Plants are amazing, and essential, forms of life all around us. Let's explore how plants begin their life cycle through the process of germination!

Objectives

• Understand that a seed contains a new plant.
• Understand that seeds need certain conditions to grow – not always the same for each seed type.
• Understand that some seeds may not germinate due to environmental conditions, genetic defects, predation.

Materials

sandwich bags, paper towels, water, tape, seeds for planting, seeds for dissecting

Vocabulary

germination, shell/hull, seed coat, cotyledon, germ/embryo

Ohio’s Learning Standards for Science

Kindergarten: (K.LS.2) - Living things have physical traits and behaviors, which influence their survival.

1^st Grade: (1.LS.1) - Living things have basic needs, which are met by obtaining materials from the physical environment. (1.LS.2) - Living things survive only in environments that meet their needs.

2^nd Grade: (Topic: Interactions within Habitats) - This topic focuses on how ecosystems work by observations of simple interactions between the biotic/living and abiotic/nonliving parts of an ecosystem. Just as living things impact the environment in which they live, the environment impacts living things.

3^rd Grade: (3.LS.1) - Offspring resemble their parents and each other. Individuals of the same kind of organism differ in their inherited traits. (3.LS.2) - These differences give some individuals an advantage in surviving and/or reproducing. (3.LS.3) - Plants and animals have life cycles that are part of their adaptations for survival in their natural environments.