Air at sea level is what we're used to, in fact, we're so used to it that we forget we're actually feeling air pressure all the time!

Activity 1:
While holding your hand on your ribs, take a deep breath and observe what happens to your chest. Did you feel it expand? Did you see it expand?  Your chest expands because, like blowing up a balloon, you are increasing the number of air molecules inside your lungs. This causes your lungs to expand in order to provide space for the increased number of air molecules.

Activity 2: Fountain Bottle.

Materials:

• Water,
• 1 or 2 liter soda bottle,
• long straw,
• clay / play dough

Fill a 2-liter soda bottle half full of water. Take a long straw and insert it in the mouth. Wrap a lump of clay around the straw to form a seal. Blow hard into the straw—then stand back. Your blowing increases the air pressure inside the sealed bottle. This higher pressure pushes on the water and forces it up and out the straw. (Change straws after each student).

Blow Paper Ball into a bottle:

Materials:
Bottle
Paper ball

Take an empty water or soda bottle and lay it down horizontally on a table. Roll a piece of paper towel into a small ball about half the size of the opening. Tell a friend you’ll pay $1 million if he or she can blow the ball into the bottle. Don’t worry about losing money because this is impossible. No matter how hard someone blows to try to force more air into the bottle, there's no room for it, so it will flow right out, pushing away the paper ball.

Kissing Balloons:
Materials:
Balloons on strings
Blow up two balloons and attach a piece of string to each. Hold one balloon by the string in each hand and position the two balloons so that they are at your nose level and 6 inches apart. Blow hard into the space between the balloons. This lowers the air pressure. The pressure of the surrounding air is now higher and it will push the balloons together.



Water Glass trick:

Materials:
Use a clip board for a flat surface,
aluminum foil,
cup
Gallon of water

Fill a cup one-third with water. Cover the entire mouth with an index card. Holding the card in place, take the cup to the sink and turn it upside down. Remove your hand from underneath. Voilà! Because the water inside the cup is lighter than the air outside, the card is held in place by about 15 pounds of force from the air pushing up, while the force of the water pushing down is only about one pound of force.