Kindergarten students at Menominee Elementary have been busy learning about plants for the past two weeks. Teachers Sydney Gochenour, Kimmy Burnam, and Julie Good have all been covering similar and exciting plant unit lessons.
Mrs. Good explained how the unit in her room became hands-on from the beginning. “The students got to pick which seeds they would like to plant. They chose from flower seeds, corn, beans, lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots. They helped scoop soil into the pot and then the seeds and finally watered it. Each day they observed their seeds and the plant forming and growing,” she said.
In general, students are learning about different parts of plants and how the life cycle of a plant continues.
Each student got to plant seeds in Miss Gochenour’s room as well. “Our class has been working on using descriptive words to write about the plants and observations in their science journals. Also, we have been able to compare our flowers (shape, texture, color, size, etc.) since the students were able to choose which flower they wanted to plant,” said Miss Gochenour.
Some students choose vegetables while others chose morning glories. Students observed the growth over the weeks and how their plant had changed in Miss Burnam’s room as well.
Once the seeds planted began to grow, the students asked everyday what each plant was. Elizabeth Schuh hypothesized, “The flower seeds must just grow faster than the others. The vegetable seeds will grow later I think.” Throughout the unit students read various stories such as “The Tiny Seed” by Eric Carle, “Planting a Rainbow” by Lois Ehlert, and nonfiction books like “National Geographic Seed to Plant.” They learned the life cycle of a plant and the students have loved watching this life cycle happen in our classroom.
We also planted morning glories and created a trellis up to the ceiling for them to grow up. These have grown very quickly, and the students enjoy coming in everyday to see their growth from the day before. Zander Shafer chose to spend his inside recess one rainy afternoon looking at each plant and asking a lot of questions about them. After observing the individually potted plants and the morning glories, Zander said, “The morning glories are leaning.” After recess Zander showed the class his discovery and they learned how plants will grow toward the sun. Although the plant unit has come to an end, the students will get to take their plants home and continue to watch them grow. We also can’t wait to watch our ‘wall of flowers’ continue to grow in class the rest of the year.
Good said, “We read many stories about seeds, life cycle and plants. We had a ball for sure!”
The best part for some of the students came at the end of the two-week unit. “At the end of the unit we “ate” parts of a plant: seeds, flowers, stem, leaves, and roots! They loved this edible activity and it really pulled everything they learned together,” said Good.
