When the current Year 1 children were in Reception, we started a ‘Sunflower Challenge’. We investigated sunflower seeds, aiming to find an answer to the question, ‘How tall can a sunflower grow?’ To investigate this, we planted our own sunflower seeds.
Through this investigation, we learnt that sunflowers need soil, light and water to be able to grow. Whilst the sunflowers were in school, we kept a close eye on them, measured them weekly and gave them water under the guidance of Mrs. Petriello.
At half term, the children took the plants home and were charged with caring for them and watching them grow over the next half term and the summer holidays. The children sent in regular updates using their measuring skills to find out how much they were growing and whose sunflower was the tallest.
Last week, we asked the children to take the final measurement and send in any photos. We thought we would share them with our whole school community as they are really impressive. We might have a few budding Monty Dons or Carol Kleins on our hands!!
Our winner with the tallest sunflower is: Evie S (207cm)
The child who completed an amazing sunflower diary is: Darcie-Mae D
All the children who submitted their entries received a prize; Evie S and Darcie-Mae received an extra special prize for their entries.
Last week, Mrs Kent visited the children in Year 1 to show them some of the sunflower heads she had picked at her allotment. The children were amazed at the size of some of the heads. As you can see from the pictures below, the children ordered the sunflower heads from the largest to the smallest.
The new Reception children in RK were also fascinated by the sunflower heads causing a lot of interesting discussion!
The sunflower challenge has created lots of ‘hands on’ learning and the children have developed their knowledge of flowers, including the understanding that, once a sunflower head opens, it follows the sun throughout the day. This is known as heliotropism. When the sunflower matures, it stops following the sun and just stays facing east!