Helene J. Jordan - How a Seed Grows

The illustrations in this book were painted on
three-ply Strathmore Bristol board in gouache with colored pencils.

The Lets-Read-and-Find-Out Science book series was originated by Dr. Franklyn M. Branley, AstronomerEmeritus and former Chairman of the American Museum of Natural HistoryHayden Planetarium, and wasformerly co-edited by him and Dr. Roma Gans, Professor Emeritus of Childhood Education, Teachers College,Columbia University. Text and illustrations for each of the books in the series are checked for accuracy by an expertin the relevant field. For more information about Lets-Read-and-Find-Out Science books, write to HarperCollinsChildrens Books, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007, or visit our website at www.letsreadandfindout.com.
Lets Read-and-Find-Out Science is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
HOW A SEED GROWS. Text copyright 1960, 1992 by Helene Jordan Waddell. Illustrations copyright 1992by Loretta Krupinski. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Bypayment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and readthe text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled,reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or byany means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express writtenpermission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
EPub Edition 2015
ISBN: 9780062446954
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Revised edition, 2015

A seed is a little plant. It is a plant that has not
started to grow. Apple trees and daisies, carrots
and corn, clover and wheat, all grow from seeds.

Here is a tree seed.
Someday it will be a tree like this.

Here is a flower seed.
Someday it will be a flower like this.

Some seeds grow slowly. These are the seeds of an
oak tree.
An oak tree grows very, very slowly. Suppose you
planted an oak tree seed. You would be a father, or a
mother, or even a grandfather or a grandmother, and
the oak tree would still be growing.

Some seeds grow fast. This is a
bean seed.
It grows very fast. It grows so
fast that it becomes a bean plant
in just a few weeks.

You can plant bean seeds yourself. We used pole
beans. You can use pole beans, bush beans, or lima
beans.
You can plant the seeds in eggshells or tin cans
or old cups or little flowerpots. Be sure that your
containers have holes in the bottom.

We used eggshells. We used a
pencil to make holes in the
eggshells.
We filled twelve eggshells with
soil like this.
We made a hole in the soil with
a finger, like this.

When you have made a hole in
the soil, plant a bean seed in it.
Plant one seed in each hole.
Cover the seed with soil.

Sprinkle the soil carefully with a
little water.
Number the shells. Write the
number on the first shell. Put the
number on the next shell. Keep
going until all of the shells are
numbered from to

Put all the eggshells in an egg carton.
Put the carton in sunlight on a windowsill.
Some bean seeds grow faster than others.
Our seeds began to grow in three days. Your bean
seeds may take a little longer.
You wont be able to see your seeds growing yet.
They start to grow under the soil where you cant
see them.

Water your seeds a little every day.
The water soaks into the seeds. The seeds begin
to grow.
More water soaks into the seeds. The seeds get
fatter and fatter.

Wait for three days and then dig
up seed Number
It may be soft. It may be fat. Maybe
it will look the same as it did before.
Soon the seed will grow so fat that
its skin will pop off.
In two more days dig up seed
Number

Maybe it will look different now. Maybe the skin of
this seed will be loose.

Now a root starts to grow. The
root grows from one side of the
bean seed.
The root pushes down into the