Fall marks harvest time, cooler weather, and the close of summer, but for many it is also the beginning. This is a great time to take advantage of this new beginning as a teacher when you actually have time to plant some seeds and let them grow, unlike the traditional springtime plantings that we leave to wilt come summer.
It is easy to do, and easy for kids to get excited about. All you need is a sunny window (or a plant light) and a little room for a big pot, One teacher I knew used a kiddie pool to grow sunflowers in. (she had a large room)
• Start off with a brown paper bag with some sunflower seeds in it. Bring it to class and see if the kids can guess what is in it. Shake it a little, give a clue, let them feel inside, lastly you can show them, but keep it suspenseful!
• Then, talk about what they could be. Some children may be familiar, perhaps they had their own garden this past summer.
• Follow this up with a story I like to read. What’s This? A Seed’s Story, by Caroline Mockford. In this book a girl and a cat, find a seed and decide to find out what it is. They plant it and wait, and of course it becomes a Sunflower. The story is a great length for young children, pre-K, K, and even first graders will enjoy this one in September when attention has not developed yet. (What’s This is a Barefoot Book )
• Let children plant seeds in cups at first if you like or just plant them anonymously into the large container.
o Try planting some extras to experiment witholding light and water. Let the children predict what they see, record their ideas on a chart and post it in the Science area. Spend time noticing with the children which ones grow best, what do plants need to grow? (water, light, soil)
o While the plants grow you can introduce measuring, which is taller, shorter? How many inches?
o If the children are really interested, there are many great titles about soil and worms. The class could start a compost aquarium, and then use the composted material to feed the sunflowers as they grow.
• Once the sunflowers have grown, there are many posiblities for learning as well.
o Show the children some paintings by artists who used sunflowers for their subject matter. Encourage the children to notice how the artists created their sunflowers, colors? Lines? Shades?shapes? Then provide children with paints (watercolor tablets, or liquid are great, but another idea is to use craypas, to outline big shapes then wash over them with water colors. Use BIG Paper (18×24 is a good size) or have children create a class mural on large mural paper.
o Encourage students to Study a sunflower head in the science area. Patti Grosse, a teacher I once knew, used a large framed mirror in her science area to place items on for study with magnifying glasses
o Use the sunflower seeds as a counting exercise. Group seeds into cups of ten, let children each have a chance to fill cups with ten seeds.
o Make roasted sunflower seeds for a snack choice.
There are a few other Barefoot Books I like to group with this one.
The Gigantic Turnip, by Aleksei Tolstoy, is an invigorating version of this traditional favorite! Very fun, one of my favorites!
Jack and the Beanstalk, Richard Walker, is a great one we all know with NOT Scary illustrations by Niamh Sharkey.
Herb the Vegetarian Dragon, Jules Bass, wonderful story about conflict If only Herb and the others could solve the real worlds problems!, ( may be a bit long for the youngest listeners).
Whole World, Christopher Corr and Fred Penner, great remake (with singalong CD of an old favorite, endnotes informative on ways to conserve our natural resources.
The Sun in Me, contains poems about the planet.
