Animals Spreading Seeds
by Ms. Melara's class

to the tune of My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean (Scottish trad.)

The squirrel collects lots of acorns

So in winter she’ll have food to spare

She sometimes forgets where she put them

So soon they’ll be sprouting somewhere

Acorns, acorns, the acorns are hidden somewhere, somewhere

Acorns, acorns, the acorns are sprouting right there

 

The berries that grow in your garden

Get eaten by birds in the air

While most of the fruit gets digested

The seeds will be pooped out somewhere

Birds poop, birds poop, birds poop the seeds out somewhere, somewhere

Birds poop, birds poop, the seeds will be sprouting right there

 

Some goats climb a tree in Morocco

It’s tall but they don’t even care

The goats eat the fruit of the argan

But spit out the seeds everywhere

Somewhere, somewhere, the goats spit the argan seeds everywhere

Somewhere, somewhere, the seeds will be sprouting right there!

 

Some grass makes a seed called a foxtail

It sticks in your socks or your hair

You’ll know that it’s there when it stabs you (Ow!)

So pluck it and throw it somewhere

Foxtails, foxtails, pluck them and throw them somewhere, somewhere

Foxtails, foxtails, soon they’ll be growing right there

 

Notes

One way plants adapt and thrive is to get animals to help spread their seeds. Ms. Melara's second graders had been researching different ways a plant might get this kind of assistance, so we turned it into a song!

 

Here are some standards from the NGSS addressed by this song:

Kindergarten

K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.

1st Grade

-LS1.B. Growth and Development of Organisms: Adult plants and animals can have young. In many kinds of animals, parents and the offspring themselves engage in behaviors that help the offspring to survive. 

-CC: Structure and Function. The shape and stability of structures of natural and designed objects are related to their function(s).

2nd Grade

2-LS2-2. Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

 

chords: G, C, D; or any root/4th/5th chord group will do fine.