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Growing Together |
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Growing Together |
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kINDERGARTEN |
FIRST GRADE |
SECOND GRADE |
THIRD GRADE |
FOURTH GRADE |
FIFTH GRADE |
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GOAL of LESSON:
Students will plant fir tree seeds in a peat pot.
OBJECTIVES:
1. Understand the process of growing seeds
2. Understand the requirements of what it takes for tree seeds to sprout.
A). Winterizing (Known as stratification)
B). Water (From melting snow)
C). Warmth (From the sun)
D). Light (From the sun after the snow has melted)
3. The class will substitute (or artificially produce) nature’s requirements.
TOOLS NEEDED:
1. Fir tree Seeds, Peat Pots, Potting Soil, Water, Spray Bottle to disperse the water, Tarp to
keep the floor reasonably clean, Containers to make the soil readily available to the students, Compacting Block,
Containers to carry the peat pots.
2. All tools, materials, etc. to be furnished by others.
ACTION STEPS: (At any step, if any student needs a little help, speak right up.)
1. The students, a few at a time will remove an empty peat pot from the tray. The pots are kind fragile and will break if handled rough, so be reasonably gentle.
2. Take the pot to the containers holding the potting soil and fill the pot with soil right up to the top. Use the wooden block or your fingers to press the potting soil firmly in place. Add more potting soil to keep the pot full.
3. Count out five seeds from the dish of seeds.
4. Place one seed in the middle of the pot and one seed in each corner. The greater distance between the seeds, the better chance the seeds will have to grow.
5. Press the seeds into the potting soil with your fingers. Be careful the seeds do not stick to your fingers. If they do, then put the seeds back in the peat pot and try again.
6. After the seeds are firmly in place in the peat pot, take the spray bottle and give it several good sprays of water. The seeds need to be very wet.
7. After the seeds have been thoroughly watered, place the peat pot in a second carrying tray.
You have now taken the first major step in growing a Christmas tree. The tree will be ready to cut as a Christmas tree when you are Seniors in High School.
ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION:
OBJECTIVES:
1. Understand the process of growing seeds
2. Understand the requirements of what it takes for tree seeds to sprout.
A). Winterizing (Known as stratification)
B). Water (From melting snow)
C). Warmth (From the sun)
D). Light (From the sun after the snow has melted)
3. The class will substitute (or artificially produce) nature’s requirements.
TOOLS NEEDED:
1. Fir tree Seeds, Peat Pots, Potting Soil, Water, Spray Bottle to disperse the water, Tarp to
keep the floor reasonably clean, Containers to make the soil readily available to the students, Compacting Block,
Containers to carry the peat pots.
2. All tools, materials, etc. to be furnished by others.
ACTION STEPS: (At any step, if any student needs a little help, speak right up.)
1. The students, a few at a time will remove an empty peat pot from the tray. The pots are kind fragile
and will break if handled rough, so be reasonably gentle.
2. Take the pot to the containers holding the potting soil and fill the pot with soil right up to the top. Use the wooden block or your fingers to press the potting soil firmly in place. Add more potting soil to keep the pot full.
3. Count out five seeds from the dish of seeds.
4. Place one seed in the middle of the pot and one seed in each corner. The greater distance between the seeds, the better chance the seeds will have to grow.
5. Press the seeds into the potting soil with your fingers. Be careful the seeds do not stick to your fingers. If they do, then put the seeds back in the peat pot and try again.
6. After the seeds are firmly in place in the peat pot, take the spray bottle and give it several good sprays of water. The seeds need to be very wet.
7. After the seeds have been thoroughly watered, place the peat pot in a second carrying tray.
You have now taken the first major step in growing a Christmas tree. The tree will be ready to cut as a Christmas tree when you are Seniors in High School.
ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION:
OBJECTIVES:
1. To let the students look at and study the seedlings they planted the previous year.
2. To give the plant more room to grow a stronger root system.
3 To provide a better and more substantial plant pot that will be handled in the field the following year.
TOOLS NEEDED:
1. Enough year old seedlings, planted by these students when they were First Graders, so that each student
can transplant at least one seedling.
2. Larger plastic pots, potting soil a tarp to place on the floor to keep the
“mess” confined.
3. Trays to hold and carry the potted tree seedlings.
4. Spray bottles to water the transplanted
seedlings.
ACTION STEPS:
1. The facilitator will explain the need for the larger pot and how fragile the peat pot is after being moist
for one year.
2. Each student will take one of the plastic pots, with the peat pot holding the seedling, and place the peat
pot in one of the corners of the plastic pot. That will leave space on just two sides of the peat pot.
3. Carefully fill around the two sides of the peat pot with potting soil. The potting soil should be firmly
pressed down with the fingers, trying to disturb the peat pot as little possible. The transplant pot should be filled
to the top of the rim.
4. Water the newly transplanted seedling and place it in a second carrying tray.
5. All tools, materials, etc. to be furnished by others.
ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION:
OBJECTIVES:
1. Understand the process of growing frees
2. Measure grids that will support growth
3. Use math to calculate proper planting distances
TOOLS & MATERIALS NEEDED:
Two, 50 foot tape measures (Engineer’s tapes measured in tenths of feet instead of inches.) (Any tape measure 25 ft.
or more will do.)
Two Bulb planters
Trays of 2-year old seedlings. (enough so that each students plants at least one seedling)
Water
All tools, materials, etc. to be furnished by others.
ACTION STEPS:
1. Students will lay out a planting grid on 6-inch centers. Each school district will plant up to 100 seedlings.
Seedlings will be planted in rows that are 6 inches apart. Rows will be 25 feet long. (Students will calculate that
2 trees will be planted in every foot of space or 50 trees per row.
2. Place an iron rod through one end of the tape at one end of the transplant bed. Place another rod at the other end of the transplant bed more than 25 feet away. One person needs to hold the end of the tape tight, up against the iron rod. Students will then take a wire with a flag and stick it straight up in the ground at every foot and every half foot. (On the tape measure, each foot is marked in red and each half foot is noted with a 5 or if using a regular tape measure every 6 inches .)
3. Take a bulb planter, slide it over the flag, and move it down to the ground. With a twisting motion, push the planter in as deep as you can. Remove the flag. Continue to push the planter into the ground to it’s full depth. Ask for help if it won’t go in deep enough. Remove the planter straight up with a twisting motion and the soil will come up with the planter. Take a seedling tree gently by the stem, just above the roots. Be careful not to touch the new, light green, growth. It is very tender and will damage easily.
4.Tease the root ball gently and partially pulling it apart. Fill the hole half full of water. Place the seedling in the hole and bring the dirt in around the roots. Fill up the hole. The seedling should be planted just as deep in the hole as it was in the seed tray. Press the dirt firmly around the seedling.
5.Repeat the process until each student has planted at least one seedling tree.
6. Two rows can be planted at one time. One row should have about 2 seedlings planted ahead of the other row so that the students will not interfere with each other. When the next person using the bulb planters is ready to use the planter, it will be full of dirt. That dirt will need to be removed before using it.
7. Water the newly planted seedlings again. Newly transplanted trees, as well as all other plants being transplanted, need lots of water. The little tender roots can not be allowed to dry out.
ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION:
OBJECTIVES:
1. Students will learn about the need for lights in a greenhouse.
2. Students will learn about the need for water on the seeds.
3. Students will learn why newly planted seeds are kept covered by glass.
4. Students will observe newly sprouted seeds comparable to the seeds they planted the previous year.
TOOLS NEEDED:
None
ACTION STEPS:
1. Observe the tiny seedlings
2. Observe the several (up to five) seedlings in each pot
3. Observe the timer that regulates the light
4. Facilitator explains how the seedlings are watered.
5. Students are encouraged to ask questions about the seedlings, how they grow and what it takes to have them grow well.
ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION:
OBJECTIVES:
1. Students will gain an initial understanding of how trees grow
2. Some wildlife habitat. (Primarily a beaver dam, beaver house and beaver food source ). Other wildlife that is observed
or considered.
ACTION STEPS:
1. There will be 4 identical beds for the 4 SAD’s. Each bed will be divided into 3 sections. Each section will be
used for two years with a one-year non-use. The beds will be long and narrow. Beds will be plowed, harrowed, and
rototilled. Soil samples will be taken and sent to the UM lab for analysis. Each year, seedlings will be planted
in the new beds.
2. The tour will include looking at and discussing a beaver dam, a beaver house and how the beaver cut trees and
utilize the tops for food.
3. Discussion will also include other wild life observed around the farm and the needs of each.
ASSESSEMENT & EVALUATION:
GOAL:
Students will lay out the plantation grid to plant trees.
OBJECTIVES:
1. Help students understand the ongoing maintenance needs of growing trees. (Hand maintenance vs. mechanical
maintenance.)
2. Learn that trees need proper light to grow.
3. Planting space needs to be used in an efficient manner to maximize number of trees planted at the same time the trees need lots of sun to branch out evenly, “like a Christmas Tree.” Trees need to be evenly spaced to utilize mechanical equipment such as sprayers and mowing machines.
ACTION STEPS:
1. The group will discuss ways to efficiently plant including mechanical planting, lining up planting
rows by eye, and lining up planting space using a transit.
2. Stakes about 30 to 40 feet apart have already been placed in the ground.
3. Students will line up a steel tape using about three of the stakes to make a straight line.
4. The zero end of the tape will be placed at the beginning.
5. The first flag will be placed at the 6 foot mark.
6. From then on each student will add 6 to the previous number of feet and place the next flag. The flags should also line up with trees in adjacent rows.
7. Students will place the flags in the ground to mark the planting grid.
8. Follow-up — In the next school year, when the 4th grade class becomes the 5th grade, they will plant the trees in the location of the marked flags.
ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION:
OBJECTIVES:
1. Facilitator will explain testing a soil sample requires the sample to be representative of the
area to be tested. How this is done and why it had to be done ahead of time.
2. Students will observe as the facilitator tests the soil for its acidity and nutrients to make sure it is appropriate to grow trees.
ACTION STEPS:
1.Facilitator will ask students to talk about prior knowledge they have when planting trees or any other crop.
(To grow good crops, it takes nitrogen, phosphates and potassium. Soil is either acid, alkaline or neutral.)
2. The group will talk about pH. (The acidity of soil is measured by pH. A soil pH of 6.5 is neutral. A low pH indicates an acid soil. A high pH indicates an alkaline soil.)
3. Securing a soil sample to be tested requires the sample be reprentative of the filed.
4. The facilitator will explain how to make sure the sample is representaive.
5. The sample has to be completely dry before testing. That is the reason the sample has to be secured ahead of the class action.
6. The facilitator will handle all chemicals even though the chemicals being used are not toxic the way they are being used.
ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION:
OBJECTIVES:
1. Students will learn how to prepare a seedling for transplanting. (Digging the seedling up from the
transplant bed and keeping the roots moist.)
2. Students will learn how to spread the roots out before adding soil and why.
3. Students will learn how to properly compact the soil around the roots. (Firmly but gently)
4. Students will learn that water must be added to a new transplant. (The moisture intake by the roots must equal or exceed the transpiration of the plant.)
ACTION STEPS: (Lots of things will effct the growth of the seedling over the next six years
but perhaps 50% of what will determine how well it grows will be the result of how it is handled today.)
1. Students will divide into 3-person groups.
2. One student from each group will take a measure and get about 1 quart of water. (The water is actually a solution of Miracle-Gro plant food.) A second student will take a measure and fill it full of top soil. The third student will receive a tree seedling from a pail of seedlings that have been soaking in water.
3. The roots of the seedlings must not be allowed to dry at all.
4. The seedling will be placed in the hole making sure the above ground stem is at the same ground level in the new hole as it was originally. Make sure the roots are spread out as much as possible, while at the same time being very gentle with the little roots.
5. The hole shall then be partially filled, (about ˝) with soil. Make sure to keep the roots spread out. The soil will be packed firmly around the roots.
6. One quart of water will be added to the partially filled hole.
7. Lastly, fill the hole completely with top soil, making sure the soil is compacted firmly but gently around the roots and be sure to eliminate any pockets of air.
8. After the hole is completely filled, the student will complete the tamping or compacting around the seedling being careful not to damage the seedling, particularly the new little buds.
9. The team will then swap jobs and repeat the process. The process will continue until everyone has planted at least one seedling.
ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION:
BACK to various programs.