Watching the Seeds Grow

Today was the second trip to the garden for our three classes. Our first class is second graders and our second and third classes are first graders. We started the day by preparing our materials for our activities with the students. We laid out their worksheet with a clipboard, pulled out our soaking beans and prepared our clear bottle and seed experiment. We started by greeting the students and seating them at the table where they picked up a clipboard and crayon. We again went of the rules of the garden, asking them what they thought they would be, which they did very well in remembering from their first visit. Next we split up into three groups and walked over to the garden to show them the small sprouting greens which they planted last week! Next we read the questions of the work sheet and split open a soaked bean. We showed them the three different parts (outer coat, food, and the small plant itself) and asked them to draw and label them on their worksheets. Next we did a seed experiment. We took our pre-prepared clear bottles (an inch of soil a wet paper towel around the sides and middle filled with soil) and placed two bean seeds and two corn seeds between the wet paper towel and the clear bottle. This will show the kids the difference between a monocot and a dicot plant and the way its roots grow.Overall it was a great day and the students seemed to enjoy it and were excited to take their experiments back to their classrooms to take care of and watch grow. After the classes were over we planted four papaya plants that were given to us by the Lakewood's front office ladies. We then watered all the beds and plants along the outside of the garden.