| Herbs: Grow some! Easy to grow are basil, oregano and chives. - Students can research the history of seasonings. - You can grow the plants and usually sell them to cover the cost of materials to grow them. - They can give a smelly old Biology room a whole new fragrance.... aromatherapy... remember Lavender is CALMING (peppermint is invigorating) BASIL: (especially the purple variety) can be used with white vinegar to make a tasty vinegar to use on salads. CHIVES (especially when flowering ) can also be added to white vinegar. OREGANO: can be used to make pizza sauce. Mix together 1 can of tomato sauce ( or grow your own tomatoes too), 2 tsp. dried organo leaves, 1/8 tsp (pinch) of instant garlic (obviously not endoresed by Martha Stewart!) 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Spread over English muffins an add your favorite toppings. Bake in a toaster oven until the cheese is light brown and bubbly. MEDICINAL HERBS: Identify and research plants that were used by Native Americans & early European settlers: Echinacea, Golden Seal, Ginseng, Chamomile... |
| Botany on a Budget |
| Leaf Collection: Traditional drying can be accomplished using newspaper with cut up cardboard box pieces between the layers to facilitate drying. Mounting paper is not cheap either so I use large card stock purchased from an office supply store. You can also seal leaves between 2 peices of wax paper using an iron. (Don't bring in your good iron cause someone is bound to get something stuck on it... I now have a new iron I keep at home...) A digital camera is a very wise investment. We use one camera for the whole class to keep their growth data on. We also take pictures of trees and are in the process of providing identification tips for our elementary schools. |
 |
|
| Seedy Strategies: The number one mistaken notion that kids of all ages have about plants is that they don't have sexual reproduction!!!! ( So tell them they are eating the ovary when they eat an apple!!!!) In Autumn, collect dry seed heads from wildflowers and weeds. Have students draw, dissect, and analyze the seed heads with the following questions in mind: -Where are the seeds? How can you tell? -Are the seeds different? Do some appear more "ripe" than others? -What strategy does the plant use to disperse this seed? -Are all of the seeds released at once, or a few at a time? -Why do plants produce so many seeds... like dandelions? -Try germinating seeds by putting some in a zip lock bag with moist paper toweling . Once they start you can tape the bag on a window. Do germination rates differ? Some may have to go through a period of dormancy before they germinate... why? Once the seeds start, you can plant them or demonstrate the impact gravity by simpley taping the bag upside down on the window. How long does it take the roots to grow back down and the stem to grow up? (taken from Green Teacher, Issue #50 Planet Earth Pages) |
| We bought a stainless steel plant rack on casters for $70.00 from Sam's Club. We bought the shop lights on sale and the students paid for this with money they earned from selling the cuttings we made of houseplants. We hang two shop lights per rack and use a timer to keep them on for 14 hours a day. By using two shop lights, we don't have to buy the more expensive full spectrum light bulbs. A commercial rack is about $850.00 |
 |
 |
 |