Plant, Point and Record the Life Cycles of Plants

This grant will be used to photograph the life cycles of growing plants. The pictures will be taken at each of the stages of the plants' growth and will be used in a data journal by my gifted and talented students in grades 1-6.

We will begin by photographing the planting cycle with the students taking pictures of each other as they mix and prepare the growing beds in classroom containers. Next they will monitor the growth of their plants (flowering) as they sprout and grow in height. Students will photograph their plants growth continuous and record the data of the growth with the date in their journals. The photos will be printed and used to document their plant's life cycle. Last, they will photograph themselves transplanting their plants into an area (or garden) at their homes and use the camera to take pictures of themselves with their flowering plants.

We will be using one Olympus D-540 camera to photograph these pictures and will use the software from Tool Factory, Data Base to collect our science data, login our photos and categorize them for the final photo journal with 3-D charts. In addition, we would also use the software called Tool Factory Homepage to post our photo journals on-line to share with others in our school and community. My older students will use this software program to building a website for these journals to post a sampling of their students' journals.

This grant will be an exciting extension of the science curriculum and add greatly to students' understanding of the scientific process and their data collecting experiences. It will provide these gifted and talented students with opportunities to experience science, math and writing in an integrated approach that is exciting and creative.