Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Roots


We are learning all about roots this week!

To make this fun experiment we wet a paper towel and placed it in a plastic baggie. 
Then we put a lima bean seed in the bag too. 
We taped the baggies up in a sunny window and then we watched. 
Thankfully this is a quick sprouting seed. 
By day 2 the bean had swelled to double it's original size. 
The next day there was a big crack in the shell and a little sprout was peeking out. 
After a few days we had a ton of roots! I love semi instant gratification!
A few days after that we had a nice green shoot popping out the top and then we had leaves! The kids have been so excited about this experiment! 
We have also learned about plant cells (yawn) and xylem. 
Photosynthesis was fun to talk about and ecosystems kept their attention too. 
We watched a cool DVD from Eyewitness that reminded me of the science movies we used to watch on projectors at school (sadly dating myself) . Do you remember the movies where they filmed a flower bloom and then sped it up? This movie was similar to those. It was really cool!
We made a chart of growth and the kids labeled the different parts of the plant. 
We mounted them on construction paper, I think they look very nice! 

The ONLY issue is that we are done with the plant chapter 
and I still have little baggies of lima beans taped to my window...
no one wants me to take them down....
so.....

1 comment:

  1. This sounds like such a fun week! And I totally remember those projector movies.

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