Photojournalism by kids

Plant parts by zone

I repeated the plant parts theme a few times in 2012-13 since I ultimately worked with 16 different small groups of River Road kids. Here's a fun variation on that theme: each day photograph or draw, and eat, a particular part/zone of multiple plants. The first day we drew underground plant parts (which can include roots, tubers, bulbs, and some stems) and stir-fried potatoes, garlic, a couple beets and a turnip from the store. For drawing, kids pulled several whole plants and carefully washed their bases. We talked about varying functions of underground parts, i.e. they may collect water and nutrients, store sugars, or even be embryos. 

A short story about stems

The next lesson we focused on stems and leaves (mostly stems). I told them some conclusions scientists have come to and asked them to walk around the garden compiling more specific observations, especially similarities and differences. Kids took turns with the camera and later I showed them the resulting post. 

Stems hold plants up....

...and are highways.

Vitamins go up, and sugar goes down.

Sugar is mostly made in the leaves....

.....,and stored underground or lower on the plant. Sometimes the line between leaf and stem and bulb is not clear.

Check out the giant slice of Sequoia stem under this anise!

....and the trunk on this broccoli.

Artichoke stems all come out of the base...

....and leaves are attached opposite from each other. ....and leaves are attached opposite from each other.

This weed's leaves are opposite too.

The stem is decomposing last on this chard. Next Time The seven 3-4th graders were thrilled by the photos but the public blog concept didn't mean anything to them and I didn't emphasize it. A realistic next step: they could pull pictures they take off a picassa account for their own stories. Stories could be kept on Google Drive or a blog page to facilitate storage, optional sharing, and access from multiple computers. As with this blog, kids photographed would need to have prior written parental permission, or photography could just be limited to plants, etc.