Rhizomes, nodes, anthers and pistols---all new words we heard yesterday. During our lesson yesterday with Mrs. Magill and Mrs. Mead we learned more about grasses and grains than we knew there was to know. "Grasses are slender stalks with seeds that nourish the world," as defined in Hands-on Nature. Rhizomes are the underground stems that help grasses continue to grow, and keep the soil from eroding. Nodes are the swollen joints found along a grass stem where each leaf starts to grow. Tiny pollen is shed from anthers on the tips of the grass, and the pistols of grass flowers are feathery and sticky to catch the blowing pollen from other grass plants. On our walk we were asked to find different types of grasses, but many of us kept finding something called sedges. They are very similar, but have differences that we had to be very careful to observe. A little poem from Hands-on Nature that might help you tell the difference between a grass and a sedge:

We found examples of Timothy grass, crab grass and fox tail grass. Did you know that corn is a grass, too?

Thank you to Mrs. Magill (Erin’s Mom), and Mrs. Mead (Ciara’s Mom), for joining us and teaching us all about grasses and grains. The grain snacks were yummy-- the popcorn, oatmeal cookies, whole wheat crackers AND rice cakes!