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Plant Power

Tips to Come Prepared

Before you visit the Genovesi Environmental Study Center (GESC) with your class, review the Educator's Guide to prepare for your students.

Read the Essential Questions (p. 1) and Connections to Standards (p. 2) to decide how you want to link your curriculum with your field trip
Complete the Pre-Visit Lesson (p. 3) with your class activating student interest and engagement
Come to GESC ready to engage and learn with our experiential, hands-on field trip program, Plant Power

Library Finds

Eyewitness Plant by David Burnie This is an original and exciting look at the fascinating natural world of plants. Stunning real-life photographs of flowers, fruits, seeds, leaves, and more offer a unique "eyewitness" view of the natural history of plant anatomy and growth. See the biggest flower in the world, where a seed develops, what the inside of a plant stem looks like, how a flower attracts insects, what a plant's reproductive organs look like, how a dandelion spreads its seeds, and much more.   The most trusted nonfiction series on the market, Eyewitness Books provide an in-depth, comprehensive look at their subjects with a unique integration of words and pictures.
Living Sunlight by Molly Bang (Illustrator); Penny Chisholm Living Sunlight shows children, teachers, and parents the remarkable magic of what makes us human.This informative yet dramatic book will mesmerize readers and help further a child's understanding of the energy we share with all living things in nature. We are all dancing sunlight. The book is co-authored by award-winning M.I.T. professor Penny Chisholm, a leading expert on ocean science. A perfect addition to any library!
What If There Were No Bees? by Suzanne Slade; Carol Schwartz (Illustrator) Grassland ecosystems can be found on nearly every continent. Countless animals and plants live in them. So what difference could the loss of one animal species make? Follow the chain reaction, and discover how important honey bees are.

Fun Facts

The first type of aspirin, a painkiller and fever reducer, came from the tree bark of a willow tree.
Some plants are carnivores, gaining nutrients by eating various small insects and spiders. A well-known example of a carnivorous plant is the Venus flytrap.
The world’s tallest-growing tree is the coast redwood which grows along the Pacific Coast of the United States.

Essential Questions

What are the parts of a plant? What function does each part of the plant have?
How do plants grow and change over time?
In what ways do all living things depend on plants?
Why do scientists study plants?
Why do flowering plants have pollen?

Our Educator Guide

Explore the Plant Power Educator Guide Click the "Plant Power Educator's Guide" to access information regarding your trip to GESC, pre- and post- lessons, as well as tips on how to make your field trip successful.

Sora eBooks

Access these free ebooks by signing in to the Sora app with your NYC DOE credentials.

The Plant Hunters by Anita Silvey Driven by an all-consuming passion, the plant hunters traveled around the world, facing challenges at every turn: tropical illnesses, extreme terrain, and dangerous animals. They battled piranhas, tigers, and vampire bats. Even the plants themselves could be lethal! But these intrepid eighteenth- and nineteenth-century explorers were determined to find and collect new and unusual specimens, no matter what the cost. Then they tried to transport the plants--and themselves--home alive. Creating an important legacy in science, medicine, and agriculture, the plant hunters still inspire the scientific and environmental work of contemporary plant enthusiasts. Working from primary sources--journals, letters, and notes from the field--Anita Silvey introduces us to these daring adventurers and scientists. She takes readers into the heart of their expeditions to then-uncharted places such as the Amazon basin, China, and India. As she brings a colorful cast of characters to life, she shows what motivated these Indiana Jones-type heroes. In The Plant Hunters, science, history, and adventure have been interwoven to tell a largely forgotten--yet fascinating--story.
The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons What are vegetables, anyway? Give kids the 411 on veggies with this richly illustrated introduction to produce! Peppers, beans, corn, and peas!  Nonfiction superstar Gail Gibbons lays out the basics of veggies with colorful watercolors and straightforward text. Learn how they grow, how they get to stores, and how many kinds there are--and learn some weird trivia, too! Diagrams, cross sections, and illustrations get kids up close and personal with glossy red peppers, plump orange pumpkins, delectable little peas, and dozens of other vegetables in this essential primer on the subject.
Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table by Jacqueline Briggs Martin; Eric Larkin (Illustrator) Will Allen is no ordinary farmer. A former basketball star, he's as tall as his truck, and he can hold a cabbage--or a basketball--in one hand. But what is most special about Farmer Will is that he can see what others can't see. When he looked at an abandoned city lot in Milwaukee he saw a huge table, big enough to feed the whole world. No space, no problem. Poor soil, there's a solution. Need help, found it. Farmer Will is a genius in solving problems. In 2008, the MacArthur Foundation named him one for his innovative urban farming methods, including aquaponics and hydroponics. Jacqueline Briggs Martin, author of the Caldecott Medal winner,Snowflake Bentley, andAlice Waters and the Trip to Delicious, along with debut artist Eric-Shabazz Larkin's striking artwork, tells the inspiring story of the African American innovator, educator, and community builder. Farmer Will Allen is the first book of Martin's Food Heroes series, followed byAlice Waters and the Trip to Delicious. In 2015, it was selected by Points of Light Foundation to set a new Guinness World Record for the most children reading the same book across the globe to promote literacy. Nearly 300,000 participated.
The Hive Detectives by Loree Griffin Burns; Ellen Harasimowicz (photographer) "Spotlights a 'dream team' of scientists as they work to determine what is threatening bee colonies and (by extension) agriculture . . . fascinating."--Booklist (starred review) Without honey bees the world would be a different place. There would be no honey, no beeswax for candles, and--worst of all--barely a fruit, nut, or vegetable to eat. So imagine beekeeper Dave Hackenburg's horror when he discovered twenty million of his charges had vanished. Those missing bees became the first casualties of a mysterious scourge that continues to plague honey bee populations today. In The Hive Detectives, Loree Griffin Burns profiles bee wranglers and bee scientists who have been working to understand colony collapse disorder, or CCD. In this dramatic and enlightening story, readers explore the lives of the fuzzy, buzzy insects and learn what might happen to us if they were gone. "Throughout the presentation, readers learn about the anatomy, development, and social behavior of honey bees, and observe the process of scientific investigation and its vital, real-world application."--Booklist (starred review) "An appendix adds varied fascinating facts about bees--again using the format of an illustrated research journal. Harasimowicz's clear, beautifully reproduced photographs support and extend the text. Readers . . . will be well served by this example of a scientific mystery still unsolved."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Clear color photographs of beekeepers, scientists, equipment, close-ups of bees, hives, etc., complement the text on every page. Youngsters concerned with the environment will find this meticulously researched title a valuable resource."--School Library Journal
The Story of Seeds by Nancy Castaldo Something as small as a seed can have a worldwide impact. Did you know there are top-secret seed vaults hidden throughout the world? And once a seed disappears, that's it--it's gone forever? With the growth of genetically modified foods, the use of many seeds is dwindling--of 80,000 edible plants, only about 150 are being cultivated. With a global cast of men and women, scientists and laypeople, and photographic documentation, Nancy Castaldo chronicles where our food comes from, and more importantly, where it is going as she digs deeper into the importance of seeds in our world. This empowering book also calls young adult readers to action with suggestions as to how they can preserve the variety of one of our most valuable food sources through simple everyday actions. Readers of Michael Pollen will enjoy the depth and fascinatingly intricate social economy of seeds.