Overview: Students research hummingbird-attracting plants and make selections to grow in a school garden.

Subject Areas: science, language arts, technology

Key Concepts: habitat needs of plants

Skills: research, teamwork/cooperative learning, oral communication, decision-making

Location: indoors

Estimated Time: 45 minutes to 1 hour or more

Materials: copies of plant report worksheet, gardening books and magazines, native plant books, plant encyclopedias, climate zone maps, access to Internet, other reference materials, list of hummingbird plants to choose from (optional)

Preparation: Gather all reference materials and resources and review the chart below. If desired, create a list of hummingbird attracting plants for students to choose from.

Procedure

1. Tell students that one of the first steps in planning a hummingbird garden is determining the plants to include. Ask what criteria they think these plants should meet other than being attractive to hummingbirds. For instance, they should be native or grow well in the area and easy to grow from seeds or plant found at local nurseries. Ask what other kinds of information would be good to know about a plant that might be chosen for the garden. This would include how much sunlight and water it needs and the soil type it prefers. Probe for ideas about how to determine where to plant it (e.g., find out size, bloom period, and color). Discuss terms such as annual, biennial, and perennial.
2. Since students will be responsible for selecting plants for the garden, they will need to research the answers to some of these questions for various plant species. Allow students to work in pairs or groups and select a plant to research. They can look up information about the plant in the library, media center, computer lab, or other resource. Your researchers should organize their findings by completing a Plant Report Worksheet or similar form. Students may also want to include a picture of their group's plant.
3. Student groups can present to classrmates the picture of their plants and the information they learned in the form of an oral report or presentation.

Wrap-Up: Students can use what they've discovered to decide which plants they would most like to include in the garden.

Extensions
Plant reports can be combined in a booklet that the class can refer to when planting and maintaining the garden.

Have students use what they learned to decide the best place for the garden, select plants for the garden, determine where to plant them, and so on.

After the garden is in place and plants begin to produce seed, students can use the information from their reports (and experience) to design seed packets that include complete growing instructions. They can collect seeds and package them to share with other classes or schools or sell at a fundraiser.

* See the Resources section Web links for information on regional trees, shrubs, perennials, biennials, and annuals that inspire hummingbirds.

This activity was written by Kim Bailey, Georgia regional editor for Green Teacher magazine.