This book uses simple pictures and words to describe how plants grow. It is a good introduction book to spring and planting.

Materials

• Materials for planting flower or vegetable seeds.
• Variety of produce and a knife to cut them in half.
• Plastic lids from cool whip type containers.
• A variety of larger seeds (beans, split peas, popcorn)
• A journal for recording a seed sprouting and growth cycle.
• A good sized piece of contact paper (2-3 feet long)
• A small bag of birdseed

Vocabulary

• Planted (to put something into the ground to grow)
• Produce (fruits and vegetables).

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if their family has ever planted a garden?  Let the children discuss what they planted, where they planted, and how they planted.  Afterwards, introduce the book.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities;develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Reading the Story

As you read, point to the corresponding pictures and allow the children time to comment on anything that they see.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; shows increased awareness and beginning understanding of changes in materials and cause-effect relationships.  AND Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction and non-fiction books and poetry.

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if you planted an acorn, what kind of a plant would it grow? What if you planted the seeds from an apple, could it make a peach tree? Give each child a bean seed, a damp paper towel and a ziplock baggie. Have the children place their bean seed on the damp paper towel and seal it in the baggie. Tell them that you are going to watch the seeds for the next several days to see what happens. Use the recording log in library/writing to track the seeds development for the next few days.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving;grows in recognizing and solving problems through active exploration, including trial and error, and interactions and discussions with peers and adults.

Discovery

Bring in a variety of produce. Cut the produce in half and let the children count the seeds of each. Let the children guess if a produce will have a large or small seed/s inside. Good produce includes an apple, an avocado, a squash plant, a banana, etc. Talk with the children about the seeds that they see. What size, shape and quantity.

Mathematics/Number & operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in a meaningful way.

Music and Movement

Dig a Little Hole, act out as recite

Dig a little hole and you put the seed in.

You cover it with dirt and let the sunshine in.

Add a little water and keep it fed,

Pretty soon a little plant will show its head.

Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety of music activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and performances.

Sing Where Oh Where Are All The Children?  act out as you sing or recite

Where oh where are all the children?                clap to rhythm

Where oh where are all the children?                clap to rhythm

Where oh where are all the children?                clap to rhythm

Way down yonder in the apple orchard.            point thumb towards back

Picking apples, put them in the basket               climb ladder and pick apples

Picking apples, put them in the basket.              climb ladder and pick apples

Picking apples, put them in the basket,              climb ladder and pick apples

Way down yonder in the apple orchard.           point thumb towards back

How would you act out; cutting lettuce, twisting tomatoes, carrying pumpkins, etc?

Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety of music activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and performances.  AND Creative Arts/Movement; expresses through movement and dancing what is felt and heard in various musical tempos and styles.

Blocks

Try something different today.  Tape a good size sheet of contact paper to the wall with the sticky side out.  Put out your smaller/lighter blocks and let the children experiment ‘sticking’ them to the wall.  Challenge them to make a flower or a tree using the small/light blocks.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; demonstrates growing confidence in a range of abilities and expresses pride in accomplishments. AND Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to put together and take shapes apart.

Art

Have the children pour glue into the plastic lid. Let them use the “seeds” (beans, split peas, popcorn) to make a mosaic in the glue. When it is dry, punch a hole and hang them with a piece of string.  

Creative Arts/Art; develops growing abilities to plan, work independently, and demonstrate care and persistence in a variety of art projects.

Library and Writing

Help the children make a blank book for them to record how a seed begins to sprout and grow.  The recording will be an on-going project over several days depending upon what type of seed you choose to sprout. The book does not have to be big or fancy, several pieces of paper stapled together will work.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussion, drawings, maps, and charts.

Sand and Water

Fill the table with birdseed and allow the children to pour and scoop.  (Note:  from my own experiences, the children seem to want to pour this up high and splash it into the table.  Remind them about your safety rules of seed must stay in the table and not on the floor).

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Control; demonstrates increasing capacity to follow rules and routines and use materials purposefully, safely, and respectfully.

Dramatic Play

As the children play in the kitchen with the food, encourage them to name the foods that have seeds.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Math and Manipulatives

Count the number of seeds inside a variety of produce. Draw a picture of each produce and then have the children help count how many seeds were inside. Write the number next to the picture and let a child draw seed representations.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness if numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.  AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

Outdoor Play

Bring you planting supplies outside and let the children plant flower or vegetable seeds.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.  AND Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities;develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Transitions

Play I’m thinking of…. A fruit that grows in a tree and is round and orange and sweet to eat.  A vegetable that grows on a vine and we had it for lunch yesterday.  A vegetable that grows under ground and it makes french fries.  A fruit that you drink in a juice.  A vegetable that is crunchy when you bite it.  

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasing complex and varied vocabulary.  AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Dear Parent- today we read a book about seeds and how they grow.  Planting a garden with your child can be lots of fun and encourages healthy eating.  You do not have to grow a big garden, try a single tomato plant or a simple row of green beans.