Student slideshow: English | Spanish

Teacher printout: English & Spanish

Go for a Leaf Walk

To figure out which seedling was which, your students looked at the shapes of leaves. Take a nature walk to extend that lesson and discover more about leaves.

Before the walk, tell students that you won’t be picking leaves. You can examine fallen leaves or leaves that are still on the plant. Encourage students to use all their senses when they consider a leaf. Do all the leaves feel the same? Do they all smell the same? How many different kinds of leaves can you spot?

Make sure you and your students know how to identify and avoid plants like poison ivy and poison oak before the walk!

Mystery Seedlings: Watch Seeds Grow

You can recreate Esther's dilemma in your classroom and have your students observe seedlings to guess what adult plants they'll grow up to be!

All you need are some seeds, paper towels, cups, and water. Print-out and follow our instructions here.

You can repeat this challenge multiple times throughout the year to provide your students with multiple opportunities to practice their observation skills!