Lesson Idea | How Does Your Garden Grow? (Grades K-2)

Grade Level

K-2

Purpose

Students discover the needs of a seed to germinate and the needs of a plant to grow while exploring the life stages of a flowering plant.

Estimated Time

2 hours

Materials Needed

Activity 1: Observing and Dissecting Seeds
- Variety of seeds
- Bean Seed Diagram
- Hand lenses
- Lima beans soaked in water overnight, 1 per student

Activity 2: Germinating Seeds
- 100 lima beans
- 10 paper towels (the non-quilted paper towels typically found in schools work best)
- 10 pieces of plastic wrap
- 20 rubber bands
- The Little Plant poem

Activity 3: Egghead Plant Starters
- Needs of a Plant Powerpoint Slides
- Empty, rinsed eggshells, 1 per student
- Egghead plant starter example (see picture in procedures)
- Permanent markers
- Plastic spoons
- Water spray bottles
- Potting soil
- Alfalfa seeds that can be bought on National Agriculture in the Classroom website
- Dig a Hole song

Activity 4: Sunflower Life Cycle Glove
- Knit glove
- Sticky-back Velcro
- Sunflower Life Cycle pictures, laminated and cut apart
- Life Cycle graphic organizer, 1 per student

Vocabulary

- Cotyledon: an embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first leaves to appear from a germinating seed
- Dormant: not active but able to become active
- Embryo: a human, animal, or plant in the early stages of development before it is born, hatched, sprouted, etc.
- Germinate: to begin to grow; sprout
- Photosynthesis: the process by which plants convert carbon dioxide, water, and light energy into sugars and oxygen in order to store energy; the opposite of cell respiration
- Respiration: the process through which a plant exchanges oxygen and carbon dioxide with its environment
- Seedling: a young plant that is grown from a seed

Background Agricultural Connections

The life cycle of a flowering plant begins with a seed. A seed contains an embryo—what will become a new plant—and food for the embryo. Seeds are dormant, or inactive, until they receive the correct amount of moisture and the proper temperature. With appropriate warmth and moisture, seeds will germinate, producing a tiny, immature plant called a seedling. The seedling will grow into a mature plant which, when fertilized, will produce seeds.

For further information, please visit National Agriculture in the Classroom website.