Planting and Growing Inquiry Continued

Our Planting and Growing inquiry is still going strong!  Over the past two weeks we have focused our attention on grass.  

The students began to take an interest in the jar with grass growing in it.  They enjoyed touching it and feeling the blades on the palms of their hands.  Ms. Marrella and I decided to have a conversation with our students about grass, and experiment with it by cutting it. 

Some students predicted that the grass would grow back based on their own experience with grass.  Other students wondered if cutting the grass would harm it as the grass blades were quite delicate.  As we waited to see what would happen to our cut grass, we decided to take a walk around the neighbourhood in search of grass. 

We invited our students to use the iPad and document the grass on our walk.  Unexpectedly, we began to notice different types of grass (shades of green and textures).  We decided to send a tweet to Ranger Ridley asking if there are different types of grass.

Our students also found a stick with green stuff on it.  They were curious about what it was, maybe grass?  One of our students was sure it was algae.  We asked Ranger Ridley what he thought. 

Interestingly, the front of our school grows the Hosta plant.  We noticed the finger like buds sprouting from the soil on our way back from one of our walks.  This plant stumped our students as they wondered if it was grass or not?  Hostas are green like grass, but thicker.  We have been watching and documenting the Hostas grow a little bigger every day.  Ms. Marrella and I took a small part of the plant for our students to explore up close.  

Finally, one of our plants died in the middle of the year.  We decided to re-plant this little tree in hopes that it might come back to life.  In preparation for this, our students choose a location behind the school, where the tree would get enough sun light, and not be stepped on by other children in our school.  Below are some pictures of our students planting this little tree.  

So many things to look forward to this week... the growth of grass, Hostas and maybe a tree!