Taking Your Baby on the Bus
Your baby seed sprouts, that is!
We live in a state where there are more cattle per square mile (51.2) than people per square mile (11.3). At this point in the year, winter wheat is just poking its sprouts out far enough that some fields have a sort of greenish tint to them. Farmers are plowing and preparing the soil for other crops, but there’s pretty much nothing to see for miles and miles other than last year’s stubble and this year’s hopes.
That’s why it was so much fun to see my students’ excitement today when they hurried into class to check their “mini greenhouse” (aka a ziplock bag).
Wow- their five radish seeds and fifteen teeny-weeny lettuce seeds were all sprouting!
Suddenly big words like “germination” and “photosynthesis” became important. “Root hairs” and “cotyledon” could be viewed with our magnifying glasses. Discussions about how much sunlight and how much water these “baby” radishes and lettuce leaves would need led to plans for bringing them home (carefully!!) on the bus and putting them in “soft moist soil” (not mud!) “where the dogs won’t pee on them” (seemed to be worth noting).
What an exciting way to celebrate Earth Day!
