Question #1: Why do seeds develop into plants while rocks and pebbles do not?
Seeds come in different shapes and sizes. They are found in fruits, vegetables and flowers, and plants. All seeds have two things in common. Every seed contains an embryo, which is a little plant, and food that helps the little plant to grow.
Seeds are carried to different places in a variety of ways. Some are blown from place to place by the wind, others are carried by water, and some attach themselves to the fur of animals.
The purpose of all seeds is to germinate and grow thereby perpetuating the plant species.
Lesson No. 2
Objective: To share a story about seeds.
Getting Started
Display the book, The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle
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1. Allow the children to predict what the story might be about.
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2. Read the story to the children.
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3. Discuss with the children where seeds come from and what happens to the various seeds.
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4. Review the story with the children listing what the seed needs in order to grow.
Take the children for a nature walk. Provide each child with a small bag in which to hold the seeds they collect. Have the children observe different types of plants and their seeds. Children may gather some seeds that have fallen from plants to the ground. You may want to discuss with the children some of the seeds animals use for food. Place the collected seeds in the science area. Provide a magnifying glass so that the children can observe the different type seeds collected.
Recording the results: Let the children draw and write about their nature walk in their science journals.
Lesson No. 3
Objective: To observe how seeds are alike and different.
Read the following poem by Else Holmelund Minarik to the children.
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Little Seeds
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Little seeds we grow in spring
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growing while the robins sing
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give us carrots, peas, and beans,
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tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, and greens.
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And we pick them,
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one and all,
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through the summer,
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through the fall.
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Winter comes, then spring, and then
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Little seeds we sow again.
Follow Up
Discuss the poem with the children. Have the children brain storm fruits and vegetables containing seeds. Record their answers on chart paper.
Connecting School and Home
Send home a note to parents asking them to send in some type of fruit or vegetable that contains seeds. Explain that the children are studying seeds and that you would like to collect a variety of different seeds. Examples of the fruits or vegetables they might send could be kiwi, corn, peas (in the pod), squash, lemons, apples, oranges, etc. Cut in half the fruits and vegetables the children brought to school and show them the seeds inside.
Divide the children into small groups. Show the groups how to use toothpicks to carefully remove the seeds from the fruits/vegetables. Use the following grid to help the children record the data about the seeds they’ve collected.
Name of fruit
Color of seed
Size of seed
Shape of seed
Number of seeds
Recording the Results
Let the children draw and write about the different seeds they collected. They may want to glue some of their seeds in their journals.