Our Seed Inquiry

Nearly two weeks ago, a student came up to me and asked "Why is this plant growing all over the place?  I think a pear will grow out of it!"

This sparked a new inquiry in our classroom.

We decided to investigate why the plant was growing so much and what kinds of things could grow from it.

The next day I set out some soil, baby food jars and brought in a variety of seed packets.

I asked the students what they thought they were.

We had all kinds of answers!

F.V.: I think these are magical seeds.  They will grow and grow!

M.P.: These seeds are going to grow all kinds of things!  Maybe we can eat some of them!

S.P.: Maybe we can have a vegetable garden in our classroom!

So we set to work.

Some students decided to examine the seeds in great detail:  touching them and even smelling them!

Other students wanted to get right to work planting them in soil in baby food jars.

The students wanted to label the jars so we could remember which seed was inside.  We have been working on labeling our pictures for the past few months so the students knew that was important to include.  They also decided to put a picture of what was growing beside the word so that all students could read the label.

An ECE from the another class, Ms. Bruni, came into our room and asked the students if they had even grown anything from a plastic bag and paper towel.  The students all replied "NO!" and didn't think anything would grow that way.

So we decided to give that a try to and we charted our wonderings as to what would happen when we planted two different ways.

Pretty soon our Discovery Centre started filling up with inquiring minds.

The students decided to set up a display near the window so the seeds could get ample sunlight and everyone would be able to document what was happening to them each day.

When the students came to school the next day, I set out a provocation for them.

In small containers, I put a variety of bean seeds, which were all different shapes and colours.

We read the book One Bean by Anne Rockwell and discussed how the seed grew. 

We also talked about the variety of beans we eat.

I was so delighted to see the students exploring this provocation at our Creative Centre.  Some students decided to use a pencil to draw their picture first and then glue the seeds on top.

The results were incredible!

M.D.: These are lots of trees.

L.P.:  This is a cupcake.

F.V.: This is a happy face with flowers around it.

S.C.: This is how tall the bean seed will grow...up to the sky!

The students are continuing to document what is happening at our Discovery Centre each day.  When we came in on Thursday, we noticed that our pea seed in soil had sprouted quite a bit!

I can't wait to see where this is going to take us next!