Many of our children are currently interested in seeds. This seemed to have started when we discovered seeds that had fallen from a maple tree near Explorers. Several of the teachers showed the children how the seeds flew like a helicopter when you threw them up in the air. The children loved this, and quickly searched for their own seeds, and standing aloft on the playing cubes would toss the seeds as high in the air as they could. The children watched in amazement as the seeds slowly floated back to earth, drifting in the breeze and spinning like a helicopter blade. This interest in seeds has continued for several months.

The work of Emily, Alisha and Te Ariki evolved from this interest and when one of the children brought a flower to Explorers this stimulated further discussion about seeds. Seeing their interest, one of the teachers (Sophie Osmond) read them a storybook called The Tiny Seed, which explains the life cycle of a plant and then invited them to draw. The Tiny Seed storybook focuses on the tortuous journey of a seed, where seeds might land and can’t grow and would die, and finally where they could grow on good soil, germinating and growing into a plant and finally flowering.

The children were particularly interested in the forces of nature that influence the seeds travel and chances of survival, for example: “I’m doing the seeds, they blowing in the wind” – Emily, “It’s the wind, it’s the thunderstorm” – Aston. “This seed is getting burnt by the sun” – Emily, “That the wind” – Te Ariki. Their ideas and theories are represented in their drawings, which show wind, thunderstorms, scorching sun and other natural elements that affect the seeds survival. Another child (Alisha) was more interested in representing the beauty of a flower. Alisha spoke little, but chose a vibrant colour pencil and constantly referred to the image of a flower in the book, often turning back to the page when other children had turned to other pages.

In a subsequent session on seeds one of the teachers (Allie Covell) gave a group of children bean seeds to hold and feel while looking at the colouring and the patterns on the skin. Allie also discussed how seeds are planted in soil and then sprout and grow, and that we would plant some in our vegetable garden. The children then drew the bean seeds. In the two examples above (Connie and Gabriella) you can see that they have observed the beans carefully and included the patterns and lines that were on the bean seed skin. During the investigation the children talked about the seeds; here is some of their language:

Molly: “Is this a real seed?”
Aston: “Hey we can pick them and eat them when they are ready”.
Alex: “What is this kinda seed?”
Lucas: “I want to look at this”.
Marcus: “We need to plant one for everybody”
Alisha: “We have to put the little ones in here and the big ones in here”

STATS

CHILDREN Morgan, Gabriella, Emily, Te Ariki, Mia, Max, Jade, Jayden, Lucas, Alisha, Ezra, Sammy, Noah, G.H., Rusty, Connie, Amelia, Malachi, Camryn, Luca and Izak
TEACHER Allie Covell & Sophie Osmond
INVESTIGATION Seeds
SOME KEY LEARNING seeing detail, fine motor skills, relationships, representing ideas, literacy, biology.

by admin on January 5, 2010 · 0 comments