During the day tomorrow or the day after, we will take a tour of the school grounds to look for stems. On your way home today, and after you get home, take a look at all the plants you can and make some notes about stems so that we can answer a few questions.

1. Do all plants have stems?

2. If not, what do they have?

3. If they have stems, how much of the plants are stems? (That means, if the entire plant is one foot tall, and there is a flower at the top which is 4 inches in diameter - across - , then 1/3 of the plant is flower and 2/3 of the plant is its stem.)

4. How do the different stems grow and support the leaves and flowers, or vegetables, or fruit?

5. Are the stems stiff and strong, and stand up straight?

6. Do the stems crawl around on the ground, like ivy stems?

7. If the stems crawl on the ground, how are the leaves and flowers supported?

8. Do some of the stems hang on to things? (Like peas, sweet peas, beans, squash, cucumber, etc.)

9. If they hang on, do they send out little growths (tendrils or roots) to hold onto the strings, trellis, or tree on which they are growing?

10. If they hang on, but don't grow little "holder-on-ers," how do they hold on?

11. Did you get a chance to see a plant that grows in the water?

12. Does the stem float on top?

13. If it does, how do you think it floats?

You get the answer to this one, because without harming the plant, you can't find out. Stems of plants that grow in water have two kinds of stems all in one. The part of the stem that floats is hollow and has air in it to keep it afloat. The parts of the stems that are underneath the surface of the water are solid, and kind of stiff.

14. If you can find out the names of the plants you have studied, be sure to write the names on your notes.