We became botanists this week.

We used real vegetables to create a plant.

Morah Katie: Carrot is what part of the plant?
Kian: Root!
Morah Katie: What is celery?
Gracie: Stem.
Morah Katie: What is lettuce?
Noam: Leaf.  It is good!
Morah Katie: This artichoke is what part of the plant?
....... silence......
Morah Katie: Let's look closely, what do these flaps look like?
Dena: Petals.
Morah Katie: What do we find petals on?
Tori: Flowers!
Morah Katie: From flowers we get fruit, which has seeds for new plants. What is this fruit we have?
Kian: Peaches!
Morah Katie: Let's eat some plant for snack!

Our artichoke petals took a while to soften, so we ate them at lunch.

We began many experiments to study different aspects of plants.
Question: How long will it take for roots to sprout from a potato?

Question: Will white flowers change color if the water is colored?

Question: Will a white petals change color if we put them in the water, or does the stem need to be in the water?

Question: Will a shorter stem make the flower color faster?

Question: How bright will the flower color be if there are more then one flower on a stem?

Morah Katie: What is one thing plants give us that we need?
Josiah: Oxygen.
Morah Katie: Air has oxygen, we breathe it, plants create it.
We snipped a leaf, placed it in a jar with water and tried to catch some oxygen.
After a few minutes, we found air bubbles on the leaf.

By the next day, the leaf was covered with tiny oxygen bubbles.

We enjoyed the fruit of a vine.

 

Kian: WOW look at all those seeds, there's like 100!

Tori: Or 199!!

As botanist we observed with our eyes, we held plants in our hands, and documented our understanding through art.