Learn about flower structures and their functions then create original pencil drawings that burst with blooming colors!

• 1.

  Study pictures and specimens of flowers. Label their four basic parts (sepals, petals, carpels/pistils, stamens). Compare the shape, size, and location of these parts with your classmates' flowers. Find out how each part contributes to the plant's life.

• 2.

  Create Bursting Blooms with Crayola® Colored Pencils or Color Sticks. How can you show flower petals that have several values of one color? Press hard with colored pencils to darken a flower part. Press lightly for the illusion of a tint. Use the points and sides of the colored pencil for different line effects. Overlap layers to make new colors. Use short or long strokes to create texture.

• 3.

  Draw other flower parts, such as stems and leaves. Fill in the background of your drawing with color. How does color makes an impact, especially when there is a background of another vibrant color?

Standards

• LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
• LA: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
• LA: Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts or relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
• SCI: Ask questions about the natural and human-built worlds.
• SCI: Construct drawings or diagrams as representations of events or systems.
• VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
• VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Adaptations

• Offer students the possibility of growing flowers in the classroom. Have students research what on-going steps must be taken to be successful. Class members can determine a schedule for care of seeds/flowers. Students use Crayola Colored Pencils to sketch and label the stages of the flower.
• Provide small groups of students with the opportunity to dissect a flower. Each group may dissect a different type of flower. As a whole class, have students compare and contrast the flowers.
• After students have researched the parts of a flower, have them attempt to simulate pollination. Provide each small group of students with two types of flowers and a clean paint brush. Using the brush, students gently remove a small amount of pollen from one flower and transfer it to the second flower. What is the purpose of this exercise? Have students post to a class blog what they experienced in this activity.