California 4th grade content standards

You can use the sunflower project to talk about how environments have changed and bees are doing better in some places and worse in others. Are there differences between sunflower counts in cities and in rural areas? You can use the sunflowers in your garden to look at who uses this plant for pollination, which foods eat it and if it gets some pest species, you can even see who else might use the sunflower as a house. There also should be a couple of different bees using your sunflower. Honey bees and bumble bees often compete for resources. It turns out that honey bees are more likely to go to another plant when other bees are around which is really food for transferring pollen, just what a farmer wants to have happen

Life Sciences standard

All organisms need energy and matter to live and grow. As a basis for understanding this concept:
Students know plants are the primary source of matter and energy entering most food chains.
Students know producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers) are related in food chains and food webs and may compete with each other for resources in an ecosystem.
Students know decomposers, including many fungi, insects, and microorganisms, recycle matter from dead plants and animals.

Living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for survival. As a basis for understanding this concept:
Students know ecosystems can be characterized by their living and nonliving components.
Students know that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
Students know many plants depend on animals for pollination and seed dispersal, and animals depend on plants for food and shelter.
Students know that most microorganisms do not cause disease and that many are beneficial.

The Great Sunflower Project

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