How do roots grow?

On 9 April 2014 -during the week of Scoala Altfel (school in another way) - the fourthgraders from School No 4 visited over at Gusterita and did some studies about the soil in our garden.
After an introductory walk across the property the children divided into two groups (according to natural inclination...): the boys dug up the ground to find small creatures living in the soil and specified them according to the number of legs and shape.
The girls took 'snapshots' of interesting details on the ground by framing them with sticks.
Then everyone did a root-growing activity by planting four peas into a clear plastic cup. The cup got a 'blindfold', shutting out the light, so the roots would grow straight down. After a few weeks it was easy to see that the roots grow down quite a bit before the plant sprouts its first leaves.
In the end, the entire class got to play on the Gusterita Mobile Playground, sponsored by ifa in Stuttgart, Germany.