A Look at our Bean Unit

The Zakar's are very busy here in Room 11.  Now that spring has arrived, it has given us a new, fresh boost of energy for our last trimester as Kindergartners.  Report cards went home yesterday and I hope all of the parents are as proud of their son/daughter as I am.  It is evident that the children have taken charge of their own learning and that they really understand why they are in school.

We started our bean unit by talking about living and non-living things.  We did many activities and the kids generated all of the characteristics of a living thing.  We know that they need water, air, food, the ability to change and grow, and the ability to reproduce or make more of itself.  We then decided that a bean seed was a living thing and we talked about the life cycle of a bean.  We began by dissecting a Lima bean.  We became scientists and took the seed coat off first.  The kids thought this was neat but very slimy.  The next part we saw was the bean's food.  We had to split open the bean to see this.  Last we saw the embryo or baby seed.  We took some great observations and shared what we learned. Ask your child to point out each part on this picture.

Through an educational video, we learned that a bean seed will start to sprout with just water. We decided to explore this idea and create our own little experiment.  We took a wet paper towel and put it in a plastic cup. Next we put 4 beans between the paper towel and the cup. Lastly, we watered our beans to make sure they were wet.  So far, some of the children have observed the roots beginning to grow.  As the week goes on, I bet they will be surprised as to what they observe.  This is what some of ours look like right now!