Life Cycle Panels for the Healing Garden

The Healing Garden Panel

A hospital has a small healing garden where patients and families can sit quietly. A group of third graders is making a fold-out panel about living things in the garden. They recorded a tomato plant and a group of quail that visited the garden.

Tomato records: On April 3, a seed was placed in soil. On April 10, a small sprout appeared. By May 20, the plant had grown taller and had yellow flowers. On July 8, the plant had a ripe fruit with seeds inside. On August 12, the plant was dry and had stopped living.

Quail records: On May 2, a quail egg was found in a sheltered nest. On May 20, the egg had hatched into a chick. On July 1, the young quail had grown feathers and a larger body. On August 10, an adult quail visited the garden. On September 3, that adult quail was seen with eggs in the nest. On November 15, the quail was no longer alive.

The students made two panel plans. Plan A shows some stages but leaves out the death record for each living thing. Plan B shows the records in order, includes the death records, and uses arrows from tomato seeds to new sprouts and from adult quail to eggs. The students want visitors to see both the differences and the shared processes in the two life cycles.