Thursday, 13 February 2014

Seeds, Pits, and Bulbs...I wonder what we'll see?

We obtained another Amaryllis bulb and cut the bulb in half to find out if the bulb contained seeds.  The following dialogue stemmed from this experience:

“I wonder why the flowers that grow in your house they have seeds and Amaryllises have bulbs?” G.B.

“Maybe to make smaller plants you use seeds and to make taller plants you use bulbs.” E.H.

“That is a great hypothesis!  Is there any way we can find out if E.H. is correct?” Mrs. Ralph

“The Amaryllis white didn’t make a tall flower at all, it just made a tiny flower.” B.S.

“I think to make it grow bigger is to give it more water everyday.” E.H.

“Veins hold water and then it goes into the bulb and then it takes it all the way up to the top of the flower and then at the top the flower blooms!” E.S.

“Also, I think the instruction meant that if we put the Amaryllis in water they don’t grow that tall, I think that that’s what the instructions meant that if you put an Amaryllis in water it won’t grow that high because they didn’t get a lot of energy in water like from the soil.” B.S.

“I think it’s skin, it has little tiny bumps on it.” N.S.

“Why do you think they have bumps?” Mrs. Ralph

“Cause there’s little tiny seeds inside the skin part.” N.S.

“I am wondering what makes the seed grow?” A.P.

“I am wondering if inside the seed, how does the seed make different kinds of flowers or fruits?” A.P.

“I think cause maybe the roots maybe help make it grow.” E.E.

“Maybe when the bulb sucks water up, the lines are the strainers so all the water would go through but stuff like if there’s dirty stuff in the water the dirty stuff would get stuck.” B.S.

“So like a purifier you mean?  Can you tell me which lines you’re talking about? Mrs. Ralph

“The lines, like those lines across.  The water goes down the lines and all the yucky parts stay right above the lines, it’s like a strainer.” B.S.

“I think those skinny lines make the plant help grow.” I.R.

“I think these are skin and they have little bumps.” O.S.

“I think when you put the dirt already the seeds go away.” W.E. (referring to the dirt that was in with the Amaryllis bulb)

“Maybe the green part is maybe the skin.” E.E.

“Can you show me which green part you mean?  You think it’s the skin?  And what do you think is does for the bulb plant?” Mrs. Ralph

“Maybe it helps is grow.” E.E.

“Maybe the little tiny white things in the dirt there’s seeds, there’s little tiny ones.” M.P.

“Where do you think the seeds are?” Mrs. Ralph

“In the dirt.” M.P.

“So does that mean that the seeds would be in the bulb plant or appear outside the bulb plant?” Mrs. Ralph

“Outside.” M.P.

“How do you think they got there?” Mrs. Ralph

“Because when you took it out you shaked it and some seeds fell out.” M.P.

“We can make people out of bulb plants.” W.E.

“We can try that!” Mrs. Ralph

In the days that followed, students started to give us seeds from the fruits and vegetables in their lunches, as well as bringing more seeds and pits from home, all in the hopes of planting them to see what would happen. 

Today, we had our planting extravaganza!  We planted seeds, pits, and parts of the Amaryllis bulb we dissected to see if it too would grow!

I wonder what we’ll see in the next little while…

Join us on our current inquiry as we continue to explore what seeds are?  Where do seeds come from?  Is a bulb a seed?  What about a pit?  How do plants grow?


  1. I LOVE this! I could really use a touch of spring in my room right now! This is something so real that they can explore and I never would have thought to do this in February until I read this post! What a great exploration! I may have to put some bulbs out for them to notice! Thank you for the inspiration!

  2. Thank you Darla. We started out planting Amaryllis and Hyacinth bulbs, and just left them out for them to observe. Their fascination with bulbs just took off!