Hatching new scientists every day!

Share the Week’s Discoveries

Look at charts, Plant Journals, learning centers, drawings, and photographs to review the activities and ideas you explored this week.

 

Watch Them Grow Learning Center and the “Our Plants” Chart

Look at the “Our Plants” chart together. Point out that the chart now shows two weeks of their plants’ growth.    

  • Start by looking at the “Our Plants” chart. Point to the sequence of photos from Week 1 and 2, and ask children to describe the changes in the plants.
  • Do the same with the photos of the grass seeds and green onions.
  • Then look at the live plants in the Watch Them Grow center. Ask children to compare the plants growing in the plastic bags and in the soil. Is one group growing better than the other?

Plant Needs Experiments

Ask for volunteers to show their Plant Journal drawings of the two experiments from their Plant Journals.

  • Ask them to describe the seed-and-sunlight experiment and what they were trying to find out. What was the result?
  • Do the same for the seed-and-water experiment. What did they learn about plants and water?

Trees

Discuss trees while looking at the leaf and bark rubbings, children’s drawings of trees, and the photos from the plant walks and tree investigations.

  • Ask children to describe the different parts of trees they discovered this week: leaves, bark, trunks, branches, twigs, seeds, leaves, and roots.  
  • Ask them why they think it’s not a good idea to rip leaves and bark off trees.
  • Ask, Can a tree be a home? For whom?
  • Remind them about the PEEP video in which Beaver Boy cut down all the trees. Why did this upset Peep and the others and what did they do to solve the problem?

Plants Around Us

Ask children about the different plants they examined this week, both indoors and outdoors.

  • What were some of the biggest plants they saw?  What about the smallest?
  • How are indoor plants the same as outdoor plants? How are they different?
  • What did they see this week that they’d never seen before? What was the most beautiful thing they saw?

Tell children that next week you’ll be exploring plants we can eat.