The Parts of a Plant that We Eat

Today Ms. Gardner's 2nd graders reviewed the parts of a plant, naming them on an illustration on the white board.

They then matched vegetables to the categories: roots, stem, leaves, fruit, flower and seed.
Roots: onion, carrot, beets, radish
Stem: celery, asparagus
Leaves: lettuce, kale, chard, spinach, arugula
Fruit: tomato, cucumber, zucchini
Flower: broccoli, cauliflower
Seeds: corn, peas, beans

They wrote in their garden journals and had a snack of carrots-they all like this veggie!

Eating Vegetables

Today Ms. Yoshida's 2nd grade students reviewed the parts of a plant and discussed what parts of a plant some vegetables came from-roots, stem, leaves, flower, fruit or seed. Ms. Marie drew a plant on the white board and labeled it.

We organized the vegetable names under the parts.
Roots: onions, carrots, beets, radish
Stem: celery, asparagus, beets
Leaves: lettuce, arugula, chard, kale, beets
Flower: broccoli, cauliflower
Fruit: tomato, cucumber, zucchini
Seed: corn, beans, peas

The students wrote in their garden journals and then had a snack of baby carrots.

Thanks to Gelson's for donating the vegetables!

Stories about the garden

"I learned a lot of stuff in the edible garden. I learned that broccoli must be picked in a certain time or else it will sprout flowers, but you can still eat the flowers. The soil must be nutritious or else the plant will not grow. Compost helps plants grow. Some flowers are edible and some are not." Kai

"In the Marquez edible garden I learned a lot of stuff. I learned how to transplant seedlings into the flower beds." Toby

"This year we learned about how to take care of an edible garden. We learned about many things like the following: broccoli, carrots, radish, tomatoes, marigolds and borage. My favorite things are the fuzzy caterpillars and looking for grubs." Elula

"I learned a lot about our Marquez edible garden. I learned a lot about composting. I compost with worms. You put greens and browns into a bin." Chiara

"When I go to the edible garden, I learned a lot about planting vegetables. I learned a lot about flowers and worms. I also learned that the soil has nutrients that help the flowers grow. I learned how compost helps the earth. I learned about different flowers. My favorite activity down at the garden is tasting the vegetables." Samantha

"This is what I learned at the Marquez edible garden. We made a compost bin. Our compost bin had worms in it. We also planted seeds. It was fun. We dug for grubs. It was fun. They had 10 legs. My favorite thing at the garden was digging for grubs. We also ate broccoli. We wasted the broccoli first." Calvin