The Circle of Life

This past year I had the idea of showing my students how there is a circle of life in living things. Since we need to learn about the part of a plant, I decided to take the plant approach.

In the fall, we carved out a pumpkin, not so much for Halloween but for an example while talking about the harvest season. We scooped out the seeds and cleaned them off. Instead of roasting and eating them, we spread them out on a tray allowed them to dry for a couple of days. Then I placed the seeds in a ziplock bag and put them in a cool cabinet in our classroom.

In the late spring, just before ending the school year, we took the seeds out that we had harvested from the pumpkin. Each child planted a few seeds in a cup filled with potting soil (like we all typically do when talking about plants). To my surprise, these seeds jumped right up. It may have been the rich potting soil, but I also think it was because our seeds were fresh.

I have never seen a group of children so excited about taking their plant home. They knew where the seeds had come from and they were convinced they could grow a pumpkin by harvest time. I am convinced that this added to my students understanding of the life cycle of a plant. It was much richer experience than I had created in the past.