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A unit on Plants Overview:
The goal of this thematic unit is to develop an understanding of
the many types of plants and their characteristics.
It will include lessons on plant parts, what plants need to grow,
the life cycle of a plant, and plants we use and eat Day 1. Parts of a Plant Materials needed:
large white chart paper, Power Point presentation At the beginning of the unit, make a KWL chart with
the class. Find out what the
students know about plants, what they want to know about plants, and
finally, what they learned about plants.
Brainstorm with the children, and complete the first two columns. Display chart in the classroom.
On the final day of the unit, complete the last column and use the
completed chart as a review of the entire unit.
Show Power Point presentation The Mean Green
Growing Machine. (It
explains the different parts of a plant and what function it serves.
The children can play the game and answer the riddle by identifying
the plant part.) Learn the song Parts of a Plant by Meish Goldish (sung to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”)
The roots of a plant grow underground.
The stems on a plant hold up the leaves,
The leaves on a plant are making food,
The flowers on a plant are growing seeds,
Day 2. The Life Cycle of a Plant Materials needed: small plain brown paper bag, plant illustration cards, coffee grounds, glue, seeds, yellow construction paper. To illustrate how a plant grows, the class will make a “book in a bag”. To make the “bag cover” have the children glue coffee grounds to the lower portion of a small brown paper bag (for dirt); then glue on a seed (larger seeds, such as pumpkin or watermelon show up the best); finally, cut a large sun from yellow construction paper and glue on the bag. While the bag cover is drying, have the children color the illustration cards that show the life cycle of a plant: seed, roots, sprout, and plant ( complete with roots, stem, leaves, and flower). Insert the cards into the “book in a bag” and fold down the top of the bag twice. Using a paper punch, make two holes in the folds, and lace a piece of raffia through the holes, closing the bag. The child can take home his “book in a bag”, open
it up, and share with someone at home, the life cycle of a plant.
Day 3. Plant Needs Materials needed: Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert, white drawing paper, crayons, four seeds (potted at the Science center - Activity #1) Review the plant parts discussed earlier in the unit. Have the children think about how you feel when you are hungry or tired. How do you make yourself feel better? Plants can feel the same way. How can you make plants feel better? Have the children fold their drawing paper into
fourths. Explain that
plants need four basic things to grow or feel better.
Tell the children to listen for what plants need while reading the
story, Growing Vegetable Soup
and draw a picture illustrating that need in each of the four sections.
When the story is finished, discuss what was happening to the
plant. Have the children
share the four needs of plants as drawn on their paper.
Color and label the four basic things a plant needs to grow. Learn the song, Oh, A Plant Needs Lots of Things,
(sung to the tune of “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain”)
Oh, a plant needs lots of things so it can grow. Have the children check their drawings, did they draw the things mentioned in the song? Using the extra seeds that you planted at the
Science center (see Activity #1), label one cup-with sun/with water, a
second cup-with sun/no water, a third cup-no sun/with water, and the
fourth cup-no sun/no water. Then
place the cups in the appropriate places and follow the directions labeled
on each cup. Measure the plants every other day. When all the data is collected, make an Excel chart
and graph
to show the results of no sun, no water, versus sun, and water.
Day 4: Eating Plant Parts Materials: fruits and vegetable (for ideas, click on
http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/vegquiz/partlist.html
, salad dressing,
cutting board, knife, plastic bowls, plastic forks Have a plant part eating feast. Talk to the class about the different parts of plants that we
eat: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, seeds and fruits. Make a shopping list of plant parts that could be used in
their salad. Take the class
shopping to the local grocery store to purchase the shopping list, or
assign items for children to bring, or the teacher may purchase the plant
part items-whatever works best for your particular classroom.
Wash your fruits and vegetables.
Cut up the parts carefully and place in a bowl-naming which part of
the plant you are eating. Mix
lightly and serve with your favorite salad dressing. A bulletin board or classroom chart could be made to illustrate what part of the plant we eat.
Take a classroom poll.
Which vegetables do your students like?
Make a bar graph to record the class favorite.
Day 5: Conclusion and Evaluation Materials: KWL chart, Rubric (go to Assessment to print rubric) Display the KWL chart begun on the first day.
Review what we know about plants, what we want to know about
plants, and complete the last column-what we learned about plants.
Were we right? What
new things did we learn? Assign each student a Botany Buddy (a classroom peer
that they can demonstrate their knowledge about plants and show their
journals, “book in a bag”, artwork, stories, etc.)
Hand out the Rubric for the unit.
The Botany Buds can show each other their projects and tell what
they learned and then check off the activities that they accomplished
during the Plant unit and return to the teacher. |
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