ABSTRACT
This chapter explains about children explore the plant holly to find out about it, and then carry out data-handling and pattern-seeking activities using holly leaves they have collected. Children could use chalk on the playground or on a wall on the school building to draw large holly leaves and place a fact about the holly inside each leaf. Common holly is a hardy evergreen tree or shrub with glossy, spiky leaves. The spikes are an adaptation which discourage animals from eating the leaves and also protect birds that eat the berries from predators. Holly is dioecious, which means that male and female flowers occur on different trees, so holly flowers need to be pollinated by insects such as bees; when this happens, the flowers develop into the bright red berries that are seen in the autumn and winter. Birds eat the berries and the seeds are dispersed in bird droppings.
