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June is Perennial Gardening and Rose Month. Students in K-8 love to see plants grow and help plant and maintain gardens. Many elementary schools have experimental gardens both inside and outside the schools. Here's a great time for these students to not only experience the excitement of gardens with their colors, aromas, and variety of shapes, but also to learn more about the biology of plants.

Activity: Click the icon for Science > Plants, Trees, Flowers & Fungi. Note the variety of topics/subtopics:

Assign each student a different topic (you'll have some repetition). Each topic can have a variety of issues posed so that students research a different perspective of the topic. For example: Reproduction & Growth: Pollination, Genetically Modified Plants, Growing Plants without Soil and Composting.

Assign a two-minute oral report which could include a PowerPoint presentation. These oral reports give students extra motivation to create interesting reports so they'll work harder and learn more. Oral reports also give students excellent experience in developing essential presentation skills. These skills are part of all state standards.

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