Created by Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project

Brief Description: Students discuss what plants need to grow, plant seeds, and make predictions about their plants growth.

Objectives:

• Students relate a story to their own experience
• Students have a hands on experience planting seeds
• Students are introduced to what plants need to live

Materials: The book What’s This? by Caroline Mockford, seeds, cups, soil, seeds, squirt bottles with water, garden journals, Popsicle sticks with each student’s name written in permanent marker, newspaper

NC Standard Course of Study Goals:

Science – 1.01, 1.02, 1.03, 1.05

English Language Arts – 2.05, 2.07, 3.01, 4.06, 5.02, 5.07

Healthful living – 1.02

Social Studies – 5.05

Getting Started / Procedure

• Read the book What’s This? by Caroline Mockford, ask students what the seed needed to grow, and what plants need to grow (air, water, light and space). Compare this with what people and animals need to grow.
• Each student should get a chance to plant a seed, but don’t tell them what the “mystery seed” is, relating it back to the little girl in the book who had to plant the seed to find out what it was. You may use any seed for this activity.
• Plant three extra containers with seeds for the plant experiment lesson.
• Have students draw what their seed looked like in their garden journal and make a guess/prediction how long the seed will take to sprout and what it will look like.

Extensions:

• Have kids put together a  book on how to plant a seed
• Read garden/seed books
• Seed sorting
• Create seed related math problems
• Seed art
• Have students write a story about a mystery seed and what it becomes