Investigating Seeds (How Do Plants Use Animals to Spread Seeds and Pollen?)

How does a flower repay a bumblebee for helping it make seeds? Do some seeds really grow hooks so they can hitch a ride on a passing cow? And how do hungry squirrels help oak trees as they hoard and bury acorns for the winter?

In this book, students will think like scientists to discover how some plants depend on animals for pollination or to move their seeds around.

• Using hands-on activities, students will investigate and model how bees, butterflies, and other pollinators spread pollen from flower to flower.
• They will be introduced to plant life cycles and investigate and model how some seeds are dispersed by animals, including being buried underground, being carried on an animal’s body, and even being spread in an animal’s poop.
• Students will use their investigations to build an early understanding of plant reproduction and cause-and-effect relationships in living systems.
• Supporting information includes how some seeds are dispersed by the wind, what seeds need in order to grow successfully, and how many of the foods we eat are actually seeds or the fruits in which seeds grow.
• The book builds early scientific skills including: planning and carrying out simple hands-on investigations, making and recording observations, comparing results, and using evidence to answer questions.
• The fact-packed text supports informational text reading standards while meeting core science requirements and reinforcing scientific vocabulary.
• Ready-to-go downloadable resources and worksheets are available. This book delivers hands-on, inquiry-based learning aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for Grade 2, directly targeting the NGSS Life Sciences performance expectation: 2-LS2-2.