Today in Science

Today we explored what the word "observation" means in science.  We participated in several activities to help us learn.

First, we watched a time lapse video of seven sunflowers growing on YouTube  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zst08tm9s6M

Then, we watched a video of a dad harvesting giant sunflowers with his son
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ_RRtaNxTQ

Next, we went outside and harvested three sunflowers to dissect in class.

And, we looked at some of the parts of a sunflower under magnifying glasses.  We looked at the leaves, seeds, and pollen.  We also felt the pollen with our fingers.

This is a magnifying glass.

The following are some of the amazingly rich observations that the children made in their own words after these activities:
1.   Pollen feels soft.
2.  Brown dots on the leaf might mean disease.
3.  Seeds fall from the head of the sunflower.
4.  People can eat sunflower seeds.
5.  There is tiny hairs on the stems of the sunflowers.
6.  Sunflower seeds feel like wood.
7.  Squirrels take the sunflowers and eat the seeds.
8.  Squirrels save the seeds for the winter.
9.  Sunflower leaves feel prickly.  They are shaped like a heart. 
10.   The head of the sunflower droops over when they die.
11.  The seeds fall out of the sunflower when they die.
12.   Bees get the pollen and it sticks on their legs and they bring it to other sunflowers.
13.  Ladybugs hang onto the leaves of sunflowers.
14.  Sunflower seeds are smooth.
15.  We need bees to grow sunflowers because they bring pollen from flower to flower.
16.   Sunflower leaves have veins.