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/