WATCH IT GROW - PLANTS
MASTER TEACHER Jill Scott
GRADES PRE-K 3 TO K
OVERVIEW
In this lesson the students
will learn about what plants need to grow. They will plant a bean seed
in a ziploc bag and watch for all the parts of the bean plant to develop.
They will also be able to graph the progress of their plant right on the bag
itself. They will compare their plants with the other students' plants for
height. The students will also use silk flowers to sort the stem, leaves,
and blooms of the plants into the correct group. The students will use this
information to determine whether an object is a plant or not. They will
learn a song to remind them of the necessary elements for plants to grow as well
as listen and act out the story The Carrot Seed.
Note to the teacher:
These lessons are developed for very young children. They
may be presented over several group times. Repetition is important for
young children as well as discovery.
ITV SERIES
Play and Discover with Digger & Splat #102 Food We Eat
Play and Discover with Digger & Splat #107 Green and
Growing.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students should be able to:
*develop gross motor skills such as squatting, jumping while
learning a song
*describe a plant and use the terms roots, stem, leaves, bloom
or flower
*sequence events in the growth of a plant
*list the necessary elements for plants to grow (sun or light,
water, soil)
*plant their own bean seed
*predict outcomes
*compare and contrast the growth of their seed with their
classmates' seeds
*graph the daily progress of their been seed
*use criteria to determine if an object is a plant or is not a
plant
*participate in the acting out of a story The Carrot Seed
MATERIALS
1 healthy plant
1/4 piece of blue poster board
Flip chart (see directions in activity) Materials
construction paper - yellow and blue 2 sheets each
Velcro, 2 pieces male and female
wide plastic tape - 1 roll
green ribbon 1 piece 8-10 inches long
markers (various colors)
plastic film - 2 sheets the same size as your poster board
(can be purchases by the yard or you can use laminating film)
glue - 1 bottle
Bean Planting Activity Materials
ziploc bags one per student
beans - one per student
paper towels - one per student
paper rulers (these can be purchased at the teacher supply house
or made by hand or computer) one for each student
Dramatic play Materials
watering can 1 or 2
1 or 2 pails
several seed packets
1 or 2 hats
1 or 2 pairs gardening gloves
3 flower pots
1 or 2 small shovels
several plastic or silk flowers
10 silk flowers taken apart to show stems, leaves, blooms
sorting tray
Cooking Activity
1 paper cup per student
1 oreo per student to be crushed
1 or 2 peanuts per student for seeds
1 spoon per student
1 gummy worm per student
chocolate pudding pre-made enough for 2 spoons per student
Beat the Clock Game Materials
a rock
a weed
an aquarium plant
a daisy
1 poster board divided with a line down the middle
Puzzle (Lakeshore Catalog puzzle JD202 Plant & Bean
Set)
VOCABULARY
plant
living
nonliving
sun
rain
air
dirt
PREVIEWING ACTIVITIES
Have students sitting on carpet or in small chairs at the circle
time area. Have a healthy plant under a box. Ask the students to guess
what is under the box. Give them clues such as, "It is a living
thing. Some people keep these in their homes or yards. It has green
on it. It has leaves." Accept all answers. Lift the box
and show the plant. Ask the students to identify this object.
See who was right and who was not.
FOCUS FOR VIEWING
Tell the student that DiDi is going to talk to us about a plant
just like the one we have here. To give the students a specific responsibility
while viewing, have them listen to DiDi and remember the 3 things DiDi says
every plant needs to grow.
VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Begin the video where DiDi says, "Hi, Do you want to help
me grow some beans?" Pause the video after DiDi says, "Plants need
sunlight, water, and air." Ask the class what DiDi said plants needed to
grow.(sybkught, water, and air) List the answers the students give on a
chart paper or blackboard. Rewind the video to the place you started
where DiDi says, "Hi, Do you want to help me grow some beans?"
When DiDi names the sunlight, pause the video and circle that
answer on your chart paper. Resume video.
Pause video for the word water and circle it on your chart.
Resume video.
Pause for the word air and circle it on your chart. Show the
students that they were able to find out what plants needed to grow from
listening to DiDi.
POST VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Tell the children that you have a special song that will help
them remember what plants need in order to grow.
Song: Tiny Little Daisy
Tiny little daisy, tell me true
What has Mother nature done for you?
She has sent the rain
And the sunshine too,
That is how she grew and grew.
Sung to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot
(Make a song flip chart to go with this song by using 1/4 sheet
poster board and clear plastic film. For the back board of your flip chart
draw dirt or ground on the bottom of the poster board about 1/5 up the sheet of
poster board. Draw a short stem with leaves in the middle of the dirt.
Place a small piece of female velcro at the top of the stem that you drew.
From construction paper or felt draw and cut out a daisy bloom. Attach
this daisy bloom to a long piece of green ribbon. On the back of the bloom
attach a piece of male velcro. Poke a hole in the poster board at
the top of the stem that you drew below the velcro. Place the ribbon
through the hole and pull it until the bloom is sitting on the stem and leaves
and is attached by the velcro. There will be a long piece of ribbon still left
behind the poster. On the first sheet of plastic, glue blue rain drops
that you have cut out of construction paper or felt. Glue the rain
drops so that when the plastic film is laid over the poster board it will appear
to be raining. On the second piece of plastic film, paste a sun that you
have cut out from construction paper or felt. Place it so that the sun
will be in the upper corner of the poster when the sheet is laid over the poster
board. On this sheet of plastic place the second piece of female velcro
about 2 inches from the top of the poster board. Place the poster board down on
the table, then the rain sheet, then the sun sheet. Tape these all
together across the top of the poster board using wide clear plastic tape.
When you use the flip chart, you begin with the daisy bloom at the top of the
stem and the plastic sheets folded back. When you sing,
"She has sent the rain" flip over the rain plastic sheet. When
you sing, "And the sunshine too," flip over the sun. Then, reach
under the plastic and pull the Daisy bloom up slowly as you sing, "That is
how she grew and grew." Attach the Daisy bloom at the top piece of
velcro.
Sing the song several times for effect. Allow the
students to act out the song. All students can crouch down and be the tiny
little daisy. One student can be the rain, and one can be the sun.
Talk about how the air is all around us.
Explain to the students that they will be able to make their
own flip chart at center time or it can be done now as part of a teacher
directed activity in a rotation system.
SESSION 2 OR CONTINUATION
PREVIEWING ACTIVITIES
Show the students a handful of beans. Have the students tell you
about what they see. Ask if they have every seen these, eaten these, etc.
Ask what we can do with these beans.
Focus for viewing
To provide a specific focus for viewing say, "DiDi has
some beans that are almost like these beans. Let's see what she is going
to do with these beans."
VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Resume video where it had been stopped at the end of
Session one.
Pause the video after DiDi says, " I have
asked Digger to come in and do some High Speed Video." Ask the
students what do you think you will see in the video. What will happen to the
bean? Have the students describe what they think you will see as you
sketch it on a large piece of paper. Resume the video to see that
the bean has sprouted.
Fast Forward through the toy box ride until you see
the cartoon giant bean stalk. Resume video. Digger says,
"My miracle potient really did the trick this time." Stop the video
after Digger says, "A plant without roots is like a monster without a
mouth. That's how the plant gets food and water." Compare your
drawing with what is on the video screen. Compare your drawing with the poster
chart used earlier in session one.
POST VIEWING ACTIVITIES (Use if this is the end of
your lesson, or use later as an extension)
Show the students the materials they will use to plant their
bean seeds. Show the beans, ziploc bags, paper towels, watering can, paper
rulers (these can be purchased at the teacher supply house or made by hand or
computer), and markers. Have the students identify these items.
Demonstrate, with the help of the students, the planting of the bean seed.
Tape the ruler on the side of the ziploc bag. Use the marker and mark at
zero for Day 1. Across the top of the ziploc bag write Day
1,3,5,7,9,11,13, 15. Use the ruler and the markings at the top of the
ziploc bag to help the students chart the growth of their plant. The
students will plant their own bean seed at a center during Center Time or this
can be done at a teacher directed center during a rotation system.
THIRD SESSION OR CONTINUATION
PREVIEWING
Now that we have planted our bean seed, lets talk about what our
plant will look like when it grows. Remember, we drew a picture of our
plant. Each part of the plant has a name. Show a chart with
the stem, roots, leaves, and bloom labeled. Now I am going to give each of
you a piece of one of my silk plants. Lets take turns looking at each
piece and deciding which part of the plant it is. As the student shows his
piece and the group concludes whether it is a stem, root, etc have the student
tape it on the chart next to the proper label.
FOCUS FOR VIEWING
To provide a specific focus for viewing say, "Now that we
know what a plant is and the parts of a plant, we are going to play a game with
this information. I want you to watch closely as DiDi plays a special game
called Race the Clock. Let's see is we agree with DiDi or not."
VIEWING ACTIVITIES
(Play and discover with Digger & Splat) #107 Green and
Growing. Start video where the announcer says, "It's time to
play Race the Clock." and you see a big clock. Pause video
when he says, "A tree." Ask the students if they think a tree is
a plant. Provide each student with a stick puppet with a happy face for
yes and a sad face for no. Have the students as a group vote on whether a
tree is a plant. Ask a student who is showing his happy face, why he
thinks a tree is a plant. Does it have roots, leaves, stem, etc;.? Resume
video until the picture of the grass comes up on the game and the announcer
says, "Grass."
Pause. Again, question the students to find out
if grass is a plant or not. Have the students vote using their stick
puppet. Ask what parts of a plant grass has. Resume video and
continue this technique stopping after the announcers shows the picture and asks
about a carrot, a plant pot, seaweed, and a frog. Stop video
after the announcers says, "That completes our round."
POST-VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Show the students the special objects that you have brought for
them to sort into plants and not plants. Use a rock, a weed, an aquarium
plant, a daisy, and other objects you can find. Use the same technique as
the Race the Clock Game and ask the group whether each item is a plant or not.
Have the students answer with their yes no puppets. After you decide on
each object place it on a poster board that is divided down the middle with
plant and not plant as title. This activity can be done in a teacher
directed group as a rotation or in a learning center.
Tell the students that as a special treat you have a story
about a little boy who planted a seed just like we did. He took very good
care of it. He made sure it had water, soil, sun, and he weeded the ground
around it everyday. He also believed it would grow. Listen to the
story and see if the seed grew. Read The Carrot Seed. Allow the students
to act out the story.
CENTERS
Center one - Science Center - Plant and not
plant center. Provide the materials from session three in a box.
Have the poster board flat on the table for the students to sort objects as
plant and not plant. They may also look around the room and find objects
to sort.
Center two - Puzzle Center - Provide Judy puzzles that
show plants life cycle. (Lakeshore Catalog puzzle JD202 Plant
& Bean Set) Also, provide teacher made puzzles that show sequence of
the bean to plant cycle.
Center three - Art Center - Provide collage materials
such as yarn, fabric, paper, pipe cleaners, etc. Allow the students to
make a flower garden on paper. Help them remember the plant parts through
interactive talk.
Center four - Listening station. Provide the
book The Carrot Seed and tape. Also, provide sequence pictures of the story cut
into individual actions. Show the students how to use the listening station.
Encourage the students to sequence the events as they listen to the story.
Center five - Dramatic Play Center. Encourage the
students to act out the story using props provided in the center such as
seed packages, empty watering pail, shovel, etc.
Center six - Language Center -- Provide paper, pens,
magazines, etc. for the students to write their own story. Have adult or
older student monitoring to help stress the beginning, middle, and end of the
story.
Center seven - Snack Table - Provide a rebus (picture
directions) for making Dirt Pudding. Use paper cups for the flower pot,
crushed oreos for the rocks, chocolate pudding for the dirt, and peanuts
for the seeds. Gummy worms make a nice touch to the plant. Allow
students to make this during center time, as a rotation center, or as a large
group snack activity.
ACTION PLAN
For a real world extension, have the students visit a local
nursery. The horticulturalist can show the students around the nursery.
They can identify different plants they have studied. They can also
purchase several bedding plants to grow at home or at school.
The students can participate in a local xeriscape project.
The teacher can find out where there is a local project and provide the address
for the class. The students can dictate a letter asking for information.
After receiving the information, the students can participate as a class or
individually with their parents.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruno, Janet. Book Cooks. Creative Teaching Press,
Inc.: Cypress, Ca. 1991.
Carle, Eric. The Tiny Seed. Scholastic.
Ehlert, Lois. Planting a Rainbow. Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich
Faulkner, Jack. Jack and the Beanstalk. Scholastic.
Heller, Ruth. The Reason for a Flower. Grosset &
Dunlap.
Krauss, Ruth. The Carrot Seed. Harper & Row.
EXTENSIONS
Language Arts
The students can write or draw their own stories about
plants and flowers. Provide flower shaped papers for the students to draw
or write one.
Using photographs of the seeds growing, have the students
sequence the pictures in the correct order.
Health/Physical Education
Take a nature walk and look for plants in various stages of
growth.
Art
Use the materials found on your nature walk to make a collage.
INTERNET
The students can visit any of the following internet addresses
for additional information.
CBC Online -- Children's Book Council (learn about authors and
illustrators of the books that we read)
http://www.cbcbooks.org/
"The Kinder Garden" from Texas A&M-- This site includes
activities in a butterfly garden, books, and interactive storybooks. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/kindergarden/kinder.htm
Updated: April 01, 2008
