Author: Debbie Candau

The Great Bean Race
1
Learning about Plants
1
Our E-pals
1
Original Poem
2
Our Bean Plan
2
Favorite Beans
Survey Results
2

Learning About Plants
by Nadia

We’ve learned a lot about plants so we have enough information to grow our own bean plants. We’ve learned that plants make their own food called photosynthesis. We also learned that all soil is not just dirt. Soil has different kinds of matter in it that help the water drain, help air get through to the plant, and has the right amount of nutrients. We also learned that the amount of light the plant gets each day helps it grow differently. We used all of this information to write our own bean plan so our plant grows the tallest!
The most important thing we learned is that plants give us our oxygen to breathe and we give plants the carbon dioxide it needs to make food. Learning about plants has been interesting.

Washington

Pennsylvania

Arizona

The Great Bean Race

Our Partner Classes
Mrs Hookies 5th grade class
Mrs Stevenson 5th grade class

This issue created by:
The Jolly Green Giants
Sandy, Kareem, Nadia,
Hau’oli, and Robert

Volume 1, Issue 8
Missouri

Our Pals From Around the Country by Hau’oli

One of the best things about doing our bean unit is that we are getting to know kids from other states by sending emails to each other. We are really interested to find out if their plants grow taller because they live in a different part of the country. We know that the weather in Washington is cold and rainy. We wonder if the weather and the different kind of air will make the plants grow differently even if we have the same plan. In each email we send each other, we talk about our bean plants but also ask questions to get to know them better. We’ve learned that in Washington they have covered playgrounds so they can play when it rains! We also learned that Mt. Saint Helens is a volcano in their state! It’s been fun having an e-pal!

The Great Bean Race!
By Kareem
by

We have been ordered by the king to grow the tallest bean plant in the village to help Jack get to the giant's house. We’ve been learning about plants, their different parts and how they work, photosynthesis and what plants need to live and survive. We are competing with two other classes from Washington and Pennsylvania in what we call The Great Bean Race. We are all growing bean plants our own way. Each group got to choose how much and what kind of light to use on their bean plants, what kind of soil to plant the beans in and how often to water them. We will monitor and measure our plants daily and record the results. See our Bean Plan on page two. We email the other classes regularly to see how their plants are growing and send pictures back and forth. We can’t wait to find out which bean plant will win!

Fabulous Facts About Lima Beans

From planting to eating, it takes 65-80 days to grow lima beans.
A 10-foot row of beans produces: 2.5 pounds shelled (bush) or 5 pounds (pole) of fresh beans.
1/2 a cup of canned lima beans has 90 calories. 5 calories are from fat.
It has 5% of your daily carbohydrate and 12% of daily fiber.
The largest lima beans date back to 5000 to 6000 BC along the coast of South America toward Peru.
Resources:
From the University of Georgia: www.uga.edu/vegetable/limas.html
From the Michigan State University Extension Service: www.msue.msu.edu
From the Canned Vegetable Council, Inc.: www.cannedveggies.org/learnmore/nutrition/lima.htm

Bean Survey
Our Pennsylvania partner class chose baked beans as their favorite bean. The Washington class voted for the jelly bean as their favorite bean to eat. Refried beans is the number one choice for our class here in Arizona. That’s probably because so many people eat Mexican food in our city. It was surprising to find out that all three classes chose a different kind of bean as their class favorite.

Our Bean Plan by Sandy
LIGHT
We decided to use an artificial grow light (it’s like sunlight) and put the plant under it for 12 hours a day. Marisa brought in a timer from home so we could set it for the right number of hours. We decided on 12 hours, because the plant our teacher grew with 12 hours of light a day was really big. Some kids picked 24 hours a day, but we don’t think that was good, because it never happens in real life, so maybe it’s not good for plants.
SOIL
We used soil that was one part clay, one part sand, and two parts humus. It stays moist when we water it, but drains, too, so we think the plant’s roots will get enough air and water.
WATER
We will water whenever the top of the soil feels dry. We think our plants will get really big and win the Great Bean Race.

My Bean Plant
by Robert
I planted my bean just yesterday,
I bet that it will grow ok.
I might give it cola or coffee to drink
Water would be so boring, I think.
My plant will go outside for light,
I will measure it everyday for height.
My bean plant might be the tallest one
Winning a prize would be so fun!

Volume 1, Issue 8
Arizona

Blue Jays

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