What’s in our garden and how does it grow? Goal: To learn how fruits and vegetables grow and are categorized Objectives: The kids will be able to: • Identify the basic needs of a plant • Identify the parts of a plant- root, stem, leaf, and flower • Create simple tables and graphs and interpret them Before the lesson: Gather fruits and vegetables to serve as examples Guide and Materials: • Guide: Fact sheet • Materials: fruits & vegetable examples, pencils & paper Background Information: In order for children to understand where their food comes from, it is important that they understand the how things grow. The children need hands on experience in the garden to better understand that plants are alive and can vary in shape, colour, and in how they grow. Finally, the children will be able to better determine whether something is a fruit or a vegetable.

Have the children draw their own chart (or 1 large class chart) to Lesson Plan 1. Plant Categories: Have the children draw their own chart (or 1 large class chart) to organize fruits and vegetables into the parts of the plant that they represent: Title: What part of the plant am I eating when I eat________? Leaf Flower Fruit Seed Steam Root lettuce broccoli tomato beans asparagus potatoes spinach cauliflower strawberry peas celery carrots kale Chamomile tea peaches peanuts turnip chard apple coffee beets onion oatmeal ginger Leaf Flower Fruit Seed Stem 2. Functions of plant parts. How are the plant parts different? Where are they located?: Which part allows the plant to absorb water and other nutrients? Which part allows the plant to continue on to make more plants? Which plant part do you think you eat the most? The least? 3. Use the Fact Sheet to explain more specifics about fruits and vegetables throughout the lesson.

FACT SHEET: Fruit or Vegetable? Fruits Part of the plant the develops from the fertilized ovary Has the seed (or seeds) inside Examples: Berries, apples, oranges, avocados, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, & cucumbers Vegetables The edible parts of plants that are not the fruits or seeds Examples:Carrots, beets, spinach, kale, asparagus, & onions Components necessary to make your garden grow: Air, water, light, nutrients (basic needs of plants) Parts of the plant Roots- form below the ground and act as an anchor for the plant, providing support and allowing for absorption of water and nutrient Stem- supports that leaves and flowers and allows passage of water and other nutrients from the roots to the leaves Leaf- the site of photosynthesis Flower- site where pollination occurs (contains organs for sexual reproduction) Seed- a fertilized ovule that contains the necessary information for formation of a new plant Fruit- holds/protects the seed(s)