PHOTOPERIOD ~ WEEK 3

December 9, 2013 ~ In taking measurements this week, the largest growth increase was the roots of the plant in 24 hour light. It gained 21 inches!!! The rest of the plant(s) didn't show as much growth as we thought. The plant that is getting no light (24 hour dark) is definitely showing signs of deficiency. The students were actually quite sad that the plant is dying, so I told them, "You are the scientists, what can we do?" Well, since they realize the importance of light they want to see if they can save the life of this poor bean plant. They are taking a change of action in their experiement and are going to see if a little plant CPR will help. Since the plant in 24 hours light seems to be showing the greatest growth, they are going to put the box to the side and put this light deficient plant under lights for the week. We'll see what happens!

PHOTOPERIOD ~ 2 WEEKS LATER!

December 2, 2013 ~ After Thanksgiving break the 2nd graders were very excited to see what was going on under the box. Before taking a peek, they made the prediction that they thought the plant would no longer be alive. However, upon revealing the contents, they found it was still standing tall and green. However compared to the other plants, it was not growing nearly the same rate as the other two. We took some measurements and found the plant in 24 hour light is growing the fastest. The plant in normal day/night light exposure seems to be growing out, more than up. We'll see how they look in another week.

LET THE EXPERIMENT BEGIN!

 

November 18, 2013 ~ The extra lighting seemed to work, the plants grew quite well in the last week! This week we discussed the needs of plants ~ light, food, water, air, etc. and were curious as to what might happen if one of these needs was altered. We know that as seasons change, the amount of daylight changes. We know how it affects us...it gets dark earlier, so we have to go to bed earlier, right? We have decided to use the scientific method to investigate this seasonal change for plants.

 

QUESTION: Do plants really need light to survive?

HYPOTHESIS: Plants need SOME light to survive.

THE EXPERIMENT: To test our hypothesis we have taken the remaining plants and divided up.

Group 1 will receive light 24 hours a day.

Group 2 will receive the normal day/night light.

Group 3 will receive NO light.

Each week we will measure: the height of the plant, length of the roots, number of leaves and size of the biggest leaf.

 



DEALING WITH UNKNOWNS!!??

Monday, November 11th ~ Wow! Who know trying to keep plants alive and thriving would be such tricky work! This week a few of the plants were put to rest and the others are being treated to a warm, light-enhanced boost. The class is learning lots about science and dealing with unknowns and mysteries. We aren't sure why the plants aren't growing as well as expected, but I guess that's an experiment we weren't planning on. Some of the kids' ideas of why they aren't growing include: they aren't getting enough sun, just light from the classroom; it is a cool in our classroom, so they might need more warm weather; and, of course, they are still a little curious about them growing in water rather than soil. Therefore, before starting our "official" experiment, we decided to put all the healthy plants  under lights 24 hours a day. We are hoping this gives them the boost they need.

Stay tuned...

GROWING AND CHANGING

 

October 28 and November 4 ~ The 2nd Graders have been practicing their patience and measuring skills. The last couple weeks they have measured how tall their plants are, how long the roots are stretching and how many leaves. They have noticed a few differences, but continue to wonder why many of them seem to be growing really slowly, or not at all. They are realizing the world of science is full of questions and unknowns. Next week we will "weed out" the unhealthy plants and try to focus on those that are still thriving.

MYSTERY VISITOR and TRANSPLANT DAY!!!

 

Tuesday, October 15th ~ Today we had a special visitor during Science. Mrs. Neisius' colleague, Mr. Ken Kramer, K-12 Education Specialist at University of Minnesota Southwest Research and Outreach Center, made the trip from Lamberton to Lakeview to check out our Hydroponics! Of course, we put him to work!

 

First, my water boys filled the buckets with distilled water. Using distilled water vs tap water ensures there are no "unwanted guests" affecting the growth of our seedlings. Then, the seedlings were unrolled on trays and ready to be transplanted into the buckets.

 

 

Next, the students were given a cotton ball and a seedling. They were instructed to carefully roll the seedling up in the cotton ball at the bottom of the stem, but at the top of the root. The purpose of the cotton ball is hold the seedling upright when transplanted into the bucket. 

 

 

Next, the plants were carefully lowered into the round openings of the lids. Each bucket was "fed" 7.5 ml of nutrient solution and now we will see what happens next!

 

SHAKE IT UP!

 

Monday, October 14th ~ The 2nd graders learned a little more about what is to come. They have been anticipating the transplanting of the seedlings into soil, but they suddenly realized that was not going to happen. When growing plants hydroponically, they will be growing in water. This brought about the discussion of the importance of soil and the fact that it stores the nutrients needed for the plants to grow. Well, that being said, we mixed up the nutrient solution today provided to our class through the University of Minnesota during Mrs. Neisius' class this summer. We took the two bags of solution, mixed each with 1 pint of water. When each were dissolved in their own jars, they were combined. This nutrient solution will be used to provide "food" for the plants as needed.



GROWIN' LIKE WEEDS!

 

Mrs. Neisius' 2nd Grade class has been amazed at how much their plants have gone and how quickly this happened! I guess now we know where the phrase "growin' like a weed" comes from.

 

 



 

Last week when we were rolling the corn seeds, we were a little sad that our cucumber seeds decided to nap a little longer and were having a hard time waking up. So, we have started some green bean seeds. Wow - they don't have a hard time gettin' outta bed and ready to roll!

PLANTS GONE WILD!



Elongation:  We rolled some of the small corn plants in paper towels which has given support to the plants' stems and has given the roots direction. The rolled plants were then placed in a container of water to allow the plants to elongate before we place them in the buckets of water and nutrients. We hope to accomplish that next step next week. Check back next week to see what has happened.

FROM SEED TO SPROUT!

 

 



Mrs. Baldwin's 3rd Grade Class:   We have been watching the fast growth of our corn plants! It took a couple of weeks for the seeds to germinate. (It has also taken Mrs. Baldwin awhile to keep up with this blog!) Once the seeds got started, things went quickly! We gave up on our cucumber seeds and will start some bean seeds instead (hoping for fast growth). After germination of the corn seeds, we then waited for the corn plants and roots to grow, so that we could then proceed with the next phase - elongation.

Elongation Day!

 

 

Monday, September 30 - 2nd Grade: Yeah! The corn is ready to roll! Today we were amazed at the root systems and leaves that were developing on the corn seeds. We rolled them in paper towels and will keep them nice and moist so the roots continue to grow and the leaves reach high into the sky. The kids are amazed at how much they are growing without any soil. :) They have no idea the exciting things to come!

 

You might ask about the cucumber seeds? Well, they haven't changed much, so we discussed how that is how science goes. We don't always know why something does or does not do as expected, but we made some predictions: maybe it was too wet, too cool or maybe it was just simply some "bad seeds."

 

 

1 Week after Germination

Monday, September 23 - Mrs. Neisius' 2nd Grade: Today we took a closer look at our seeds and measured the progress they had made. The corn seeds started to show evidence of roots and sprouts. The cucumber seeds are a bit pokier (or at least we are hoping they are just a bit pokey).

Mrs. Baldwin's 3rd grade class begins the germination process

Mrs. Baldwin's 3rd grade class in Granite Falls is taking on a similar hydroponics project. Our plan is to communicate with Mrs. Neisius and her 2nd grade class at Lakeview, so that we can compare our projects. We will try to complete the same steps at a similar time so that our projects will grow at a similar pace. It will be interesting to compare our results!

Our class "started" our seeds last Monday, September 16, by putting corn and cucumber seeds between paper towels on a couple of trays. We then soaked the paper towels with water. Our job is to keep those paper towels moist enough to help "germinate" the seeds.

Germination

 

Monday, September 16 - As we embark on this adventure we are going to need some plants. What better way to observe, than to watch them from the beginning stage. We "woke up" our seeds today by placing them between wet paper towels. We germinated corn and cucumber seeds. We will be sure their surroundings stay nice and moist and will check on them next Monday and hope to see some sprouts!

Welcome to our blog! This summer while the kids were out playing, swimming, camping, vacationing and enjoying time out of the classroom their teachers were in the classroom, but as students for a change. Mrs. Neisius, a 2nd grade teacher Lakeview in Cottonwood, MN and Mrs. Baldwin, a 3rd grade teacher at YME in Granite Falls, MN traveled to the University of MN Southwest Research and Outreach Center in Lamberton, MN for 10 days to venture into the world of plants and growing them Hydroponically. Now that the school year is underway, they are ready to share their learning with their students. Stay tuned as they begin to set up their own Hydroponics lab in each of their classrooms.