Build Background: Create a KWL chart about the tulip bulb. Have students ever seen a tulip bulb before? What does it remind them of? How do you plant a tulip bulb? Is it a plant; how is it different from other plants?

* More in-depth guide to observations and dissections >>

Make Connections (and raise questions):

• Are tulip bulbs plants?
• Is a bulb like a seed?
• How does the structure of a bulb help it survive?
• Will a bigger bulb have a bigger flower? Earlier flower?

Explain that a bulb is a specialized storage organ. The thick, fleshy parts are specialized leaves that help keep the tulip protected from the cold. The starches and sugars in the thick leaves give the tulip energy to burst from the ground when the conditions are right in the spring.

Get Meaning from the Photos. Discuss:

• Why do scientists keep records?
• What can a scientist can learn from cutting open a bulb?
• Locate the flower. Why is it located so deep inside the bulb?

Start a journal for any questions you have and to answer any questions in the slide show/booklet. Provide tulip bulbs for examining. Draw a scientific illustration of the bulb, inside and out. Observe shapes, textures, colors, etc. Ask students to list at least 5 adjectives that describe their bulb. Remind them that adjectives are descriptive words. Encourage the use of words that paint a picture--as if for someone who has never seen a tulip bulb before.