Central Idea:

Plants sustain life on Earth and play a role in our lives.

Key Concepts: function, causation, responsibility

Related Concepts: interdependence, appreciation

Lines of Inquiry:

• Caring for plants

• Products we derive from plants

• Plants sustain life on Earth

Story # 1

The Garden Plot

K2 received some excellent news about an available garden plot. We decided that we wanted to grow our own vegetables. 

Our new vegetable plot.

On the way to the plot Ms. Hannah showed us her vegetable garden plot. She has many yummy vegetables growing in her garden. 

Ms. Hannah’s garden plot.

The students went over to the new K2 plot to inspect it. They enjoyed touching the compost. They decided that the plot needed a fence. Ms. Linnie brought in some potatoes that were sprouting and Ms. Hannah had some seeds that we could plant.

What does compost feel like?

Story # 2

Ms. Hannah had put seeds into a tray and we were excited to see that some of the seeds were beginning to grow!!

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/711524348700397568

Story # 3

The Broken Shoot

A student had found a broken shoot under a plant that grew in the playground. This led to a conversation about plants. The students shared their thinking about what plants need, how they grow and why we need them.

• Stephanie: Its a baby leaf! Someone picked off the leaf!!
• Myrto: A baby plant.
• Avery: Now it won’t grow.
• Alice: It will hurt the plant.
• William: And the plant will die.
• Ethan: Or it might shrink. If you pick the plants they might shrink and you won’t see it again.
• Vincent: Then we can’t eat food. The plants are not growing.
• Avery: Because we need food. Plants are food. If you pick them it won’t turn into food.
• Myrto: The plant will do this (become small) and then shrink.
• James: Plants are drink and food.
• Stephanie: You can’t take a plant out and stick it in your home because they are stuck together.
• Eva: If you step on mud and a plant is growing then something will get stuck on your shoe.
• Vincent: You need to pick it up when it is big enough.
• James: A tree is a plant.
• Eva: They need water to grow.
• Joshua: I think they need sun and water to grow. The roots take the water.

They recorded their thinking using pictures, labels and words.

Story # 4

Growing Rice Paddy

The students began to plant their own seeds in a pot. Their first journal entry was about growing rice paddy in school. Here is how they did it (retold by K2).

1. We put the seeds into a pot.
2. We put soil in the pot.
3. We add water.
4. We make a hole in the soil and put some seeds into the hole.
5. Then we cover the seeds.
6. At last we water our seeds.

They wrote their observations in a journal. Some students called their journal ‘The Plant Book’ or ‘The Growing Book’.

Story # 5

Why are the leaves yellow?

One of the students noticed that the grass under the safety cones had turned yellow. She thought hard about why the grass had turned yellow. Here is her thinking and explanation. She shared this information with the class.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/711788744395784192

Story # 6

Sprouting Vegetables

A sprouting potato, onion and radish was presented to the students.

• Myrto: There might be seeds in the onion.
• William: Maybe we can cut it in half and see if there is a seed.
• Avery: Its a potato and it has started to grow.
• Stephanie: Maybe if we put it in the soil it might grow.
• Eva: It looks a bit like a monster.
• Myrto: Put it in the glass.
• Stephanie: Then they won’t have air!
• Myrto: Maybe you can only look with your eyes, not touch with your hands.
• Alice: That one is a kind of potato (radish).
• Myrto: Its one kind of carrot. It grows in the mud.
• Avery: That is ginger. it is for chopping it up and its for cooking.

The students were also presented with some Mung beans.

• Joshua: Maybe that is different kinds of rice.
• James: Maybe its a giant kind of beanstalk.

We decided to plant it. First we kept it to soak. They started to swell. The beans got bigger. The students planted the beans in their own cups.

We also began to collect different types of seeds. Students asked their parents to send in more seeds to add to our collection.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/712966110128119809

Story # 7

All about plants video.

The students watched a video on BrainPOP. In the video the character explains how seeds grow and travel from place to place. Then the students drew and labeled pictures and wrote sentences to explain their understanding.

Story # 8

Observational Drawing

We went outdoors to look at the different types of trees, plants and shrubs we have in the playground. We looked carefully at how they were similar and different.

They chose a plant to draw and used water colours to paint their picture. 

Story # 9

The Flower Shop

A new flower shop opened in our classroom. There were pots and seeds but NO flowers. The students began to make flowers for the shop. We followed instructions and made a bunch of flowers to sell at the shop. The students decided to call the flower shop ‘The Seed Flower Shop‘. They made a sign. We also decided that we need some essential agreements to help us work and learn at the shop. The students were excited to use Chinese money to buy and sell goods at the flower shop. 

Story # 10

WORMS!!!! Why do we need worms? 

We have been reading books and watching videos about how worms help the plants grow. We decided to get our own worm compost bin!

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/715740762827202560

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/715741585183416320

Story # 11

Is it real? Will it grow?

There was a tub of beans in ‘The Seed Flower Shop‘ for children play with. The students began to wonder if the seeds we real and what they could do to find out. As we did not want to damage the seeds in any way, they shared ideas about how we can find out. William suggested that we could plant it and then see if it grows. We used greenhouses to grow the beans. The students suggested that we should grow them in different conditions; in sand, soil and paper.

Story # 12

How tall is my plant?

The students were happy to see that the mung beans they planted before the holidays have grown. We wondered how we could record what we observe, in our plant journals. Students suggested that we count the number of leaves our plant had. First we tagged the tallest plant in our pots and counted the number of leaves it had. The students wanted to know how tall it was. Eva suggested that we ‘use the stick with the numbers’ (ruler) to measure the height of the plant. The students first wrote the model sentences on the interactive board and then on their journals.

Story # 13

How does your garden grow?

The students went out to water the plants in our garden plot. They were surprised to see that the potatoes, radish, tomato and carrots are growing! We pulled out a radish to take back to class.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/720476090423242752

We talked about which part of the plant we eat. The students used the programme Drawing Pad to create a picture showing the different parts of the plant.

The students then discussed what plants give us.

• Stephanie: They give us honey.
• James: Trees give us maple syrup.
• Vincent: Plants give us seeds and the seeds then grow into new seeds, we get new plants.

Making Thinking Visible

• William: Animals eat grass.
• Joshua: People cut down wheat and put it in bags and take it to the mill and turn it into bread.
• Eva: Trees give us good air. We will die without air!

Story # 14

The students sorted the various foods based on the different parts of the plant we eat. Eva went to the garden to look for more vegetables.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/722232769347063808

Story # 15

Plants in Cambodia by Joshua

At the temples in Cambodia we found some giant vines that were big enough to swing on. Its like a long piece of wood. It was on the way to a temple.  The toots are connected..

Whilst we were in Cambodia we found some cashew fruit. The nut is the green bit on the end. The fruit is very juicy. I took a bite. These are cashew fruit and nuts. You can see the green pod at the end of the fruit. The man told us they need to roast the pod before they can eat the nut. There is only one inside.

 I am next to a rice paddy near Siem Reap in Cambodia. They were very tall.

At school we grew our own rice paddy!

Story # 16

The New Brooms

There we three new brooms in the classroom. The students discussed what they were made of and how we should use them.

• Stephanie: It’s a broom.
• Yoonseo: We use it to clean up.
• William: It’s for sweeping the floor and its made out of bamboo and bamboo leaves.
• James: It’s made out of thick sticks and some flowers.
• Aedan: It’s made of wheat.
• Myrto: If you put the broom upside down its like a tree.
• Aedan: Different people use different materials to make the broom.
• Noela: Maybe at the break time we can have some children have a try to use the brooms outside.
• Juhyun: We need to take turns and we shouldn’t fight for the brooms because it might break.
• Ethan: I don’t think it’s made of wheat, I think it’s hay.
• William: You shouldn’t press it too hard, you should use it gently.
• Joshua: We need to find somewhere to keep the brooms, otherwise it might get lost.
• Aedan: What is hay?
• Avery: Hay is thin and tall, its yellow.
• Noela: Its dry grass and its yellow and it comes from the farm. It’s for the horses and other animals to eat.
• Myrto: What about the K1 children? They don’t know how to use them and they might break it.
• Laetitia: Maybe we can tell the K1 kids how to use them.
• James: We have to take turns and share.

Story # 17

Trip to the Wet Market and Making Vegetable Soup: 

We are going to make a vegetable soup.

• Joshua: We bought the vegetables from the wet market.
• Avery:   We bought fruits, vegetables and nuts.
• William: The teacher gave us 5 Yuan to buy the vegetables.

• James: We bought the vegetables to make our soup.
• Alice:    We carried them back to the classroom.
• Myrto: We saw fruits, vegetables and nuts at the wet market.
• Eva:      It was nice to buy a lot of things.
• Ethan:   It was wet in the market.
• Avery:   Because when we wash the vegetables it gets wet.
• Vincent: There was pork too.
• Alice:    And some chickens.
• Stephanie: We bought bread. Why was it sweet?
• Alice:    Because the bread is made of wheat. It is sweet.
• Avery:   All of the bread is made out of wheat so how come that was sweet?
• Stephanie: Maybe they put some honey or sugar.

How are we going to make the soup?

• Avery: We need to wash the vegetables because they are dirty because lots of people touch it.
• William: Because it has some soil and we can’t cook it with the
• soil. Ms. Hannah showed me that we need to take out the black things from the leaves because we can’t eat it.

• Alice: We need to cut the vegetables before we cook it.
• Eva: We need to protect ourselves, we need to hold the knife at the end.
• Alice: And we need to listen to the teacher because she is teaching us how to use the knife.

• William: First we need to put the food in the pot and then we put the hot water in it and then we can cook it on the fire. We need to wash our hands before we cut the vegetables.

Ms. Hannah put hot water in the pot and cooked it on the fire on the cooker. Now the soup is ready because the bubbles come in the soup.

Add butter to the pan.

Temper the vegetables.

Add stock and boil.

We drank and ate the soup at lunch. It tasted yummy.

• James: I thought I was only good at sports but I was very good at cutting the vegetables. I think I will help mummy and daddy cook during the weekend.

Yum! Yum! Yum! The End.

Story # 18

We can take ACTION!

Save the Rainforests!!!

Avery feels passionately about the destruction of the rainforests. We decided to watch a video to learn more about the rainforest. She then made a poster and wanted to visit the students in K1, to speak to them about it.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/724177346173902849

Story # 19

Sculptures and Creativity with Natural Materials

Story # 20

The Growing Beans

K2 were looking at how the seeds have sprouted.

• Donghee: It’s big.
• Joshua: Do these grow into food?
• Avery: I think, we don’t know.
• Alice: The one with the soil has grown the biggest.
• William: I know why. Because soil can help plants to grow fast. Tomorrow its going to be way taller. Should we measure it?
• Stephanie: Soil makes it grow better because soil makes it grow better and stronger.
• Avery: The soil is a bit more healthier for the plants.
• James: Because plants need soil not tissue and water in sand.
• William: But they grow.
• Alice: Why was the sand one bigger first but then after a few weeks the one with the soil grew bigger than that one.
• William: Every plant is growing with the soil.
• Vincent: I think we put the seed in sand first.
• Stephanie: I think a few months later it was bigger because it has a seed first. Because the soil is healthy and it grows bigger.
• William: I see lots of roots.
• Alice: That’s because the soil is more healthy. The biggest one needs more roots and that is what helps it stand.
• Joshua: But why does the roots look like bones?
• Avery: It’s like the ribcage. Because the ribcage has little things around it so it keeps everything safe like a shield or something. Like your heart. It makes the blood.
• Stephanie: What is the seed made of?
• James: What are leaves made of? What are seeds made of?
• William: Why did it not look like a real seed?
• Avery: Because pumpkin seeds are big and that makes a big pumpkin. How did the first seed come? How did the first leaf come?
• Joshua: But you know how Avery said the mango seed is bigger than that but the fruit is smaller. The water melon has incy wincy seeds but the fruit is very very big.

How can we measure how long the plant is? After a lot of conversations about how to measure it Eva suggested that we use a piece of paper to measure the plant as it can be bent, unlike the ruler.

Story # 21

The Strawberry Plant

Ms. Hannah brought in her strawberry plants to class. 

• William: When it’s red you can eat it. When its small and it’s red can we eat it? 
• Avery: The old leaves make more soil.
• Jihoon: Why is it like this?
• Yoonseo: This leaf is like this its growing, growing, growing, if somebody touches it it will break (new shoots). 
• Donghee: Its growing and its becoming a strawberry?

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/725862312012206080

The students decided to make observational drawings of the strawberry plants. We cared for the plant and watched it grow. We ate some of the strawberries when they were ripe enough.

Story # 22

The Crate

Mrs. Gijzen brought in a crate for K2. The students wondered what was in it. There were a number of different parts and two wheels. There were some instructions and lots of nuts and bolts. We wondered what it was.

• a washing machine? 
• a lawnmower?
• a cement mixer? 
• a bicycle?

Students helped build the ‘big black thing’. 

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/724827636988518400

When we finished we took it outdoors and tried to make connections with what we already knew. We were learning about plants so the students thought that it must be connected to the ‘big lack thing’. 

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/727403013250277376

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/727400679971524609

After some thought and many conversations, we all agreed that it had to be a compost bin. We filled it up with worms, leaves and old food.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/727400435699453953

Story # 22

We Want You To Know…

Jihoon “This boy is cutting the tree. The sign says NO CUTTING. One boy is giving water to the apple tree. No cutting the trees because this is a small tree.”

Alice “This picture is about no throwing the chair if it is old and if you throw the chair that means that you waste the trees. And the animals will die because animals live in the woods and people can’t live too because trees give us air and water.”

Vincent “Please don’t waste paper. If you have an accident you can erase with and eraser. No wasting paper because paper is made out of trees. If you waste paper they will cut down more trees, then we don’t have good air and people die.”

Eva “Please don’t cut the trees otherwise you will die because the trees make air. Really, please don’t cut the trees!” If you carry the trees around to put them away, then there won’t be enough room for trees to grow. We need pollen so the pollen can fall on the ground and make new trees. Please plant more trees.”

Avery “No cutting down trees because then there will be no more plants. There will be no air then because trees make air. People want to make money and more houses so they cut the trees. DO NOT CUT THE TREES!”

Myrto “No cutting plants because animals and people will die. Paper and food is made out of trees. But then if we don’t have food then we will die because it makes us alive. And water too. Then we don’t waste food and don’t waste paper. And then the bees and the pollen will die because they are chopping the trees. The person chopped the smallest tree and then the biggest tree. Don’t waste food. Don’t waste paper!”

Donghee “One tree is a big tree. The boy is cut the tree because big tree is to make a tree house. The little tree is getting water from the boy.”

Guilherme “This boy is cutting the tree because he can’t pass it (the tree). The sun is so sad because he is cutting the tree. This boy is cutting the tree because he can’t cross the water and he is using the tree to pass. This boy is in the water and the fish is in the water.”

Joshua “Don’t kill the bugs because there will be no plants. Because some bugs help plants, like the bees by taking pollen to places that they live. Someone splatted a bee and another bee started stinging another person. If you kill bees, there will be no honey and the flowers will get filled up with honey. There will be no honey. Baby bees live on honey. Not all butterflies can get to the flowers on time and they might die. They are killing worms by stepping on them. Worms can help plants when they use the toilet. This helps the plants grow. If they don’t use the toilet, then the plants will die and then we will die because we need plants for air and some of them give us fruits. And trash is polluting the air because they are throwing it. Leave the worms alone and put trash in the bin!”

Ethan “These people are cutting the tree because they want more paper. Please plant more trees.”

Sunghun “People cutting trees. The other man is putting water.”

James “When you cut the trees something happens to change the world. The trees and the animals, every animal gets sick. Because animals die when everyone cuts the trees because trees make air. They are cutting down the trees to make more room for more houses and to get more money and get richer. They should be respectful to plants by not cutting down the trees.”

William “Please don’t use the boat because if you use the boat when the oil comes off the boat the fish will be sick and die. The oil is not good for the fish because they need to drink some water and the oil is already in the water. They will drink it and it will go in the fish’s body. When the fish eat the pants the plants are sick because of the oil already is in the plant. When the food is in the water and the oil is in the water the oil will make the food sick, and when the fish is hungry and they will eat the sick food and then they will die.”

Yoonseo “No cutting trees because trees feel hurt. He loves to cut trees because he likes to eat the apples.”

Story # 23

Visit to the Science Lab

We visited Ms. Jackie in the Science Lab as we had many unanswered questions:

• What are leaves made of? 
• What are seeds made of? 
• What are leaves green?
• Why do plants need sunlight?
• How do the worms make the soil good for plants?
• What is a tree bark made of?
• How do bees help the flowers?

Here is what we did.

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/728551326032891904

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/728728110691016704

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/728730341750411265

We went to the science lab upstairs and we learned that everything that lives is made out of cells. We looked at the cells in an onion.

We found out that:

We saw that plants that had plants grew better in white light.

We put a leaf in special alcohol and hot water because we wanted to see if we can take the colour out of the leaf.

Story # 24

We visited our vegetable plot and were excited to see that all our plants were growing!!

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/730239084455596033

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/730238753470439424

Story # 25

The Bamboo Forest

Eva and her family visited the Bamboo Forest in China. She shared her experiences with the other students. She enjoyed her trip on the train, seeing the giant pandas and the very tall bamboo trees. 

https://twitter.com/NISKinder2/status/742155412124770305