Adopting a Seasonal Plant

Part of the "Adopt a Plant" Collection

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Goal

Students will choose a seasonal plant and observe its life cycle over several seasons.

Estimated Time

Several Months

Setting Required

Outside

Standards

  • S2L1c. Students will investigate the life cycle of a plant by growing a plant from a seed and by recording changes over a period of time.

Procedures

  1. Instruct students to explore the outdoor area to choose a seasonal plant to follow throughout the season. Remember to specify the boundaries for their exploration. This can be an extension of the Plant Necklace lesson or the Square Foot Garden lesson. For more information on planting seeds with students, visit Garden Basics: Planting Seeds. Plants can be labeled with the student’s name and/or information that the student collects about the plants.
  2. Throughout the season, take students to visit plants once each week to make observations, collect specimens, take measurements, document changes (drawing or writing), record reflections, and make a hypothesis of the changes for the upcoming visit. Photos can be taken of the student with their plant on each visit. As a class, record the temperature, rainfall, and/or length of day to make inferences on how the changes in the seasons affect the plant.
  3. At the conclusion of the project, students should be able to complete a storyboard of their plant life cycle throughout the season.