Week 1: What do the children know about plants?

Many children love to explore plants they find in the playground and the forest.  But what do they know about the plants?  Here are some of their thoughts inspiring our exploration:

A tree is a plant because it grows because it "gets bigger and bigger from being very small."

If you pick a flower, it will not grow anymore, because it's dead but it's still very pretty.

An apple grows, but once you pick it, it is still alive because it's sweet and juicy.

The children could name every part of the plant except the roots

Dandelions are "not wanted in your garden" but you can still make a tea from them.

Mila and Sofia picked some flowers and put them in a vase.  The children were able to name all parts of the flower except the roots.

Questions for this unit:

Why do plants have roots?

What are the different types of plants in our forest?

What are weeds?

When it is okay to pick plants?

We read the book Are Trees Alive by Debbie S Miller to start exploring the parts of a tree.  The children are practising their tree poses, by rooting their feet into the ground, stretching their strong tree trunks (legs and tummy), and stretching the branches up towards the sun (arms).