Over the past couple of weeks, we have been learning about plants. In Grade 4, we focus on learning the plant parts and their jobs, as well as plant adaptations, seed dispersal, and pollination.
Yesterday, we explored 5 different plant centres for some hands-on activities. Here are some things that we have learned so far.
"Here, we were dissecting (taking apart) flowers to see their parts." ~ Sy
"We got to hold the pistil where the eggs would be." ~ Olivia
"They didn't have seeds because before the seeds could grow, the plant was cut." ~ Sage
"We saw every single part of the flower. That was really interesting. We touched the pollen; it was really powdery. The filament was really sticky. It was good to experience that." ~ Kashvi
"Here we took celery and put it in coloured water. We saw if the leaves changed colour and we saw the dots where the tubes pull the water up. We filled out a worksheet to show our observations." ~ Charlie
"The leaves were kind of dead because it came from a store and they cut off the roots." ~ Artur
"Underneath the celery where it was cut, you could see vein-like things where the water goes up. They were purple because of the food colouring." ~ Sage
"Here we cut out this diagram of a bean plant and there were vocabulary words like: root, seed. There were sentences to match so we'd have to put the word with its meaning." ~ Olivia
We also planted our own bean seeds and are hoping they will grow! Over the next month, we will track their progress in class.
We also know that:
"The anther is where the pollen is on the flower." ~ Arsh
"The pistil is where the flower holds its eggs/seeds." ~ Charlie
"I learned about some scientific names like chlorophyll. It is the food the plant makes." ~ Kashvi
"The plant has to go through a process called photosynthesis, which means the plant absorbs sunlight and water and carbon dioxide to make food." ~ Alice and HS
"There are two parts to a flower: the female and male. The male part is called the stamen and the female part is called the pistil." ~ Olivia
"In the fall, for some trees, there is no chlorophyll so then the leaves turn different colours." ~ Sage
"The flower has a petal that covers up the stamen and pistil." ~ Aarav
"I learned that stamen have two crucial parts: the filament and the anther." ~ Keagan
"The petals are like a landing place for the bees. Bees see ultraviolet light to see the petals. It's like an airplane landing but a bee landing." ~ AM
"The petals protect the seeds so they can make more flowers." ~ Bono
"I learned that on the inside of the petals, there were spots to attract pollinators to pollinate them." ~ Nico
"When I was dissecting the flowers, I noticed the petals were really hard so the pollinators could land on them." ~ Nolan
"At my house, me and my mother planted mother's day seeds and we planted and it is growing and turning to the window. We turned it and now it is turning to the window again!" ~ VG
