Life of plants“Comenius Project”

S.Y. 2013-2014

Project Meeting in ItalyProject Meeting in Italyfrom 20. January 2014 to 25. January 2014

Targets

• Observing and recognizing natural elements in their territory

• Exploring with curiosity phenomena and events• Getting to know the main types of trees, their

leaves and fruits• Recognizing the change of season through the

observation of plants• Improving the capacity to observe, formulate

simple hypotesis, experiment and verify previsions ( use of a scientific method )

METHODOLOGY

The project has been thought for the school kids with an age between 4 and 5

It’s made of 2 phases which complete each other:

In the first phase we have privileged the outdoor observation and research, in direct contact with nature

This step includes the educational visit and the collection of the wood “treasures” (leaf samples, fruits, moss, little branches)

In the second phase we’ve engaged the subject of the plants life through linguistic, pictorial, expressive and logical activities

SPACES AND TIMES

The project has touched all the fields of experience

It’s been carried out between October and the end of November

The school indoor spaces and internal yard have been used

The teachers have been supported by the precious collaboration of Pinzano al Tagliamento Forest Rangers

To understand the children competences and knowledge of the topic “the Forest”, we’ve projected to both groups a few slides regarding the flora and the fauna.This has been a useful chance to stress the correct behaviours to follow in order to preserve the plants and the animals living in the forest. At the end of the brainstorming where everyone could share experiences, ideas and opinions with the classmates, we gave every child the task to draw their own forest. Using a paper sheet and marker pens, this is a part of the drawings created with this habitat in mind……

Drawings created by 4 year old children…

… and 5 year old children

November the 7th was finally the day of the visit !!With the collaboration of Manuela and Pier, our forest rangers, we

observed closely the Valeriano forest. How many things we had the chance to discover….

The trees are different one from the other depending on their bark.

We learned this is a tree while the hazel tree is a shrub.

HAZEL TREE

CHESTNUT TREE

We observed the trees have different leaves depending not only on their colour but on their shape.

The maple leaves are webbed and resemble our hand.

The chestnut

tree leaves are

lance shaped

with serrated edges

The oak has lobe shaped leaves

The treasures collected in the forest (leaves, acorns,..) were useful to create many decorations for our school

In the classrooms we recreated branches

using autumn leaves

Some colorful elves welcome you at the entrance of our school and take care of what has been collected by every child in the forest.

The children have also been very keen at matching the leaves to the fruit of the correspondent tree.

5 year old children created trees to decorate the hall.Lying on a large paper sheet, they positioned their arms

to resemble their tree: curved over the head and here it is a thick foliage;

stretched to simulate a long pine.

During the visit we observed the trees in their seasonal changing: from here the idea for the graphic-pictorial activities.

The 4 year old children trees…

… and those of the 5 year old

During the visit at the forest of Valeriano we found several acorns and some of them, because of the heavy rains, were sprouted.

Back at the school we planted them in flower pots using the soil collected in the forest and …..

….in a short time some little oak plants were born. We’re now waiting for them to grow to be planted in our yard !!

This was a great opportunity to talk about the growing of trees from a scientific point of view and to give an answer to some questions emerged from discussions with the children .

How are they made

of??

What do they eat ??

How do they grow??

What does a tree need

to liveand grow??

HOW A TREE IS BORN

We found out all the trees come from a small seed fallen into the ground and at first they are just little plants, very delicate just like the one that has grown in our pot.

But then it becomes strong and robust and starts to produce flowers from which new fruits that contain seeds will be born.

WHAT DO TREES NEED TO LIVE AND GROW ??

From discussions emerged with 5 year

old children in the classroom, we all share the same

answer:

LAND

WATER

LIGHT

WARMTH

By using watercolours, scissors, glue and some pre-graphics, here is what was created …

WHAT ARE THE TREES MADE OF ??

In our yard also there are some trees different one another and so, one morning, we went out to observe and touch them….

We observed in the upper section the foliage, in the lower the roots and touched the bark. This was for us a new word because it was a part of the tree we still didn’t know !!

With paper, scissors, brushes and rope 4 year old children have rebuilt the tree.

A rought brown

coloured cardboard for

the bark …

… and then lots of leaves for a wonderful foliage !

...from the trunk the

branches start and the roots

are in the ground…

And here it comes their

tree.

The activity with 5 year old children was handled from a linguistic point of view also. As a consequence the words were completed, cut and matched to the correspondent part of the tree.We didn’t even forget the graphic-pictorial perspective. Tapping the foliage with brush and temperas, every child created his own autumn tree …..

In the end, after understanding the main parts of a tree, we focused on and explained their functions.

“Every tree has roots that keep them linked to the soil.The roots have also the function to absorb from the soil the water and the mineral salts. The tree has a trunk connecting the leaves to the roots in the soil.Inside the trunk there are little tubes bringing the water and salts to the leaves. All trees have leaves which have different shapes and dimensions.”

The coloured words were

changed, during the reading, with

children drawings.