Grade 2 School Garden Lesson Plan - Seeds Lesson; What’s in a Seed ~ Massachusetts |=> In this activity students will soak bean seeds and then look inside the soaked bean seeds to observe the different parts of the seed ` For more information, Please see websites below: ` Organic Edible Schoolyards & Gardening with Children http://scribd.com/doc/239851214 ` Double your School Garden Food Production with Organic Tech http://scribd.com/doc/239851079 ` Free School Gardening Art Posters http://scribd.com/doc/239851159` ` Companion Planting Increases School Garden Food Production by 250 Percent http://scribd.com/doc/239851159 ` Healthy Foods Dramatically Improves Student Academic Success http://scribd.com/doc/239851348 ` City Chickens for your Organic School Garden http://scribd.com/doc/239850440 ` Simple Square Foot Gardening for Schools - Teacher Guide http://scribd.com/doc/239851110

1. WHAT’S IN A SEED!
Grade Level: Grade 2
Description
In this activity students will soak bean seeds and then look inside the soaked bean seeds to observe the
different parts of the seed.
Guiding Question
What are the parts of a seed? What do these different parts do for the seed?
Big Idea
A seed is made up of three parts including an embryo, seed coat and cotyledons. Under the right
conditions, the embryo can grow into a whole new plant. The seed coat protects the embryo until
conditions are right for it to grow and the cotyledons provide food for the growing embryo until the
young plant is able to make its own food.
Learning Objectives
To understand the parts of a seed and the role each part has in producing a new plant.
Materials
* bean seeds, enough for two for each student
* Paper towels
* Bowl or cup
* Water
* Paper and pencils
* Hand lens
* Soil and pots or prepared garden area
Preparation
Two days before you plan to introduce the lesson, place ½ the bean seeds into the bowl and cover the
seeds with water. Place the paper towels on top of the beans to absorb the water. Keep the paper
towels moist until you are ready for the lesson. Do not let the beans sit in water.
Introducing the Lesson
Activate prior knowledge: Ask students if they have ever planted seeds. What happened to the seeds
once they were planted? Where did they plant them? What did they notice? How did they care for
the seeds? Did a new plant grow from the seeds?
Lesson supported by a Specialty Crops Grant from the Massachusetts
Department of Agricultural Resources.

2. Explain that each seed contains a baby plant. The seed is just waiting for the right conditions to occur
so that it can grow. When conditions are right and the seed has everything that it needs, the baby plant
will begin to grow. Until those conditions are right, the seed has a hard outer coating that protects it
from growing too soon. Inside the seed, there is also a food source that feeds the baby plants until it
can make its own food.
Engage Student Interest: Tell them you are going to be a seed scientist and are going to look inside a
seed to see its parts.
Procedure Total Time approximately 40 minutes
In the Classroom:
1. Give each student one of the dry (unsoaked) bean seeds and one of the soaked seeds. Ask them to
draw the two seeds and observe the difference between the two. Explain that both seeds came from
the same plant. Ask them why these seeds two seed might look and feel different from one another.
Explain that one of the seeds has been soaked in water and allowed to germinate and begin to grow.
(10 minutes)
2. Each seed has a seed coat on the outside of the seed. It is very strong and protects the seed from
drying out, being crushed, being digested by animals and from germinating before conditions are ideal
for growth. As water entered the seed when it was soaked, the seed coat softened and the seed was
allowed to expand. Ask students to gently removed the seed coat from the soaked seed.
3. Carefully open the bean to look inside the seed. Inside the bean is the embryo or young plant and
two cotyledons or seed leaves. The embryo is a young plant. Its parts will grow into a root, the stem
and the first leaves. The tiny root has already begun to grow and the tiny leaves are visible.
4. The two large parts of the bean seeds are the seed leaves or cotyledons. They provide food for the
young plant until it can make its own food. As the growing plant uses this food the cotyledons will
shrivel.
5. Once the young root has anchored in the ground and can absorb water and the small leaves have
emerged above the soil into sunlight and are able to photosynthesize the plant can produce its own
food. (10 minutes)
6. Now that the soaked seeds have germinated and have been taken apart, the embryo will no longer
be continue to grow. Invite students to plant their unsoaked bean seeds in pots or directly into the
prepared garden if temperatures allow. Water the seeds well and keep moist. (10 minutes)
Lesson supported by a Specialty Crops Grant from the Massachusetts
Department of Agricultural Resources.

3. Wrap Up
Ask students to draw the parts of the seed and to label each
of the parts. (10 minutes)
Assessing Student Knowledge:
Ask students to continue to water their been seeds. Record
howlong it takes for the cotyledons to appear above the soil
surface. When do they see the true leaves? Ask students
what seeds need in order to germinate. Review that it is
water, the right temperature and oxygen.
Extensions
Ask students to research bean seeds to find out how long it takes the bean seeds to sprout and grow.
What temperatures do they require in the soil and air? How long will it take the bean plant to flower
and produce seeds of its own? Tie this to life cycles.
* MA Department of Education Standards in this lesson *
Life Science Standard 1. Recognize that animals and plants are living things that grow, reproduce, and
need food, air and water.
Life Science Standard 3. Recognize that plants and animals have life cycles.
Books and Resources
Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom Newsletter on Seeds
http://aginclassroom.org/Newsletter/spring2006.html
Books
Beans by Gail Saunders Smith, 1998.
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons, 1991.
Seeds Grown Into Plants by Mario Lucca, 2001.
Please visit the Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom website at www.aginclassroom.org
to tell us how you used this Seeds Garden-Based Lesson
Lesson supported by a Specialty Crops Grant from the Massachusetts
Department of Agricultural Resources.