Plant Sites

Adventures of the Agronauts
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/agronauts/  
Adventures of the Agronauts is an online science curriculum for elementary-aged students with the theme: how can we grow plants on the Moon? Children become "Agronauts in Training" and complete six different standards-based lessons towards the final goal of growing plants on the Moon. Teacher resources are included. Glossary contains some movies that demonstrate concepts. Some career information too.

Agriculture in the Classroom
http://www.agclassroom.org/
Here's a site that takes agriculture into the classroom. There are five sections that can be helpful for agriculture research, especially for state reports. Every month the site features a particular state and provides a State Agricultural Profile. Of particular interest is the History of American Agriculture. Users also will find great historic information concerning the American farm by decade or category.

Biology of Plants
http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/
This site from the Missouri Botanical Garden, tells all about plants - how they grow, the parts of a plant, how they make food, etc. Good information for the study of plants.

Camp Silos
http://www.campsilos.org/
Exploring the Prairie, Pioneer Farming, The Story of Corn and Farming Today and Tomorrow are the areas covered by this website. Each area is divided into a Student area, a Teacher area (with lesson plans), and Resources.This is a great site for combining the study of US westward expansion and biomes.

Food and Agricultures of the World
http://museum.agropolis.fr/english/default.htm
Agropolis-Museum is a Science Center with three online exhibitions: The History of Food and Agriculture, Farmers and Farming over the World, and the Banquet de l'Humanité. Visitors will find a global perspective of agriculture and the foods consumed by people in different nations. This site is available in both English and French.

Great Plant Escape
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/index.html
Students can help Detective Leplant and his partners investigate plant mysteries. The site presents six cases for students to solve, including soil, plant growth, seeds, and reproduction, among others. The site has an easy to use glossary and links section with age appropriate content. A well-developed and very useful teacher resource section includes information about each case, with each lesson explained in detail. Additionally, teachers can request a classroom poster that supports the lessons at the site.

Identifying Trees
http://www.oplin.org/tree/ 
This site allows one to ID trees by leaf, fruit, or name. It lets one go through a series of questions until the final answer is found. Very simple, very helpful.

KidsGardening.com Teachers' Resource Room
http://www.kidsgardening.com/teachers.asp  
From the National Gardening Association, this site contains grants, projects, thematic classroom stories, standards- based project ideas, how-to advice, and resources. Also includes a Q and A Library, Pest Control Library, and Online Courses for teachers, 2,000 articles, 30,000 FAQs, seed swaps, a school garden registry, and much more. Includes a search tool.

Kid's Valley Garden
http://www.raw-connections.com/garden/
Kids can learn how to plan and plant their own garden, and how to keep plants healthy. There is information about flowers, vegetables, herbs and shrubs.

Kids Planet
http://www.kidsplanet.org/
This site was created by the Defenders of Wildlife, an organization dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities. This interdisciplinary site has wonderful animation, color and sound. It contains a variety activities and lessons that are appropriate for grades K-12.

Life Cycle of Plants
http://www2.bgfl.org/bgfl2/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/science/plants_pt2/index.htm
This is a fun set of activities which will help you gain an understanding of the life cycle of plants. There are animations to illustrate a variety of plant processes, games to play, and worksheets to complete.

Living History Farm
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/
Wessel's Living History Farm presents innovations in agriculture from the perspective of York County, Nebraska. Members of the Wessel Family, who first came from Germany to the U.S. in 1881, have chronicled farm life in a way that can provide students with an understanding of agriculture and its history in America.

Michigan 4-H Garden Tour
http://4hgarden.msu.edu/kidstour/tour.html
This project by Michigan State University and Michigan 4-H Children's Garden tries to let users virtually tour their garden, learning about plants, gardening terms, and even ASL (American Sign Language). A user tip: when in a virtual reality scene, place your cursor in the middle of the window to slow or stop the motion. Teachers might want to use the activities found at http://4hgarden.msu.edu/kidstour/credits.html for more structured class time (the activities by Dr. Norm are very science oriented).

My First Garden
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/firstgarden/fundamentals/index.html
This garden site deals with the planning of the garden, such as where it will be placed, what will be planted, and when planting will happen. One great area for younger students deals with students using parts of their body to measure the depth of plantings, or the distance between plantings. There is a great area where students can look at pictures of things to plant and get pertinent information.

Nature: The Seedy Side of Plants
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/plants/
This companion site to the popular PBS program Nature describes the ways seeds have found to survive and get themselves into fertile soil so they can reproduce. Discover how seeds travel and how plants learn to live in unlikely places. Explore the Puzzles & Fun section for educational Flash games.

Noble Foundation Plant Image Gallery
http://www.noble.org/imagegallery/

Plants and Our Environment
http://library.thinkquest.org/3715/
What are the different parts of a plant? How do seeds travel? What do bees do to help plants? This site answers these and other basic questions about plants as well as about plants and their relationship to animals.

Plants-In-Motion
http://plantsinmotion.bio.indiana.edu/plantmotion/starthere.html
Plants grow and change on a time scale that is too slow for us to observe in real time. Time-lapse photography is a simple technique that allows us to see the movements of plants and clearly demonstrates that plants are living and capable of some extraordinary things. Movie topics include Germination, Photomorphogenesis, Tropisms, Circadian Responses, General Growth, and more. Within each topic are more choices.

Pollen Park
http://www.pollenpark.co.uk/
Pollen Park explains the complex process of plant reproduction in a straightforward manner and information is presented clearly and separated logically into obvious sections. The result is that students can navigate the site freely, making their own decisions and discoveries.

Trees for Arbor Day
http://www.arborday.org/trees/index.cfm
Imagine a world without trees. Students can click on a barren field to see the transformation of the bare dirt by plants and trees. The authors include an online reference guide that lists the benefits of trees and an excellent alphhabetical tree guide, excellent for browsing. Clicking on any tree name provides a picture and a description. Teachers who want to do a "Plant a Tree for Arbor Day" project will find trees for sale here at reasonable prices. Note that states may have different dates for Arbor Day depending on that region's best tree-planting times. In Texas, Arbor Day is the last Friday in April.

Trees Storybook Animation
http://www.msnucleus.org/membership/storybooks/tree.html
This animation about trees, in the form of a colorful storybook, covers the various functions of trees including purpose and life cycle. Beginning with simple concepts and progressing to the more complex, this site would provide a great foundation for younger students or English Language Learners.