Planting (in Under 30 Minutes!!)

We are learning about plants.

I like this unit because we kick it off with the actual planting of plants.

I used to dread the actual planting of plants because I felt rushed, out of control, and just a tad bit panicky.

These days . . . well . . . it’s no big thing. I don’t know if that’s because I’m older, wiser, and more experienced, or if it’s because I’ve realized that feeling rushed, out of control, and a tad bit panicky just happens to be my teaching style.

Anywho, I’m sure you already know how to plant, but I thought I’d share my tips and tricks with you, especially if you have 32 first graders and want to know how to do it in under thirty minutes.

That’s right. In under thirty minutes.

First, you have to get your hands on the The Magic School Bus Goes to Seed video. And if you don’t have access to the video, you can get it on You Tube, which is what I did. And if you can’t access You Tube, then I’m out of ideas for you and you might as well stop reading this because The Magic School Bus Goes to Seed video is step one in my whole under thirty minutes scenario.

Second, before playing the video, you have a chat with your kiddos.

You say:

We’re going to plant garden beans today!

Then you’ll have to wait for the applause to die down, as well as the choruses of We did this in Kindergarten!!!

Third, you model how to scoop pretend soil into a pretend cup in the air. Make a big deal out of scooping too much soil and too little soil. This can be hard to do since it’s all invisible at this stage so be sure to ham it up big time. Use big eyes and funny faces to accomplish this stage.

Fourth, model how to drop four pretend seeds (FOUR SEEDS!! WE GET FOUR SEEDS!!!???!) into the pretend cup and push them down and cover them back up with soil. Again, because this part is pretend, you have to over-do it.

Last, put your pretend cup under the pretend trickle of water at the sink. Then go put your cup on the windowsill.

I made my kids do these steps over and over in the air because I didn’t want to have to say it 32 times.

(I guess I have a step before the first step which we can call step zero. Step zero was that I wrote each kid’s name in sharpie on the plastic cups ahead of time, as well as cut open the bag of soil and set it outside my door.)

While my kids watched The Magic School Bus Goes to Seed, I called a few at a time outside to plant. My door was open the whole time so my kids were not unsupervised unless you count that one minute that a cup blew away and I had to chase it down the stairs and around the corner.

Clear plastic cups are key if you want to see the roots grow.

This Miracle-Gro Potting Mix is also key because it’s

“specially formulated

for fast root development”.

I get these exact Garden Bean seeds every.single.year.

And every single year, they grow like crazy.

I don’t know if it’s because they’re organic,

they’re named Burpee,

or if it’s because they’re part of the Whole 30 diet,

but whatever it is, they work.

THEY GROW.

They’re from Walmart.

Sorry.

And here they are.

Day 1.

I only had a couple of kids try to water their soil before they had soil in their cups.

And I only had one kid hold his seeds in his hands and tell me he had planted them.

I don’t know if he was going to eat them or just forgot the steps. You never know.

One last thing that I always do is plant 4 – 5 extra cups when my kids aren’t looking. That way, I can switch them out with any duds that just don’t grow.

For some reason, there’s always one or two duds. And by duds, I mean one or two kids who drown the everlasting lives out of their seeds and grow mold instead of garden beans.

I just pull a little switcheroo.

And there you have it.

How to plant 32 plants in under 30 minutes and still have your sanity.

Or most of it, anyway.

😉

Comments

Amanda says

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How true about drowning them! I've found that using a spray bottle to water them seems to help a bit. They are less likely to be mold growers!

Amanda
A Very Curious Class
Lindsey says

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How many packs of seeds do you buy? I'm doing plants in my Pre-K class next week..writing plans right now!
Rhonda Hafner says

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Awesome! We are planting next week. Really had this grand idea of planting flower seeds for Mother's Day…yeah, probably should have thought of that before now, eh? Next year! ?
Lauren Shirk says

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Bahaha I laughed so much Trent paused the TV…apparently I interrupted his show. 😉 So glad I'm not the only one who has pulled a switch-a-roo. But 30 minutes??? You're a rockstar!
colleen says

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I have planted flower seeds with my class the same way… Zinnias and cosmos grow fast, I check the back of the seed packets and it will say how many days it takes. Sounds fun!
Joelle says

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Your posts always make me laugh right out loud for several minutes. Love this idea so much!!
Bethany J. says

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What I started doing is write the kids names on a Popsicle stick. It makes it super easy to do the switcharoo.
Mrs. B. says

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Dying of laughter here! Our Treasures vocab for The Tiny Seed includes the word "drowns" so you think they would learn But No. Probably because they were too busy telling me about the time they all actually DROWNDED. Really. All 24 of my second graders have drowned.
donna says

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Thanks for the post and especially the video idea! I'm going to use this in my program at the Farmer's Market Summer Program!

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