Study The Cabbage

Ornamental Kale blooming in January in Washington, DC.

       The  cabbage  is  another  of  the  plants  cultivated  by people  for  eating and display.  It  absorbs water and nutrients quickly,  and  the  surplus  food  which  it draws  from  the  air  and  ground  is  stored  by  it  in  a  variety  of  ways.  The head  of  the  common  cabbage  is  a  store  of  such  surplus  food  laid  up  in  the form  of  a  bud.  In  the  kale  is  stored  in  the  leaves,  in  Brussels-sprouts in  small  cabbages  or  buds,  and  in  the  cauliflower  it  is  poured  into  the  flower-heads.  It  is supposed  that  all  the  different  varieties  of  cabbages  have  sprung from  the  wild  cabbage ,  a  not  very  common  plant  which  grows  on  the  sea-coast, often  to  a  height  of  nearly  two  feet. 

Required for Observation in The Classroom: A  complete  cabbage  plant  with  a  close  heart. A  complete  cabbage  plant  in  flower,  if  possible.  Cabbage  seeds. A  knife.  Various  leaf-buds or a video showing same things.

Method of Student Observation:

• Compare  with  other  roots  previously  examined. 
• Examine  the  stem,  cutting  and breaking  it  when  necessary.  Compare  with  other  stems  previously  examined. 
• Let  each  child  examine  a  leaf, and  describe  it.  Arrangement  of veins  and  absence  of  fibers  to  be noted.  
• Explain  that  the  parts  eaten  have no  fibres,  and  are  therefore  soft.
  
• Make  a  longitudinal  section  of  the cabbage,  to  show  how  the  leaves  are folded.  Compare  with  other  leaf- buds. 
• Exhibit  a  cabbage  plant  in flower,  and  let  the  flowers  be  examined  by  the  children.  (The  cabbage in  flower  may  be  obtained  in  the spring.)  Show  the  seed-vessels  and the  seeds  of  the  cabbage.

How to Grade Study Notes For Student Journals: Every student will need a journal to write in weekly for this online nature study series. Teacher will assign the weekly content in advance.

• Make sure the facts are: written in complete sentences, the first word of each sentence capitalized, and a period should be included at the end of each sentence.
• Spell check your vocabulary and write the words correctly.
• Dress up your journal entries with student clip art, drawings of your own in color or in black and white.
• Student may also include photographs of their own taking for extra credit.

Look for the following facts about the cabbage inside of student journals. Assign a point value to the quality of the content.

• Root -  Branched.  Fibrous. White. 
• Stem  or  Stalk - Thick.  Green outside.  In  part  fibrous  and  tough. In  part  brittle  and  without  fibers. White  within. 
• Leaves - Much  wrinkled.  Midrib  thick,  running  through  the  middle. Veins  branched,  forming  a  network. Leaves  not  fibrous,  but  brittle. Outer  leaves  green. Inner  leaves  white,  and  folded closely  together,  forming  a  large  bud. 
  
• Flowers -  If  the  cabbage  is allowed  to  remain  in  the  ground  for a  long  time,  the  bud  opens  and  forms a  tall,  green,  branched  stem,  bearing  yellow flowers.  The  seed-vessels are  formed  from  the  central  part  of the  flowers.  The  seeds  produce  new plants.

Video at Youtube for Students to Watch:

• Cabbage growing time lapse, 100 days by Real Time Lapse
• Ornamental Cabbage & Kale Facts by MisStateExtension

Stain and Assemble Coffee Filter Cabbages: I prefer to use watercolor or acrylic paints for this craft because these are already ''color fast.'' This is the key advantage to using artist paints of any kind. I know that once the paints are dry on the filters, these will not rub off on anything else.     
       Dye will stain things that they rub up against if they are not either washed again to remove what doesn't take on a filter or if the dye is not properly made stable by the addition of a fixative.

A decorative, coffee filter cabbage for 
arranging on a table, wreath or display.

Supplies Needed:

• package of white coffee filters
• white school glue
• green and magenta non-toxic acrylic paints or watercolors
• bag of cotton balls
• chenille stems
• masking tape

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Prepare a kitchen space or a space next to a sink in a classroom.
2. Soak each coffee filter for 30 seconds. You can do this with an entire stack if you are willing to take the time to peal the filters apart, one from another, before ''dying'' these in the paint.
3. The acrylic paint should be of a liquid-like consistency before using in this craft. So, you may need to water it down a bit before puddling the paint on a kitchen tray. To make your colors more intense on the filters you may repeat this process being described over and over until you are happy with the results. Coffee filters are actually quite durable.
4. Puddle the paints in a dish, tray or cookies sheet. Tent the wet coffee filter, one at a time, so that it looks like a teepee. The edges should be facing down to grab the most intense paint color. The paint will seep upward towards the peaked center fold as the filter drys. Don't worry about the paint left in the tray; it will wash easily with just a bit of scrubbing and a once over in the dish washer on high to disinfect it. 
5. You may also take a wet paint brush, load it with color and brush on more color randomly. 
6. Let the filters dry over night and then open these up in the morning to further dry out in the sunshine.
7. Use just one filter to make the center of the cabbage. Wad together in your fist 8 or 9 cotton balls and place these in the center of the filter. Gather up the edges around a doubled chenille stem and twist the ends around the wire. Tape this in place and trim off the long length. This will be the center ball that all of the other leaves of the cabbage are attached to.
8. I folded all of the magenta inter leaves in half and then again, to cut the edges into a ruffle. Then unfolded and separated these again to fluff them out. 
9. Apply glue to the bottom of the center stuffed leaf and attach the next magenta leaf to the center of this. Proceed through all of the leaves in order of their appearance squeezing a bit of glue to sandwich between each leaf.
10. Now tuck the entire cabbage into a small bowl so that it will dry in a ball-like shape. Wait a day and then turn it upside-down to further dry.
11. Separate and fluff the leaves when the glue has dried and your cabbage will then be finished for display.

Coffee filters in peaked shapes like teepees, have soaked up the puddle paints beneath them. 
Right, after drying overnight, flatten out the filters to dry some more in the sunshine.

The center of the cabbage has one
stuffed leaf with cotton balls.

Cut the ruffled edges all at once by stacking the dry filters neatly, folding and then
cutting them together. Fluff them out before stacking and pasting them together.

Left, see the magenta leaves before the green are pasted behind them. Center, all of the
 leaves have paste, white school glue, between them and are not ready to dry inside of a
 bowl. Right, see the bowl and cabbage tucked inside. It will take awhile for the glue to
dry. After about four hours turn the cabbage upside-down an keep it in the bowl.
 In a day it should all be dry completely, then fluff out the leaves as you like. 

Extended Learning Content: 

• Cabbage poem, mini book, links and clip art
• Read about dolls born in a cabbage patch!
• Cabbages are part of the mustard family of vegetables...

Free Student Clip Art: Clip art may be printed from a home computer, a classroom computer or from a computer at a library and/or a local printing service provider. This may be done from multiple locations as needed because our education blog is online and available to the general public.

1.  Root.  -  Branched.  Fibrous. White.
2.  Stem. - Thick.  Green.
3.  Leaves. - Wrinkled. Form  a bud. Network  of  veins.
4.  Flowers. - Yellow. Formed when  the bud opens. Produce  seeds.