More and More Growth!

Thoughts of growing and changing continue in the Rivers Class.  Our discussions around what is living and nonliving have continued. Children helped to sort some of our plants into “living” and “nonliving” categories.  The pieces of plants that have come in from the park have shriveled up, which provided a great way to talk about how these things used to be part of a living thing but they are no longer alive.  

The children agreed that we should return the dead plants, along with all of the other dried up leaves and sticks we have accumulated, to the park “to return them to nature.”  We’ve read about how these old plants help to make nutritious soil. 

The seeds we have been observing in the classroom were also not living YET, and came from a living thing.  The children know all of the important things that plants need: soil, water, and light.  So we set out to help the seeds grow into something living.  Teachers provided containers for planting and a “grow light”.

Then, children helped to put soil into the containers,

added water,

(some children were excited to play a bit in the mud they had made!),

and finally it was time to plant the seeds! 

They planted two different types of seeds: micro-greens (a mixture of different types) and wheat grass.  There were a few wheat grass seeds left so we took them to the park and children planted them in a “barren” area of the park.  Maybe some will grow!

We began observing and keeping track each day to see when the seeds would grow.

The children thought that the 7 to 21 days that the micro-greens package stated for germination time was a really long time.  But amazingly, they began to emerge on the 3rd day.  Over the weekend, they grew like crazy and we were greeted on Monday morning with a garden of sprouts!  

Children have been observing them carefully, drawing what they see and noticing the tiniest details of these tiny sprouts.   They have noticed the shapes of the leaves, how tall or small the plants are, the different colors, and more. “Oh, look at that tiny one!  It is so cute!”

Today, the children were offered the chance to taste the sprouts, with a little olive oil and salt, if desired. Some children were uncertain but tried the spouts anyway and found that they really enjoyed them. 

“They taste like honey!” 

“I only like the sticks.”  

We are still waiting on the wheat grass seeds but will continue to observe like scientists (or like curious preschoolers) to see what happens!