Queen's College - Finding out about plants

The children watered their plants everyday to keep them healthy. They measured their roots, shoots and stems, The children then produced some lovely observational drawings of their plants. They wrote scientific descriptions of what they had seen. The children are now so excited to find out the final results of their experiments and to see if any of their plants produce flowers!

Growing plants is an important area of the school curriculum. Planting seeds gives the children a purposeful opportunity to work cooperatively on real tasks. Discussing their work enables the children to explore scientific language and make predictions about their experiments with plants. Tracking the growth of plants creates wonderful moments to celebrate in class as the plants produce new shoots and start to flower. The activities provide a context to understand seasons and life cycles.

A school garden offers opportunities to teach life skills such as gardening and cooking and encourages healthy eating as the children are excited to try their home grown foods - this in turn helps them to see fresh produce as an option to less healthy snacks.