Plants

Today in Science while discusing the needs of plants I introduced the scientific method to our kiddos.  The scientific method  consists of asking questions, forming a hypothesis testing the hypothesis and measuring the results. Our question was: What would happen to a seed or plant if it did not have its needs met? 

From our class discussions the kids know that soil, sun, and water are three very important things that a seed/plant needs in order to survive. We set up an experiment where we planted seeds and manipulated their environment so we could see what would happen if seeds/plants were denied sun, soil, or water. One set of seeds were planted with soil, given sun but will not receive water. Another set of seeds were planted and given sun, and water but no soil. A third set of seed were planted and were given soil and water but no sun. We also planted a set of seeds and gave them all three things they need to survive (Got it?!).

Named the "chosen one" by the kiddos,,,otherwise known as the control...or as the one we gave soil, water and sun!

Denied sun...so this set is in my junk drawer....ignore the mess!

When the kids realized that the little seeds could potentially die due to our experiment...well...I was in trouble. I received A LOT of angry letters from our little darlings. I was called "cruewle" and according to Anna I was doing "an injustice to seeds" (good use of her novel study vocabulary word am I right?!). We had another talk about the importance of experiments and this seemed to help calm our kiddos. See below for a sampling of the letters I received after sending the seeds to a "cruewle" fate.