Eating a Whole Plant!

Spring brought endless possibilities for engaging units in our Henrietta Kindergarten classroom!  Frog and butterfly life cycles, as well as plants and flowers, were an absolute must!  New life observed in the springtime offers much to exerpience and investigate!

During our plant unit, we discussed the various foods that come from plants.  Students were quick and eager to list a variety of fruits and vegetables; however the class took it a step further.  After questioning the class about where such things as potatoes, carrots and broccoli come from and getting the blanket “plants” response, the teacher proposed a challenge:  Let’s see if we can eat an entire plant!  The students were excited and up for the challenge!

We spent time separating our first list into several different lists, identifying each plant as a possible plant part to our wholly edible plant!  It quickly became evident that the challenge was indeed achievable; however, who wants to talk about food without actually eating it?  Our “I Can Eat a Whole Plant” activity was very much student-driven in the sense that they played around with the various foods and found that each was in fact a part of a plant.  Making these connections from what we learn in school to what to what we eat on our plates brought this unit full-circle and full of life!