Activity 1, Day 1
Read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. The book describes the life cycle of a flower and the journey of the seed. Review with students how seeds grow into plants. Ask students: “What can a seed grow into?” Students should begin to understand that many things come from seeds: vegetables, fruit, and flowers.
Have students stand and say “Let’s stand and play Simon Says.” Play the game calling out various parts of the body. Ask students to sit down again. “Now let’s look at our seeds in the plant pocket. When we look at the seeds, we see that they have changed. Tell me what you see.” Students may observe the seed pockets or you may carefully remove a sample for students to observe.
“What body parts do you have? Just as we have body parts, the seed has grown and has parts. Did you know that plants have different parts with different jobs just as people do?” As students describe the parts of the seeds they see, begin introducing plant parts.
“Today we are going to look at the parts of a plant and give these parts names.” Explain that plants have parts and each part serves a purpose, function, or job. Ask: “What do your feet help you do? What do your arms help you do? Let’s look at a plant picture and decide what each part does for the plant.” Incorporate visuals such as pictures of plants and people to point out the different parts. Introduce the vocabulary of plant parts and define the words so students are familiar with the parts and what their role is in plant growth.
Teach students to sing a song about plant parts. You may want to make props to go along with the song so students can be active participants.
Plant Parts Song
(sung to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”)
A seed grows little roots.
A seed grows little roots.
The roots grow down into the soil.
A seed grows little roots.
A seed grows a long stem.
A seed grows a long stem.
The stem grows way up toward the sun.
A seed grows a long stem.
A plant grows many leaves.
A plant grows many leaves.
The leaves grow out quite green and strong.
A plant grows many leaves.
A plant can grow a flower.
Activity 2, Day 2
Show students a real Mountain Laurel plant (if available) and the Mountain Laurel poster (S-K2-1-3_Mountain Laurel Poster.doc). For better visual effect, this poster can be enlarged. Tell students that this is a Mountain Laurel and it is an important plant to know because it is the state plant of Pennsylvania. Just like the fruits and vegetables we saw that grow in Pennsylvania, the Mountain Laurel also grows in Pennsylvania.
Ask students if they have ever seen a Mountain Laurel. Tell them that the early settlers and Native Americans called it a spoon tree because spoons and other eating utensils could be made from the wood. “Let’s look at the Mountain Laurel and see if we can identify its parts.” Use the poster to identify and discuss the basic parts of the plant (roots, stems, leaves, and flowers), and discuss their functions.
Play Simon Says again with students, but this time students will come up when called and identify the part of a plant. Say, “Simon says ‘Touch the root.’” Check to see that the student correctly touches the root of the plant. Continue playing the game until students have a good understanding of the parts of a plant. Then change the game and now ask students to identify the part that performs a specific function. Say, “Touch the part that catches sunlight for the plant.” Continue until students have a good understanding of the functions of each part.
Hand out the How Does a Plant Grow? worksheet to students (S-K2-1-3_How Does a Plant Grow.doc). Instruct students to number the pictures in order from 1 to 4, indicating 1 is the first step and 4 is the last step in the process of a growing seed.
Once a student has numbered the plant parts, s/he can discuss with the teacher which parts are numbered correctly. The student can make any necessary corrections and then take the assessment home to share. You can do this assessment as a whole group or in small groups.
Have students again observe their seed pocket planters and record observations in their science journals (S-K2-1_Science Journal.doc). Their pictures or words will indicate understanding of the seed experiment if they show the different stages (or the cycle) a seed goes through before becoming a mature plant. Also discuss with the class the possibility of a plant not growing. Explain that some seeds are dead and are not able to grow. (This would affect the outcome of the experiment.) If there are seeds that don’t grow, students should be able to explain the outcome.
Extension:
- Students can make their own plant with construction paper and crayons or markers, and then label the parts and display the plant in the classroom. This activity could be used as a formative assessment to determine what students know or as a project to do at home.
