Highland View Elementary School

     Brookside Gardens

                      by Jack Hoskinson

Our class took a field trip to Brookside Gardens to learn more about seeds and the plants that grow from them.  First, we went into a classroom and Ms. Richard, the teacher at Brookside Gardens, showed us different seeds and explained that seeds travel in different ways.  They travel by wind, water, by animals and by mechanical dispersal.

Ms. Richard showed us a milkweed plant. Its seeds travel by air. The plant has hairs that act like parachutes that help the seeds fly in the wind.

We also learned about seeds that travel by water. A Coconut-de-Mer is an example of a seed that travels from beach to beach by water. It looks like 2 coconuts put together. They can grow up to 50 pounds. It's the largest seed in the world!

Other seeds that travel by air come from cones produced by pine cone trees.

After we finished learning about seeds, we planted spider plants and we each took a plant home. We were taught to keep the soil moist and to keep the plant in sunlight.

When we finished potting our plants, we visited the nature center.

One of the activities we especially enjoyed was creating a tornado in a bottle.

A guide shared more information about seeds.

We walked the grounds and searched for seeds.

During lunch, we heard one of the students scream!  To our surprise, a spotted toad was under the picnic table observing us!  The class had a great time on the field trip.