Will A Seed Grow....?

We are busy growing things around here! My class always plants marigolds at this time of year so that we can observe their life cycle and also paint pots to send them home in as a family gift for Mother's Day. I prefer to do "Family Gifts" instead of Mother's Day Gifts for two reasons: 1. There is always someone who doesn't have a Mom or has a Mom in a tough situation. 2. We are out on summer break for Father's Day, so we don't get to do Father's Day gifts and that doesn't seem very fair to those amazing Dads out there!

I am very excited about how we are extending our plant growing project for this year, though. We came up with "testable" questions about seeds and their growth. Now we are actually going to test out these questions, which means we have plants stuck every where and all living under special rules! There are 8 total, which means a lot to keep up with, but I think it will be fun! Look below the picture for our questions. 

Left to Right, beginning at the top:

1. Will a seed grow with only indoor light?

2. Will a seed grow in no light?

3. Control. Will a seed grow in ideal conditions?

4. Will a seed grow if we turn the planter sideways?

5. Will a seed grow with no water? and Will a seed grow with no drainage/too much water?

6. Will a seed grow in very cold temperatures? (We did discuss that this had two variables and that if we were Scientists we would do everything we could to prevent that. We brainstormed a bit, but couldn't come up with a way to control the light and vary the temperature at school.)

7. (Not pictured) Will a seed grow with no soil?

We actually planted three marigold seeds in each cup. Then, students did a quick write to make hypotheses about what they expect to happen based on what they already know about plants and growing things. We will observe them every few days and fill out this very not fancy chart as a class to collect our observations:

We're sure to do some sort of final writing and project at the end, but that is a while away and I don't have plans quite ready for that yet!

Happy Spring! I hope you are seeing some beautiful flowers where you are already.