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Revised
December 27, 2011 |
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In first grade the students explored habitats and how and why animals survived in them, in this experience students will examine plants. Plants start from a seed and grow through their own life cycles each according to its needs and habitat. Students will learn that along the way plants are an amazingly diverse and gather sunlight, nutrients, water and minerals to become crucial to the survival of all life by creating food, shelter, oxygen, and an almost infinite array of other necessities. This program will emphasize the adaptations seeds have to move away from the parent plant to a place where they will have a better chance of surviving.
This unit is specifically designed to address appropriate AAAS Project 2061 benchmarks as well as second grade Minnesota Academic proposed Science Standards 2.1.1.2.1; 2.4.1.1.1; 2.4.1.1.2; 2.4.2.1.1; 2.4.2.1.2. Please email us for more information.
Before your visit, please review with your students:
- Last year's visits to River Bend, focusing on habitats and adaptations.
- The different types of seeds
- Parts of a plant
- The different types of plants
- Behavior expectations during the visit.
At River Bend:
Note: Bring small sandwich-size bags for seed collection.
- During the introduction we will review the above material.
- We will have the students build a plant using the various parts.
- We will use student helpters to demonstrate the various adaptations seeds have to move (poppers, droppers, flyers and hitchhikers.)
- We will divide each class in half (maximum of 4 groups; assuming normal size classes, classes of less than 15 will likely not be divided)
- Each group will proceed onto the trails and off the trails, exploring the woods and prairie to discover plant life cycles and various plants and traits:
- Collect seeds to take back to school (bring small sandwich-size bags)
- Look at the adaptations that help seeds travel
- Download example of the worksheet.
In the closing we will:
- Inquire about discoveries on the trail
- Review the different adaptations seeds have from what they collected
- Encourage the students to recognize the importance of seeds and plants in their everyday lives
- Remind the students of their next visit
- Talk of upcoming events at River Bend
- Invite the students to return on their own with family and friends.
Back in the classroom:
- Use the seeds collected to make graphs, charting the number of flyers-droppers-hitchhikers-poppers, or with/without seed containers. Collect or count seeds around the school to graph for comparison.
- Use seeds in art projects.
- If you wish to tape the seeds down, you can create one big grid for all students to do together.
- Have the students act out the different kinds of seeds for their classmates to guess if they are poppers, droppers, etc.
- Have the students draw a picture of a favorite animal and then show the plants that are needed by that animal in its habitat for food, shelter, shade, etc.
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A seed is a very young plant in a shell, often also in some form of container or attached to a device to help it move around.
As a plant grows, it periodically produces seeds which are then scattered away from the plant. If a seed lands in a suitable location under the right circumstances, it will begin to grow roots, a stem, leaves and flowers, and later produce more seeds to continue the cycle.
- Hitch-hikers stick to fur, feathers, or clothing to later fall off at a new place
- Droppers simply fall to the ground, however animals usually carry them to other places
- Poppers burst from their seed container to spread away from the plant
- Flyers are carried through the air by the wind by virtue of their wings or feathery parachutes
We eat many different seeds, such as peanuts, walnuts, peas, and corn. Fruits are special containers with seeds inside, such as apples, grapes, watermelon, etc. People can buy seeds to plant at home to grow their own food, flowers, or trees.
A seed needs to land in a location suitable for growth, generally where it will have access to water, warmth, and air. It contains its own food until it grows leaves to start making new food.
After using up all food contained in the seed and sprouting its first leaves, the plant will need sunlight, water, air, and soil in order to continue growing. These will be used in the leaves to make food.
- Flowers: Usually short, often with a colorful blossom, but without a woody stem and live only for a few years.
- Grasses: Can be short or tall, very thin, with very small flowers.
- Trees: Tall, with a woody trunk and can sometimes live for hundreds of years.
- Shrubs: Shorter than trees, many small woody trunks instead of one big one. Often with berries for seeds.
- Leaves, berries, stems and roots are often eaten by animals
- Some plants provide shelter, homes, and resting spots for animals
- Plants give off oxygen for animals to breath
- Plants take in carbon dioxide given off by animals
- Plants can stop or help other plants growing nearby
- Plants help clean the air and water
- Plants help keep soil in place along rivers
- When plants die, they rot and make better soil for other living things
Below are some seeds you may see at River Bend. Remember some seeds will have adaptations to travel multiple ways. We do not have many poppers. We have a variety of droppers, flyers and hitchhikers.
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 Crab apple tree - dropper
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 Berry bush - dropper
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 Maple tree - flyer
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 Burdock - hitchhiker
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 Burdock hooks - hitchhiker
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 Coneflower - dropper or flyer
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 Motherwort - hitchhiker
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 Wild cucumber - dropper
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 Wild grape - dropper
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 Hophornbean - dropper
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 Jack-in-the-pulpit - dropper
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 Maple seeds - flyer
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 Grass - flyer or dropper
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 Hickory - dropper
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 Hickory inside - dropper
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 Curly dock - dropper or flyer
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 Dandelion - flyer
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 Dandelion seed - flyer
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 Acorn - dropper
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 Basswood - flyer and dropper
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 Bergamot - dropper or flyer
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 Milkweed - popper or flyer
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 Big bluestem grass - dropper or flyer
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 Gentian - dropper
- Being quiet will help you to see and learn more along the trail.
- Wear a name tag so we can get to know you better.
- Listen to your leader or whomever's turn it is to talk.
- Raise your hand if you have something to say.
- Listen to your leader about how to collect seeds. Remember you just need to take a few.
- Stay with your group.
- Nature needs all that is here. What lives here, grows here, dies here, stays here. For this porgram you can take some seeds to use for further study back in your classroom.
- Be nice to nature - and to each other!
Send us your ideas by email!
A great book to read before or after the field experience is A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long.
- Keep track of all the seeds the students eat for lunch in a week.
- Bring in a collection of interesting and exotic fruits/vegetables for the kids to dissect in search of seeds.
- Create seed art pictures by gluing the seeds onto a page.
Send us your ideas by email!
Here are some websites about adaptations Sue Feyereisn has passed along:
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