Whenever I Touch a Velvet Rose or Walk by a Lilac Tree
from the Children's Songbook
I love gardening; don't know anything about what I'm doing, but I still love to get my hands dirty and put in a good days work making the my part of the world a little prettier. For our study of botany, we combined it with the Gardening BSA Merit Badge. Kray earned it during the summer of 2004. If you would like to take a look at some of the pictures we took during the unit please click here.
Please see the General Science page for more books and links.
| Resources--books | Resources--websites | Projects | Writing Assignments0 |
Resources
Books
Non-Fiction--Information books:
Gardening & Plant identification
 | A Gardener's Handbook of Plant Names; Their Meaning and Origins by A.W. Smith (Dover, 1997; ISBN 0486297152)* |
| Compost! by Linda Glaser, illustrated by Anca Hariton (Millbrook Press, 1996; ISBN 0761300309) KR |
| Composting by Liz Ball, illustrated by Jim Anderson (Smith & Hawken, 1997; ISBN 0761107320) |
| Gardening for Dummies (Wiley, 2003; ISBN (0764525557) |
| Hollyhock Days by Sharon Lovejoy (Interweave, 1994: ISBN 0934026904) |
| Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza (Rodale Press, 1998; ISBN 0875967957) |
| Let it Rot! by Stu Campbell (Storey Book, 1998; ISBN 1580170234) |
| National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees, Western Region (Alfred A. Knopf, 1980; ISBN 0394507614)* |
| Roots, shoots, Buckets & Books by Sharon Lovejoy (Workman, 1999; ISBN0761110569) |
| Sunflower Houses; Garden Discoveries for Children of All Ages by Sharon Lovejoy (Interweave, 1991: ISBN 093402670X) |
| The Magic School Bus Gets Planted by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen (Scholastic, 1997; ISBN 0590922467)* |
| The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds by Patricia Relf, illustrated by John Speirs (Scholastic, 1995; ISBN 0590222961)* |
| Trees of the Pacific Northwest by George A. Petrides & Olivia Petrides (Packpaker guide, 1998; ISBN 09646674x) |
| Trowel & Error by Sharon Lovejoy (Workman, 2003; ISBN 0761126325) |
| Usborne Spotter's Guide, Trees of North America by Allen Mitchell (Usborne, 1992; ISBN 0831788186)* |
| World of Plants by Laura Howell (Usborne, 2001; ISBN 0794500862)* Internet linked |
Botany
| I Wonder Why Trees Have Leaves and Other Questions About Plants by Andrew Charman (Kingfisher, 1997; ISBN 0756450941)* |
Botanist
| A Picture Book of George Washington Carver by David Adler, illustrated by Dan Brown (Holiday House, 1999; ISBN 0823414299) KR |
| A Pocketful of Goobers, A Story about George Washington Carver by Barbara Mitchell, illustrations by Peter E. Hanson (Carolrhoda, 1986; ISBN 0876142927) KR |
| A Weed is a Flower; the Life of George Washington Carver by Aliki (Simon & Schuster, 1965; ISBN 067166905) KR |
| George Washington Carver by Gene Adair (Chelsea House, 1989; ISBN 1555465773) |
| George Washington Carver by Suzanne M. Coil (Franklin Watts, 1990; ISBN 0531109643) KR |
| George Washington Carver by Rebecca Gomez (ABDO, 2003; ISBN 1577659449) KR |
| George Washington Carver by Martha E. H. Rustad (Pebble Books, 2002: ISBN 0736809961) KR |
| George Washington Carver; Nature's Trailblazer by Teresa Rogers (Twenty First Century, 1992; ISBN 0805021159) KR |
| George Washington Carver, Scientist and Teacher by Carol Greene (Children's Press, 1992; ISBN 0516042505) KR |
| George Washington Carver, The Peanut Scientist by Patricia & Fredrick McKissack (Enslow, 2002; ISBN 0766017001) KR |
Activity Books:
| Plant Science by Edward Shevick (Teaching & Learning Company, 2000: ISBN 1573102083)* |
| The Book of Plants by Dinah Zike and Susan Simpson (Great Science Adventures, Common Sense Press, 2001; ISBN1929683057)* |
Fiction:
| Frightful's Mountain by Jean Craighead George |
| Home Sweet Home by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by Ashley Wolff (HarperCollins, 1997; ISBN 0060273534) KR |
| How Groundhog's Garden Grew by Lynne Cherry (Blue Sky Press, 2003; ISBN0439323711) KR |
| Little Farm by the Sea by Kay Chorao (Henry Holt, 1998; ISBN 0805050561) KR |
| My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George |
| On the Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George |
| The Secret Garden by Alice Sebold |
Audio/visual:
| George Washington Carver (inventors of the world) (Schlessinger Media, 2002) |
| First Look at Trees (AIMS CD ROM) |
| Photosynthesis (AIMS CD ROM) |
| Trees: Evergreens and Deciduous (AIMS CD ROM) |
| Seeds and Plants (AIMS CD ROM) |
| Learning about Science: Flowers (AIMS CD ROM) |
| Living Soil (AIMS CD ROM) |
| The Living Tree (AIMS CD ROM) |
| Plants in Action (AIMS CD ROM) |
| Seeds and Plants (AIMS CD ROM) |
| Classification: Bringing Order to Diversity (AIMS CD ROM) |
Websites:
| Mythical Trees from the Middle Ages |
| Lesson Plans from A to Z Teacher Stuff |
| Lesson Plans for Trees from A to Z Teacher Stuff |
| The Great Plant Escape fun while learning |
| unit on plants from home2teach.com |
| Oklahoma Homeschool unit study on Botany |
Botany & Scientific Sites:
Monocots & Dicots:
| Monocots from virtual biology classroom |
| Plants Dicots from manhattan.edu |
| Dicots from coe state park Dicot part 2 Dicot part 3 Ferns Gymnosperms |
| Plant Kingdom from wsu.edu Dicots and much more |
| Monocot vs. dicot from msnucleus.org |
| Monocots and Dicots from backyard nature |
| Monocots from Rancho Santa Ana botanic Garden |
Biomes:
| Plants & Biomes of the World from Missouri Botanical Gardens |
| Blue Planet Biomes.com Deciduous Forest Deserts Grasslands Rainforests Savanna Tiaga Tundra and more |
| Biomes from Earth Observatory NASA |
| Biomes from University of Illinois |
| The Physical Environment |
| Temperate Deciduous Forests from New Hampshire Public TV |
Lawn & Garden Sites:
| Square Foot Gardening |
| InsectLore because bugs are an important part of the garden either for good or bad. |
| Backyard Gardener.com |
| Gardenadvice.com |
| WSU Master Gardener Program |
| Springtime Gardening with kids from about.com |
| Weekend Gardener |
| Garden.org |
| Garden net. seed exchange, advice, finding gardening organizations etc. |
| Kid's Valley |
| Kid's Gardening |
| The Dirt on Soil |
| Brooklyn Botanical Gardens |
| WORMS! from wormwoman.com resources for the home and classroom. |
| Composting from intel.com |
| Junior Master Gardeners from JMGKids.com |
| Pruning Deciduous Trees from Virginia State University |
| Rebecca's Garden |
| King County Cooperative Extension WSU EXCELLENT resource! |
| WSU Library of plants Landscape Plants - Lawns - Home Lawns (pdf) |
| WSU Library "September--Good Time for Lawn Improvement" |
| Dog problems for your yard |
| Garden Simply |
| Cook's Garden |
Microsope.org has things for you to purchase to enhance your unit.
Visit our Science Resource web page.
Projects
We used World of Plants by Dinah Zike and Susan Simpson as the basis of our projects. They also did 5 minute oral report on these subjects. Click here to go to web page to purchase and read sample lessons.
| Conifers |
| Flowers |
| Plant tissue |
| Tree rings |
| Vegetables |
| Fruits |
| Monocots & Dicots |
| Nuts |
We also built a pond. Click here to see the process.
Writing assignments
| We used World of Plants by Dinah Zike and Susan Simpson as the basis of our projects. |
Completed: October, 2004
November, 2006
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copyright © 2003-2007 Doreen Blanding, Helaman's Academy