An EPIC Plant Unit

My favorite unit of study each spring is about plants. It's so engaging and fun for the kids, plus it always comes with great weather! But, by March each year, I'm always trying to STOP spending money on my classroom because by spring I've spent an unmentionable amount of money on books, supplies, treats, alternative seating options, makers supplies, etc. Which is why I really, really love epic! I may be late to the party, but I just discovered the website.

Have you heard of epic! yet? Epic! is a kids' eBook subscription that offers thousands of books, AND teachers can sign up for a FREE account. I think the absolute best part is that you can save collections of books for your units of study like the collection of plants books that I started for our current science unit.


Utilizing epic! has saved me time traveling to the public library and money because I didn't place an Amazon order!!! 


Here are a few other pics of our learning about plants. We made seed bags with Lima beans and popcorn kernels. Our goal is to prove that no matter which way the seed is turned the roots will always grow down and the stem will always grow toward the sun. I stapled straws near the top of the bags to hold the seeds. 


We used silk flowers from The Dollar Tree to make diagrams of plant parts. We added illustrations to show what plants need to survive (air, water, sunlight, soil).


For a cross-curricular activity, we combined our letter writing and plant units, and wrote a letter to a magic seed. This student wants his seed to grow into a popcorn tree that makes butter out of rain water!


Personally, I wanted a hamburger tree. Ha!


We also planted Gladiolus bulbs, another Dollar Tree find. We picked bulbs from a bowl and made predictions about what color flowers would bloom this summer. 


Here's to growing season!