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Grow It 3-5 / Week 05 / Grow It Day
6/6
Week 05 · Leaves and Food from Light

Grow It Day

Grow It Day: Light or Shade?
// How plants make their own food
⏱ about 15 min

Grow It Day: Light or Shade?

Rocket lines up the Bright and Shade cups on the table. "Results day!" he says.

Raven sets out paper and a ruler. "What do you notice when the plants sit side by side?"

Nova hovers above the cups. "Data tells a story," she says. "Draw it so everyone can see."

The family gathers around to graph.

  1. Plants make sugar from carbon dioxide and water, using light energy. This is photosynthesis.
  2. Plants give off oxygen. Chlorophyll makes leaves green and captures light.
  3. Plant matter comes mostly from air and water, not soil.
  4. The energy in food was once energy from the Sun.
  5. A fair test changes only one thing.
◇ GRAPH THE LIGHT TEST
Measure both stems one more time. Note the leaf colors.
On paper, draw a bar graph with two bars for each day you measured.
Color the Bright bars one color and the Shade bars another.
Talk together: which plant looks healthier? Use height and color as evidence.
Decide: should you keep the test going one more week?
Safety first
A grown-up moves cups from high windowsills.
Wear gloves for soil. Wash your hands after.
Never eat any part of the plants.
For a grown-up
Ask your child to explain the fair test in their own words.
Praise careful measuring, even if results were not what they predicted.
TEST CHECK
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
What was the one thing we changed on purpose?
Which gas did both plants take from the air to make food?
Plant matter comes mostly from air and what else?
WHY THIS EXERCISEPlants are built mostly from air and water.

Wonderful scientists! Next week we look closely at flowers and the animals that visit them.

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