Leticia here! For the past two weeks I’ve been visiting Mary Buren Elementary School and together we’re learning how plants function. We started with naming the parts of a plant and understanding what their jobs are. Let's explore a bit of that now!

Let’s start from underground. The roots absorb water and nutrients, but they also anchor the plant to the ground so they don’t tip over. Some plants store their food in their roots such as beets, carrots, parsnips, and radishes.

Moving up we have the stem. The stem does a lot of heavy lifting. It’s like a coat hanger for our leaves and flowers.  It also transports water and minerals to leaves and other parts of the plant; kind of like a plumbing system delivers water to your house and other houses!

Next we spoke about the leaves. Leaves have a very important role. It’s where photosynthesis happens! Leaves absorb sunlight and convert that energy into food for the plant. Plants then use that food to grow bigger and bigger. Leaves also contain a substance called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll gives leaves that green pigment we all know of, but chlorophyll also needs sunlight. That's why in the fall and winter months, when the sun doesn’t come out as much, some leaves turn red, orange, and yellow!

Last, we mentioned the flower. Besides being a beautiful sight they have a more important role. The flower is the reproductive part of the plant. When a flower that requires pollination is pollinated, it will create seeds. And those seedlings can make more plants!

Fun fact: Plants only need water and sunlight to survive. Soil gives them added nutrients. It’s like humans! We need food and water to survive, but eating healthy foods gives us nutrients that make us stronger.

After consuming all that knowledge we started our own experiment by growing a bean plant. For this experiment we used cotton balls, beans, a cup, and water. We have started the germination process by dampening our cotton balls and placing our beans in the cup. They are now outsid3 soaking up the suns rays!

More updates soon!