I am in awe of our new Ranunculus. Each morning I head straight to our tiny flower patch and look for new blooms. The rains we received way back when have finally payed off in frilly pink and yellow petals decorating our garden space. I have always been such a veggie fanatic that I forgot how much pure beauty a flower can add to a garden – even a school garden where they will last about a week before being picked!
To Cleveland student scientists, however, nothing could make more sense than taking these colorful beauties and cutting them up to observe their insides. It’s time for Flower Dissection!
In order to preserve our spring blooms we dissected other seasonal stems – Daffodils! Students followed instructions to take apart each flower, bit by bit, and record each part on their Flower Dissection Worksheet. They had to account for the pistil, stamen, ovary, petals and other various parts necessary for a flower to produce fruit.
After studying the insides of their flowers, students learned about other animals in the garden that love flowers inside & out even more than we do! 3rd graders played a matching game to find out which garden pollinators were attracted to specific flowers. After finding their match they explored the garden to find an example of their flower and/or pollinator.
After pollination, the beautiful flowers in our garden are able to produce fruit – or as garden scientists call them – Seed Suitcases. Students studied many different types of seed dispersal, or how seeds move from their parent plant to a new home, through real examples of seeds from our very own garden. Students discovered fliers, droppers, poppers, and everyone’s favorite: poopers!
Here’s hoping for more spring showers! Goodness knows California (and our flowers) can use it!
Cleveland Outdoor Classroom 