Montly Plant Monitoring

Purpose:

Students will continually observe the growth of strawberries throughout the school year.

Duration:

You will need to set aside about 1 hour each month for this lesson.

North Carolina Science Competencies:

Coming Soon

Materials:

• Diagram of plant parts
• Handout for recording measurements (need handout)
• Plant in a one gallon pot
• 1-2 large buckets of water
• Ruler
• Scale

Background Information:
Plants, like people grow. Consider using the analogy of children going to the doctor to get an annual wellness check-up. At the check-up, the child is weighed and their height is measured. The same is done for the plants on a monthly basis.

Focus Questions:

• What are the parts of the strawberry plant?
• Do you think each part will grow? Which part will grow the most?

Scratching the Surface:

Be sure to have a potted strawberry plant for each month of the school year. Encourage the children to estimate how big the plants will grow throughout the school year. Compare the strawberry plant size from planting to how big they might be in the spring.

Digging In:

1. At planting time, put 6 extra plants into 1 gallon pots of soil. The soil should preferably be potting soil from a local box store. It is easier to wash off the soil from the roots. (Picture).
2. Put a stake in each pot with the month. So there is an October plant, a November plant, a December plant etc. Picture.
3. Water and take care of plant the same way as you do the bed of plants.
4. In October, bring the October plant into the classroom and do the data collection.
5. Talk about the plant parts, leaves, roots and crown. (Picture).
6. Measure the plant, from bottom of roots to tip of longest leaf. Weigh the plant. Record data. Put plant into envelope, mark it with the date and keep for comparison later in the year.