Life Science, Week 29

Plant Parts

A fun thing about studying plants is that there are so many simple, cheap little experiments that Tessa can do with them. This week, she studied the various parts of plants with most days ending with a hands-on activity.

Monday

• Read Plant Plumbing: A Book About Roots and Stems by Susan Blackaby.
• Read What Do Roots Do? by Kathleen V. Kudlinski.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Plants, Grades 1-3 "Each Part of a Plant Has a Special Function - What Do Roots Do?" (pages 16-17).

After removing the roots from Plant #2 outside, we brought both plants in for Tessa to observe and draw. In ten days or so, she'll observe and draw them again while taking note of what changes may have occurred.

Tuesday

• Read What Are Stems? by Molly Aloian.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Plants, Grades 1-3 "Each Part of a Plant Has a Special Function - What Do Stems Do?" (page 18).

In this classic experiment, Tessa and I placed white carnations and celery in colored water. After forty-eight hours, Tessa observed the subtle changes that proved that water and nutrients do indeed move through tiny tubes in stems to leaves and flowers of plants. Afterward, I sliced through the stems so Tessa could get a closer look.

Wednesday

• Read Cooking with Sunshine: How Plants Make Food by Ellen Lawrence.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Plants, Grades 1-3 "Each Part of a Plant Has a Special Function - How Do Plants Get Food?" (page 19).
• Watched The Magic School Bus: Gets Planted by Scholastic via YouTube.

Thursday

• Read The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Heller.
• Read "Flowers" from The Usborne Complete First Book of Nature by R. Kidman-Cox.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Plants, Grades 1-3 "Each Part of a Plant Has a Special Function - What Do Flowers Do?" (page 20).
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Flowers DVD by Disney.
• Examined real flowers up close and identified their parts.
• Examined bees pollinating flowers. Identified pollen stuck to the bees hind legs.

Friday

• Read The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Plants, Grades 1-3 "Each Part of a Plant Has a Special Function - Summary Activities" (page 21).

For the sorting activity, we used toy food that we had around the house. Instead of the bulletin board activity, I folded a piece of white paper into sixths and then had Tessa title, draw and label the foods as instructed.