Second grade botanists began their plant unit with a leaf lab. The word of the day was diversity. Even the leaves from the same tree had differences. We observed plant leaves that were a variety of sizes, colors, shapes, patterns, and textures. I brought in some leaves from my garden and purchased new plants for the lab.

Leaves have veins which transport oxygen, nutrients, and water. To watch how veins transport water, we placed Napa cabbage in colored water. An important reminder that what we place in the ground goes into the food we eat! Click here to learn more.

We noted that we also have veins and they serve the same purpose in our bodies.

We investigated the patterns of veins on a variety of leaves and traced them with Sharpie markers. Some veins alternated from the midrib and others were directly across from one another. The Sweetgum tree has veins that radiate from a central point.