Our seed study has opened many doors for connections in math, science, music and literacy. We began with a nature walk with Rosanne as we searched for seeds and discovered with much excitement, a great variety of seeds. We continue to collect and look closely at the seeds we find and observe the varied textures, sizes and colors, not to mention what they will grow into! The students have described them as hard, spiky, soft and feathery, tiny, round, oval, brown, yellow, whitish... Experimenting with textures and color in Art with Amanda extended these observations for us. Abby followed up with a wonderful color experiment using paper towels, cups and three colors of water to see what happens when these primary colors mix. The result was gorgeous! As an added benefit we are discovering colored leaves that match the colors from this experiment.
We experimented with Lima beans in order to better understand the seed. The children found that the seeds have a very tough outer coat that softens and is easily removed when it's wet. They saw the inside of the seed that provides the nutrients to allow the seed to grow and the tiny piece that will actually become the seed sprout. We have been recording our observations in our Investigation Logs. Several students planted their beans in cups and when they sprouted, they transplanted them into our garden beds, along with daffodil, tulip, and hyacinth bulbs.
In music class with Aedin, the children listened to Eric Carle's book,
The Tiny Seed, and brought it to life with music and colorful scarves. They also loved acting out a lively seed poem with weather and pollinators using colorful scarves and music.
We have read a nice assortment of books introducing us to many types of seeds, what they grow into, how they grow, and naming the different parts of plants and their specific functions. Some of these include:
Which Seed is This? by Lisa J. Amstutz with wonderful photographs,
The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Heller with detailed information,
A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston with magnificent illustrations,
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert which inspired our plant selections for our garden and
Flip, Float, Fly, by JoAnn Early Macken which helped us understand how seeds travel.
As we began discovering what seeds grow into, the children delighted finding them in their food at lunch and snack. We decided to plant some herbs, vegetables and flowers in our garden bed. They planted red and yellow Swiss chard, two types of parsley (for Peter!!), lettuce, basil, ornamental peppers, rubdeckia and chrysanthemums. Hopefully, some of these will make their way home to become part of a meal!
Our study also tied in perfectly with our trip to the apple orchard where we picked apples and pumpkins. The children had a chance to taste four types of apples and compare how they looked, smelled, felt and tasted. They created a graph of their favorite kinds. They got a close up look at the star in the center and the arrangement of the seeds. We also spent a morning making yummy applesauce for snack and we'll surely bake something with pumpkin before too long and discover the seeds inside.
It seems each time we are outside someone is finding another type of seed. Our collection keeps growing. We hope the children are sharing these discoveries at home as well. Please allow them to bring in any seeds they discover at home to share with their classmates. We love opening pods and fruits to uncover the seeds inside!!
