During their recent science topic on Growing Plants, Hummingbird Class Year 1 students were challenged to learn all the different parts of a plant. By observing, drawing, labeling and even translating into Spanish, all children became able to discuss the terms root, stem, leaf, flower, seed and fruit. We explored these in our own school garden and noticed the huge variety in plants we see every day.
Tall trees – small weeds. Almonds, wild cherries and cotton seeds. Huge palms vs small leaves. We have them all in our garden!’
And then, perhaps because we were hungry, we set about using all this knowledge to ask questions about the food we eat. I asked the class “Which part of its plant is an apple? Or a carrot? And how about an asparagus?!” After some head-scratching, we managed to sort a variety of fruit and vegetables into the correct “parts of a plant” groups. We learned that broccoli heads are actually flowers! And that spring onions have roots, a stem and leaves. And that every time you eat a kiwi you’re eating fruit and seeds at the same time – well, unless you try to pick them all out!
Finally, we wanted to put all of this knowledge to the test by creating an “All Parts of a Plant Salad.” The task was simple – create a salad that included ingredients from all the different plant-part groupings. This required us to design a recipe and create tasty-sounding labels for our unique salad products. Some children were so pleased with their creations that they added their own prices – who wouldn’t pay $100 for one of these?!
Take a look at the pictures to see the whole process, from planning to finished product!
Most importantly, children became confident with their identification skills and scientific language. Not to mention the fact that some of them even took an interest in salad!
