Mrs. Comincioli's Classroom Corner

As a part of our living things unit, we created a hanging garden in our classroom.  We divided the class into 6 groups.  Each group “planted” 9 different lima beans.  Each lima bean was planted in a plastic bag with paper towels and hung on our bulletin board.  The variables for each plant were different.

• Plant A – Don’t water the lima  bean
• Plant B – Water the bean with a vinegar-and-water mixture
• Plant C – Cover the bag with construction paper
• Plant D – Do not put wet paper towels in the bag
• Plant E – Coat the seed with petroleum jelly
• Plant F – Cut the seed in half and plant both halves in the bag
• Plant G – Rotate the bag one turn each day
• Plant H – Add one cup soil to the  bag instead of paper towels
• Plant I – Water the bean with a mixture of liquid fertilizer and water

We wrote our hypothesis for each plant and will be observing them for the next 7-10 days to see which ones grow and if our hypothesis are correct.

We started our plant unit and the first thing we learned was the make up of a plant cell.  We learned about the different parts of the plant cell and drew a diagram of it.  We also observed an ivy leaf and a green onion under a microscope to see what a cell looks like.  On Friday we had a quiz over the parts of a cell.   The quiz was to create a cell out of graham crackers, icing, jelly, and candy.  After we created the cell, we had to explain where each part was and what its job is.    Once we had done that, we got to eat the cells and they were delicious!