SuperScience 2007-2008 Template
Carbon dioxide—Colorless,
Fourth-grader Terrence Brown picks flowers for a bouquet.
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about science and nutrition. By tracking the seeds in the garden to the food on their plates, students make a connection between what they eat and where it comes from.
Seeds of Life Plants are a major food source for humans and animals. Yet as students at Green Charter are learning, plants—like all living things—also need food to survive. The difference is plants make it themselves! “They need the basics, like sunlight and water,” explains fifth-grader Terrell Davis, 11. “And when you’re planting the plant in the ground, you have to make sure it has air to breathe.” Students use garden tools to loosen hard-packed soil. That way water and air, which includes a gas called carbon dioxide, can reach the growing plant’s roots. Plants use all of these ingredients to create their own food in a process known as photosynthesis
TIM RIDLEY/DKIMAGES.COM (TOMATO PLANT); KELLY REGAN/WWW.ESYNOLA.ORG (GARDEN PHOTOS); DORLING KINDERSLEY/DKIMAGES.COM (PLANT)
Through a school garden project, New Orleans students turn seeds into tasty treats
couple times a week, Ryn’ee Brown, 9, trades in her pencils and paper for gardening gloves and a shovel. She heads outside with her fourth-grade class to a large garden just beyond the classroom walls. There, the student’s outdoor lessons have taken root. Heads of lettuce, plump eggplants, and rubycolor tomatoes line the plots of land. At Samuel J. Green Charter School in New Orleans, Louisiana, the student-run garden is part of a program called the Edible Schoolyard. Classes plant, harvest, and cook fresh fruits and veggies while learning
Green Charter students divide gardening jobs so everyone plays a part. Terrell Davis (far left) inspects some cover crops, plants used to add nutrients to the soil until the next planting.
(see Photosynthesis, page 8). At the end of the process, the plants have made simple sugar that they convert to energy.
Garbage to Garden Plants need more than just food to grow healthy and strong. Much like humans need vitamins, plants need minerals. Through their roots, plants absorb minerals from soil. That’s why mineral-rich soil is one of the most important parts of a garden or farmland. Gardeners sometimes add fertilizers to soil to help plants grow faster and larger. Students at Green Charter make a natural fertilizer called compost for their garden. Compost comes from
material such as grass clippings, weeds, and food scraps. The scraps are collected in a pile outside. Then, an army of garbage eaters, such as bacteria and worms, feast on this material. After digesting their meal, the garbage eaters’ waste creates a nutrient-rich soil in which plants thrive.
odorless gas that is present in the layers of Earth’s atmosphere. Photosynthesis—Process by which plants use carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to make their own food. Fertilizer—Material added to soil to produce bigger, healthier plants. Compost—Material from living things that has naturally decayed. Chlorophyll—A green substance found in some plants that captures energy from sunlight to make food.
Fast fingers dig through a peanut patch for nuts to harvest.
Fruits of Labor Students at Green Charter have worked hard all year to learn how to grow their own food, and their success is clear. Rows of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers fill the garden. Yet for many students, the fun is just beginning. Now they’ll slip out continued on next page
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Grow Your Own
Herb MATTHEW WARD/DKIMAGES.COM (POTTED PLANT); KELLY REGAN/WWW.ESYNOLA.ORG (GARDEN PHOTOS); DORLING KINDERSLEY/DKIMAGES.COM (PLANT). ILLUSTRATION BY 5W INFOGRAPHICS
Garden Want to try your hand at gardening? Follow these six steps, and soon you’ll have your own fresh herbs to use in your favorite recipes! Place a plastic or ceramic tray under a flowerpot to keep water from dripping on the floor. Fill the pot about twothirds full with potting soil. Choose your herb. Rosemary, thyme, basil, and oregano are good indoor choices. Seeds are available in packets at greenhouses and floral shops. Tuck the seeds into the soil. The seed packet will have instructions on how far into the soil to place the seeds. Keep the pot in a sunny window and water the seeds. Allow the soil to dry out before watering it again. Soil should be damp but not soaked. In a few weeks, the herbs will be ready to enjoy. Just cut the leaves off the stems, wash, and add to your favorite foods!
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of their gardening gloves and into their aprons. Using freshly picked plants from the garden, classes hit the kitchen to learn to prepare a wide range of dishes. “I like that we get to make different things,” says sixth-grader Biolaje Lewis, age 12. This year, recipes have included smashed turnips, greens with bacon and pecans, and ramen soup, a dish made with a variety of fresh greens. The fare is a hit with most students. “When we made the ramen soup, I kept bugging my parents to make it,” Terrell says. Learning to grow and cook
fresh produce has even shaped some students’ habits outside the classroom. Ryn’ee says she has started to eat more vegetables as a result of the Edible Schoolyard. These foods are important sources of vitamins and minerals. Experts recommend that kids ages 9 to 13 eat at least 470 milliliters (2 cups) of veggies each day. Ryn’ee has even taken her lessons a step further. “Ever since I learned the things I’ve been doing in the garden,” Ryn’ee says, “I have been doing [my own] planting [at home].” —By Natalie Smith
PHOTOSYNTHESIS How do green plants make food?
1. BEAMING A natural green coloring in the leaves called chlorophyll traps energy from sunlight.
quick quiz 1. W hich of the following is NOT something a plant needs to survive? A protein
B carbon dioxide C water D sunlight
2. W hat is the function of roots? A to absorb minerals
B to absorb water C to absorb sunlight D A and B
3. What is the end product of photosynthesis? A chlorophyll
B fruit C sugar D carbon dioxide
2. SOP UP Plants have underground roots that soak up water and minerals from moist soil.
3. OPEN WIDE A pore in the leaf opens, allowing carbon dioxide to enter. The pore is called a stoma.
4. PLANT FARE Inside a leaf, the carbon dioxide and water are turned into sugars the plant needs to grow. This process is powered by the converted sunlight that was trapped by chlorophyll. The leaves' pores open to release the by-product, oxygen, into the air.
Biolaje Lewis peels an apple (far left). Green Charter students make dishes like mashed sweet potatoes, turnips, and succotash, all with plants harvested from their garden.
5. ON THE MOVE Water and the sugar made in the leaves travel up and down a plant through tubelike tissues in the stem.
F EBRUARY April 2009
9
Fourth-grader Terrence Brown picks flowers for a bouquet.
6
superscience
about science and nutrition. By tracking the seeds in the garden to the food on their plates, students make a connection between what they eat and where it comes from.
Seeds of Life Plants are a major food source for humans and animals. Yet as students at Green Charter are learning, plants—like all living things—also need food to survive. The difference is plants make it themselves! “They need the basics, like sunlight and water,” explains fifth-grader Terrell Davis, 11. “And when you’re planting the plant in the ground, you have to make sure it has air to breathe.” Students use garden tools to loosen hard-packed soil. That way water and air, which includes a gas called carbon dioxide, can reach the growing plant’s roots. Plants use all of these ingredients to create their own food in a process known as photosynthesis
TIM RIDLEY/DKIMAGES.COM (TOMATO PLANT); KELLY REGAN/WWW.ESYNOLA.ORG (GARDEN PHOTOS); DORLING KINDERSLEY/DKIMAGES.COM (PLANT)
Through a school garden project, New Orleans students turn seeds into tasty treats
couple times a week, Ryn’ee Brown, 9, trades in her pencils and paper for gardening gloves and a shovel. She heads outside with her fourth-grade class to a large garden just beyond the classroom walls. There, the student’s outdoor lessons have taken root. Heads of lettuce, plump eggplants, and rubycolor tomatoes line the plots of land. At Samuel J. Green Charter School in New Orleans, Louisiana, the student-run garden is part of a program called the Edible Schoolyard. Classes plant, harvest, and cook fresh fruits and veggies while learning
Green Charter students divide gardening jobs so everyone plays a part. Terrell Davis (far left) inspects some cover crops, plants used to add nutrients to the soil until the next planting.
(see Photosynthesis, page 8). At the end of the process, the plants have made simple sugar that they convert to energy.
Garbage to Garden Plants need more than just food to grow healthy and strong. Much like humans need vitamins, plants need minerals. Through their roots, plants absorb minerals from soil. That’s why mineral-rich soil is one of the most important parts of a garden or farmland. Gardeners sometimes add fertilizers to soil to help plants grow faster and larger. Students at Green Charter make a natural fertilizer called compost for their garden. Compost comes from
material such as grass clippings, weeds, and food scraps. The scraps are collected in a pile outside. Then, an army of garbage eaters, such as bacteria and worms, feast on this material. After digesting their meal, the garbage eaters’ waste creates a nutrient-rich soil in which plants thrive.
odorless gas that is present in the layers of Earth’s atmosphere. Photosynthesis—Process by which plants use carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to make their own food. Fertilizer—Material added to soil to produce bigger, healthier plants. Compost—Material from living things that has naturally decayed. Chlorophyll—A green substance found in some plants that captures energy from sunlight to make food.
Fast fingers dig through a peanut patch for nuts to harvest.
Fruits of Labor Students at Green Charter have worked hard all year to learn how to grow their own food, and their success is clear. Rows of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers fill the garden. Yet for many students, the fun is just beginning. Now they’ll slip out continued on next page
7 7
A 0y 0 92 0 0 9 F ep br ri lu a2 r
Grow Your Own
Herb MATTHEW WARD/DKIMAGES.COM (POTTED PLANT); KELLY REGAN/WWW.ESYNOLA.ORG (GARDEN PHOTOS); DORLING KINDERSLEY/DKIMAGES.COM (PLANT). ILLUSTRATION BY 5W INFOGRAPHICS
Garden Want to try your hand at gardening? Follow these six steps, and soon you’ll have your own fresh herbs to use in your favorite recipes! Place a plastic or ceramic tray under a flowerpot to keep water from dripping on the floor. Fill the pot about twothirds full with potting soil. Choose your herb. Rosemary, thyme, basil, and oregano are good indoor choices. Seeds are available in packets at greenhouses and floral shops. Tuck the seeds into the soil. The seed packet will have instructions on how far into the soil to place the seeds. Keep the pot in a sunny window and water the seeds. Allow the soil to dry out before watering it again. Soil should be damp but not soaked. In a few weeks, the herbs will be ready to enjoy. Just cut the leaves off the stems, wash, and add to your favorite foods!
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superscience
of their gardening gloves and into their aprons. Using freshly picked plants from the garden, classes hit the kitchen to learn to prepare a wide range of dishes. “I like that we get to make different things,” says sixth-grader Biolaje Lewis, age 12. This year, recipes have included smashed turnips, greens with bacon and pecans, and ramen soup, a dish made with a variety of fresh greens. The fare is a hit with most students. “When we made the ramen soup, I kept bugging my parents to make it,” Terrell says. Learning to grow and cook
fresh produce has even shaped some students’ habits outside the classroom. Ryn’ee says she has started to eat more vegetables as a result of the Edible Schoolyard. These foods are important sources of vitamins and minerals. Experts recommend that kids ages 9 to 13 eat at least 470 milliliters (2 cups) of veggies each day. Ryn’ee has even taken her lessons a step further. “Ever since I learned the things I’ve been doing in the garden,” Ryn’ee says, “I have been doing [my own] planting [at home].” —By Natalie Smith
PHOTOSYNTHESIS How do green plants make food?
1. BEAMING A natural green coloring in the leaves called chlorophyll traps energy from sunlight.
quick quiz 1. W hich of the following is NOT something a plant needs to survive? A protein
B carbon dioxide C water D sunlight
2. W hat is the function of roots? A to absorb minerals
B to absorb water C to absorb sunlight D A and B
3. What is the end product of photosynthesis? A chlorophyll
B fruit C sugar D carbon dioxide
2. SOP UP Plants have underground roots that soak up water and minerals from moist soil.
3. OPEN WIDE A pore in the leaf opens, allowing carbon dioxide to enter. The pore is called a stoma.
4. PLANT FARE Inside a leaf, the carbon dioxide and water are turned into sugars the plant needs to grow. This process is powered by the converted sunlight that was trapped by chlorophyll. The leaves' pores open to release the by-product, oxygen, into the air.
Biolaje Lewis peels an apple (far left). Green Charter students make dishes like mashed sweet potatoes, turnips, and succotash, all with plants harvested from their garden.
5. ON THE MOVE Water and the sugar made in the leaves travel up and down a plant through tubelike tissues in the stem.
F EBRUARY April 2009
9
