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Week 06 · Plants and Pets

Tuesday

A seed in a cup
// Living things count on you every day
⏱ about 15 min

Tuesday: A seed in a cup

Lizzy lines up a paper cup, a spoon and a bag of soil. Then one dry bean.

Oliver the Owl blinks at the bean. "That will be a plant? It looks like a pebble."

Lizzy grins. "Give it soil, water, light and time. And we write down what happens every day. A log never forgets, even when we do."

Planting a seed

A seed is a tiny packed plant waiting for the right conditions. You give it soil, water and light.

Then you watch. Nobody can rush a seed, so a helper keeps a log instead.

  1. Wash your hands. Spread newspaper on the table.
  2. Ask a grown-up to poke two small drain holes in the bottom of the cup.
  3. Spoon soil into the cup until it is almost full.
  4. Poke a hole with your finger, about two seeds deep.
  5. Drop in the seed and cover it gently with soil.
  6. Water slowly until the soil is damp all through.
  7. Write the date on the cup. Set it on a saucer in a bright window.
Safety first
A grown-up opens the soil bag and makes the drain holes.
Wash hands after touching soil. Nothing from the table goes near your mouth.
Seeds are for planting, never for eating.

Starting a log

A log is a record you write in every day. Each line has the date and what you saw.

Write even when nothing changed. Nothing changed is a true fact too.

Lizzy keeps her log on a card beside the cup. It is never far away.

DateSoil: dry or damp?What I seeWatered?
Day 1DampJust soilYes
Day 2DampJust soilNo
Day 3Dry on topJust soilA little
SEED CUP CHOICES
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Why does the cup need drain holes?
Who pokes the drain holes?
Nothing changed in the cup today. What goes in the log?
PUT THE PLANTING STEPS IN ORDER.
  • ?Wash hands and spread newspaper
  • ?Write the date and set it in a window
  • ?Cover the seed and water slowly
  • ?Poke a hole and drop in the seed
  • ?Spoon soil into the cup
WHY THIS EXERCISEEach step gets the cup ready for the next, from clean hands to window.
Where does the seed cup sit so it gets light?
What do you write at the start of every log line?
On Day 3 the top of the soil was what?
StatementTrue or false?
Seeds are for planting, not eating.?
You skip the log on days when nothing happens.?
Water the new seed until the soil is damp all through.?
The cup should sit in a dark closet.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEThe log and the window are both part of helping the seed grow.
What did Oliver think the bean looked like?
WHY THIS EXERCISEA seed looks like nothing much. The log will show how much it changes.
Try it
With a grown-up, plant one seed in a cup today using the seven steps.
Start a log card. Write Day 1 and what you see.

Planted and logged! Tomorrow Lizzy teaches you to read what a plant is saying.

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