(upbeat music) - Hello, scientists.

Welcome back to "Room 9," our region's largest classroom.

My name is Mrs. Stobbs and I teach kindergarten in the Maplewood-Richmond Heights school district right here in St. Louis.

And today, I'll be teaching another science lesson for kindergarteners and for preschoolers, but of course learners of all ages are welcome to join me.

So, are you ready to have some fun today?

All right, let's get started.

So my friends, I wanted to remind you about what we talked about last week.

Do you remember what we talked about last week?

We were learning about living things.

Can you shout out some examples of some living things?

(gasps) You're right, people, we're living things.

That's we talked about last week, that you and I are living things.

Shout out another one.

(gasps) Animals, you're right!

Dogs and cats and giraffes and whales, all of those are living things.

And what's the last one?

Plants, plants are living things too.

And you know what?

We're going to talk about plants today.

But before we start talking about plants, though, I want to remind us.

What are living things?

What do all living things have in common?

Hmm, well, do you remember?

We said that they need food, air, and water to survive.

We also said that they can move on their own.

Can you move on your own?

And they also grow and change.

So let's think about it.

Do plants need food, air, and water?

Well, they definitely need water.

They need air.

They need sunlight.

And the food, you know what, we'll learn more about this, but they actually make their own food, which is way cool.

So they do need food.

And let's see, do they move on their own?

Ooh, that's a really tricky one.

We'll talk more about that later on, because they do, but we can't really see them moving on their own.

And do they grow and change?

Oh my goodness, yes, especially right now.

If you go outside in your front yard or your backyard or your neighborhood, I bet you will see lots of changes in the flowers around you because it's spring and in spring, flower start to grow and trees start to blossom.

Look at this beautiful tree.

Look at those beautiful white blossoms on the tree.

Isn't that amazing?

So it's growing and changing.

A few weeks ago, those blossoms weren't there because it was still cold and it felt like winter.

And pretty soon, those blossoms will disappear and leaves will start to grow.

So cool.

So, my friends, though, I'm noticing some big differences between this tree and these flowers.

They're both plants, but do they look the same?

Do all plants look the same?

No way.

Now, if I look at this tree, I can see that there is a big trunk, a big trunk right here, and it's really, really, really big, taller than me.

And you can see leaves and flowers and also twigs.

And the twigs and the branches, they're made out of wood.

Do these flowers have wood in them?

No, they have beautiful flower petals.

They have leaves.

And what's holding up the flower?

Do you know what that word is, what holds up a flower?

The stem, the stem is holding it up.

There's also a part of the flower that we can't see.

Do you know what that's called?

The part of the flower, and of the tree, that we can't see that holds it in the ground and also (slurps) sucks up the water?

It starts with an R, err.

Roots, roots.

So, my friends, today we are going to talk about plants and about how they're living things and also why they're so important.

So I want you to look around your house, around your neighborhood today, and I want you to see if you can find some living things, some plants.

And I want you to see, do they look like the plants that are around me right now or do they look a little bit different?

So my friends, we're going to talk about that today.

And I will see you back in the classroom in just a few minutes.

All right, have you thought about the plants that are around your house?

Do you have any plants that are outside in your yard?

I bet you do, even if you're not growing any plants that you're really taking care of, I would think that you probably have some grass around you or one tree or maybe even just some weeds around you.

There are so many different types of plants.

But you also might have a garden.

Do any of you have a garden outside?

Or do any of you have indoor plants, just like me?

Do you see some of my indoor plants over there?

Yeah, plants are wonderful to have around you all the time, both outside and also inside.

They're fun to take care of, they make the room just feel so much better.

But you know what, sometimes plants can be kind of a mystery.

Sometimes they're hard to know exactly what they need because they can't talk to us to let us know what they need, so we have to be like scientists to figure out exactly what they need because trees need different things than little flowers.

And even sometimes some plants need things than other types of plants.

Some plants maybe are from an area that doesn't get a lot of rain, and so if you have it in your house, you shouldn't water it.

But some plants are from areas that need a lot of water or have a lot of water, so you have to water them every single day.

So it's kind of like being a detective and being a scientist whenever you bring a plant into your house, because plants are living things and they need different things to survive.

So let's read a book to find out a little bit more about plants, because we want to find out more about why plants are living things, what they need to survive, and also how they're important to us.

Why do we even have plants?

So, let's read this book.

It's called "Plants Are Living Things."

Oh, and look, that little girl is planting a tree.

Look at that.

And what other sorts of plants do you see in that picture?

Oh boy, I see some, maybe some tall grasses, or maybe that's another type of crop, something that a farmer is growing.

So let's read to find out more about plants.

This book is by Bobbie Kalman, and here's the title page, too, and it says "Plants Are Living Things," it's by Bobbie Kalman, and this book is published by Crabtree Publishing Company, and they gave me permission to read this book to you.

Again, all of our informational books have that table of contents.

And look, around the table of contents, look at those beautiful flowers.

Now, do all plants have flowers?

No, not necessarily, but it's really neat whenever plants have flowers.

And I bet right now, if you look around you outside, you'll see a lot of flowers around you because flowers, a lot of times, appear in the spring.

All right, let's go ahead and get started.

Living things need, and it has three little dots.

And whenever you see those three little dots, that just means that it's kind of like a pause and you're going to figure out the ending in just a minute.

So living things need, what do living things need?

They need food.

They need water.

They need air.

And plants need other things, too.

They need the sunshine.

So let's read and see if our predictions are correct.

Living things need air.

That's the first sentence, and we knew that.

Living things need water and food.

We knew that too!

Living things need sunshine.

(gasps) We talked about that, too.

Living things need places to live and grow.

People are living things, animals are living things, plants are living things too.

Plants need air, water, food, and sunshine.

We knew that already.

So sometimes, whenever you read a book, you say, "Wait a minute, I know that."

But let's keep on reading to find out some more information.

Plants need spaces to grow.

Some plants grow in soil.

And what is soil?

It's just another word for dirt.

Plants need dirt.

Some plants grow in water.

Which of these plants is growing in soil and which plants are growing in the water?

Can you see?

This plant right here, this hyacinth, is growing in the dirt.

And do you see its roots underneath the dirt?

Yeah.

And then these waterlilies, oh, it even has the word water in its name.

Waterlilies, they grow just in the water.

Plants are alive!

And look, there's an exclamation mark at the end.

Can you shout it out?

Plants are alive!

(chuckles) Good job.

All living things are made of tiny parts called cells.

Plants are made of cells too.

And this is what a plant cell looks like.

So if you had a microscope like this child here, you might be able to see a plant cell.

Cells are tiny.

We cannot see them with only our eyes.

We need a microscope to see them.

This boy is using a microscope to look at plant cells.

This is what he sees when he looks in the microscope.

Right here, and there's that plant cell.

All kinds of plants.

Did you know that there are so many kinds of plants out there?

There are.

Flowers are plants, grasses are plants, weeds are plants, ferns are plants, too.

Is this deer plant?

No way!

What kind of living thing is it?

What is that deer?

It's not a plant.

It's not a person.

It's an animal, you're right.

It's so cute, too.

But there are flowers, there are grasses, there are weeds, there are ferns.

And what are these?

Whoa, so tall!

Trees are the biggest plants.

Some trees can be as big as skyscrapers.

Oh my goodness.

And you know what, there are even some trees out west like out in California that are so big, that you could drive a car through them if you cut out a space out of the trunk, whoa.

Plant parts, most plants have roots, stems, and leaves.

Some plants have flowers.

Some plants have fruits.

Name five kinds of fruits.

(gasps) Ready, go.

Can you name five different types of fruit?

Oh, that's a good one.

Oh, I'm gonna try, I'm gonna try.

Okay, see if I'm saying any of the ones that you said.

Okay, five kinds of fruit.

Apples, bananas, strawberries, grapes, and oranges.

(gasps) Did you name any of the kinds that I did?

Oh, some of those are so good.

Oh, it's making me hungry.

And did you know that they come from plants?

Whoa!

These sunflowers have roots, stems, leaves, and flowers.

They have seeds too.

Where are their seeds?

Where are the seeds in that flower?

Do you see them right here in the middle?

That's where their seeds are.

Not all seeds are in the middle of the flower, but some of them are.

And I bet some of you have even had sunflower seeds to eat, maybe at a baseball game.

Yummy.

This small pepper plant has roots, a stem, leaves, and fruits, and the fruits are the peppers.

So even though we think of peppers as vegetables, it's still part of the fruit of the plant, even though we call it a vegetable.

Now let's go back, though.

Let's look at this diagram.

Oh, that's a big word.

Can you say diagram?

Diagram.

A diagram it's just a very careful picture that's in an informational book and usually it has labels to tell us more about things.

So let's look at this picture, this diagram.

And that's a plant.

And let's look at the different parts.

What are the parts down here?

This is called the roots of the plant and the roots help keep the plant steady so it doesn't fall over, and it also (slurps) sucks up all the water and the nutrients.

What about this part in the middle that stands up nice and straight?

It's called the, can you read that word?

Stem!

Stem is the part that stands up nice and straight.

What about these over here?

Those are leaves.

And then up at the tower, or up at the top, this plant has flower buds.

Now, remember not every plant has flowers, but a lot of them do.

And look, I drew a picture of my favorite flower and I drew the different parts.

Here's the flower up at the top.

It's a tulip.

I love tulips.

Here's the stem that holds the tulip up nice and straight, so it doesn't just whoop, fall over.

Tulips have pretty big leaves and they kind of are wavy.

And then underneath the dirt, there are roots.

And again, the roots go (slurps) suck up the water and the nutrients and they also keep the plant steady so it doesn't fall over.

All right, let's keep on reading.

Plants grow, plants grow and change.

We talked about that.

We said that living things grow and change, but we also said we don't really see plants get up and start going (warbles).

They don't dance around, like maybe people do.

Or puppy dogs will run around or kitty cats will scratch or will rub their faces.

We don't see plants doing that, but it does see that plants grow and change.

Let's read more.

Plants grow and change.

These tomato plants are small now, but they are growing quickly.

Soon, there will be tomatoes on the plants.

At first, the tomatoes are small and green.

Look at those.

They start off really tiny and then they keep growing.

As they grow, the tomatoes turn red, so they change colors.

Red tomatoes are ripe.

Ripe means fully grown.

The red tomatoes are ready to eat.

They are sweet and delicious.

Now I want to show you that I am getting ready for my garden.

And right now, it's still a little bit chilly to put all of the plants outside.

Some are okay outside, but some are not quite ready.

So I have a little growing systems that I keep inside right now.

And I have tomato plants and also some pepper plants in these little cups.

And right now, I'm keeping them inside.

I'm keeping them by a window so they get sunlight, but whenever they get big enough, I'm going to take out the little cup.

Let me see if I can get it.

The little cup, and it's a little bit wet right now.

And then this cup can go in the garden and this cup just breaks down.

The dirt can decompose and then the plant can get bigger and taller.

And then pretty soon I'll have tomatoes in my garden and I'll have some pepper.

And you can even see, I hope you can see it.

Maybe you can't.

There are little tiny roots kind of sticking out at the bottom of this cup too, because the roots can actually go through it.

So sometimes whenever you start a garden, you have to start it inside because they're so small.

But pretty soon, these tomato plants will get taller than me and they have to be outside in a garden.

So, so cool.

So plants do grow and change, it just takes them a little bit of time.

Sometimes if you watch a plant, if you check it every single day at the same time, you will start to see some growth.

Or if you leave a plant alone for a little bit and you come back maybe next week, if I would come back next week to these guys and show you next week, you would see that they have gotten so much taller.

So they do grow and change.

Let's keep on reading.

Seeds to plants.

Many kinds of plants make seeds.

New plants grow from seeds.

Bean plants grow from seeds.

This plant is a bean plant.

So if you have a bean, you could even do this if you have some beans at your house.

It starts off like this, and then it grows a little bit.

You can see the roots are starting to grow.

Then the stem starts to grow and then it gets bigger and it kind of pops off, and then this is the seed right here in the plant.

It gets bigger and bigger.

This is how a bean plant grows.

Oh, I should read this part too.

Number one, the seed breaks open.

So what you do whenever you put it in the dirt and you water it, the seed soaks up all the water, and then pretty soon it gets so full of water that it goes burst and bursts open and then it can start to grow.

Roots grow down into the soil.

Number two, roots grow down into the soil and a stem starts to grow above the soil.

Number three, leaves grow on the stem.

And what do you think happens next?

Oh boy, it gets taller and taller, and pretty soon flowers start to grow on the plant, and then those flowers will turn into bean pods and you'll get new beans.

What is a life cycle?

The life cycle of a plant is how a plant changes from a seed to a grown plant.

The grown plant then makes new seeds.

These pictures show the life cycle of a bean plant from seed to seed.

So we start a new seed right here and we plant it in the ground, and then let's see.

It leaves, oh let's see right here.

Oh here, we're gonna start right here first.

Leaves grow upward on the stem.

Flowers grow on the plant.

Flowers change into the bean pods with seeds inside, then you take the seed and then you start a new seed, and you can actually see in that little picture.

It's just starting to grow, then it gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and then it makes seeds of its own, and then you can plant those new seeds and bigger, bigger, bigger.

Around and around and around.

Other ways to grow.

So not all plants start from the same type of seeds.

Seeds look a little bit different, just like every type of plant looks different too.

Some plants do not grow from seeds.

They grow in different ways.

Some plants grow from bulbs, buh-buh-buh-buh bulbs.

Daffodils grow from bulbs and so do tulips.

And you know what?

I have lots of tulips in my garden right now and I had to plant the bulbs.

They were really big.

They're not tiny seeds.

They're big bulbs.

I had to plant them in the fall and they stayed in the garden all winter and now they're starting to grow.

So it says the bulb above will grow into a daffodil like the two flowers shown here.

And you may have seen daffodils this spring.

There are a lot right now.

Potatoes are fat, round stems called tubers.

Potato plants grow from the tubers.

So look, potatoes.

You could grow a tomato, or a potato, just from the potato.

And strawberry plants have runners that spread out under the ground.

Small shoots grow from the runners and the shoots grow roots and stems.

The shoots become new plants and fruits grow on the new plants.

And you know what?

Strawberries, they start to take over your garden if you plant them because they don't really grow up tall, the grow side to side.

And then as they send out their little runners, those start to grow and then they send out more, so they can grow a lot.

So that's why you have so many wild strawberries in your yard sometimes.

All right, let's keep on reading.

Plants make food.

Plants are the only living things that can make their own food.

Now you might be thinking, "Wait a minute, Mrs. Stobbs.

I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich today, so I made my own food."

And that's true, we cook our own food, but plants can make their own food just inside of them.

They don't have to eat.

We don't see plants reaching out and grabbing things, except for a few special types of plants, like a Venus flytrap.

You may have heard of those.

But most plants, they don't reach out and grab bugs or they don't eat a hamburger, they just make their own food from inside of them, and that keeps them growing.

So let's figure out how they do that.

Plants need sunlight, air, and water to make food.

Plants take in sunlight and air through their leaves.

Plants use sunlight to turn air and water into food.

Making food using sunlight is called photosynthesis.

That is a big, long word.

Can you say that?

Photosynthesis, photosynthesis.

So today, whenever you talk to mom or dad or grandma or grandpa or aunt or uncle or brother or sister you can say, "Do you know how plants make their own food?

It's called photosynthesis."

And they'll say, "Oh my goodness, how did you know that?"

And you'll say, "Because I watched 'Teaching in Room 9'" (giggles) and they'll be so impressed.

So again, what's it called?

Photosynthesis.

It's kind of sounds like photo, you're taking a photo, photosynthesis.

Plants take in water (slurps) through their roots.

Their roots can be in soil or in water.

Plants also take a nutrients from the soil or water, and that's kind of like your vitamins that you might take.

Nutrients are what help the plant grow.

It says nutrients help plants grow.

Nutrients help us grow too.

We get our nutrients from the foods we eat, and that's why you need to eat healthy foods because it gives you the things that you need to grow.

But plants also need the nutrients from the soil.

Pretty cool.

And it says this plant's roots take in water and nutrients from the soil.

You can see those little white lines are the roots.

Plants clean the air.

Oh, we were wondering, why are plants important?

Why do we need plants?

They clean the air.

They give us food because we eat plants, right?

We eat lots of fruits and vegetables, but they also keep the air clean.

That's another reason why you might want to have plants in your house, because they help clean the air.

When plants make food, they take in carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide is a gas found an air.

Carbon dioxide is harmful to people and plants.

And you know what?

Whenever you breathe out, (exhales) you breathe out carbon dioxide.

It's the part of the air that you don't need.

(exhales) But whenever you breathe in, you breathe in oxygen, and oxygen is the part that your body needs.

So you need oxygen, breath in the oxygen, and then your body turns that oxygen (exhales) into carbon dioxide and then you breathe it out, but plants like it.

So if I go (exhales) breathe on my plants right there, they say, "Oh boy, now I can grow even stronger."

And when plants make food, they release oxygen.

So my plants are making oxygen for me to breathe in.

Oxygen is the gas in the air that people and animals need to breathe.

Plants help clean the air by making oxygen.

So thank you, plants, for making some clean air for me to breathe.

We need plants!

Oh, I think we know that because we need food and we need clean air.

Those are two important things that we need and plants give it to us.

Plants are important to all living things.

Plants give us many of the things we need.

Some animals make their homes from plants.

This swan's nest is made from plant parts.

What did the swan use for her nest?

Looks like she used some grass and twigs.

Yeah, lots of animals use parts of the plant to help make their nest.

Maybe some animals, they nest in the trees, right?

Squirrels and birds build their nest in trees, so plants are pretty important.

Trees give us shade.

Oh, we talked about that.

We need shade, right?

Because otherwise it's too hot.

Trees give a shade and make the air clean.

They give us wood to make our homes.

We also use plants to make clothing and paper.

Oh my goodness, we use plants to make our clothing like cotton.

Have you ever heard of cotton?

We use that cotton plant to make our clothes.

And we use wood, we use trees, to make paper.

Most important of all, plants give animals and people food to eat.

Plant a vegetable garden this spring.

You will have fun watching your plants grow.

You will also love the delicious foods that come from your plants.

And look, there's a cucumber and some peppers.

(gasps) Oh my goodness, do any of you have a garden at home?

Maybe that's something you can start this year.

And then right here in the back, there's words to know and an index and those are some of the things that we talked about.

Oh my goodness, so my friends, plants are living things and they are so important to us.

And like this book said, it challenges you to make a garden this year, and I want to challenge you to do that too.

It's really fun to create a garden and then whenever you grow fruits and vegetables, whenever they grow big and tall, you can eat them and it's delicious.

So I want to show you a few simple ways that you can plant some seeds just around your house.

So do any of you have any eggs at home?

Did you know that eggs make great little seed starters?

They do.

So I have an egg here and I ate the inside of the egg for breakfast today, but I kept the egg shell.

And just like our little, my little seed starter thing right here, these little cups, if I would plant this seed or this egg in the ground, it would break down and then a plant could grow inside.

So if you have an egg, you can actually just put a little bit of dirt, let me put a little bit of dirt in here.

It might feel a little messy, and that's okay.

Oops, it's spilling everywhere but that's okay.

All right, so here's a little bit of dirt and I can take this egg and I can put a seed inside.

So I think I want to have some lettuce.

Now, lettuce grows really fast too, so if you wanna grow something that's fast and you don't have to wait a long time, plant some lettuce or some radishes.

So like I said, I have the dirt in there and I'm gonna put just a little bit, little bit of lettuce seeds in there, not too many.

So I'm gonna cover it up again with dirt, poke it down.

And then I can just keep this in the egg carton right here.

I can keep it in my egg carton.

And if I want to get some more eggs, I could put more eggs in here and plant even more things.

I also could just put some dirt in the egg carton and I could use that to start some seeds, because some plants, they need to start inside before you plant them outside.

But if you don't wanna do this, if you just want to start, go outside and plants some seeds, talk to grownup and see if you can do it because taking care of a garden is so much fun and I would love to see if you do that because taking care of plants is important and we need plants to survive.

But they are living things, so you need to make sure that you give them water, that they have sunshine, that they have good dirt so they can create their own food, right?

Oh my goodness, my friends, we're gonna go ahead and stop for today, but I want to see if you can plant a garden on your own.

It'll be so much fun.

And then, you know what, next week we're going to learn about animals because living things are amazing.

So I'll see you next week right here on "Room 9."

Bye.

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