Plants (Unit Opener)

by Mathew Needleman
Open Court Resources.com
School:
Saturn Street Elementary School
Grade Level:
1
Students:
8 boys and 8 girls. Eight ELL students. One student receiving RSP services.
Allow students to draw as well as write words to ask questions and record observations. Provide actual plants as a basis for discussion among students, avoid theoretical, abstract discussions.
Subject Area(s):
Science, Science as inquiry
Goal(s):
Students will identify the parts of a plant and where a plant comes from.
Concept(s):
Plants have stems, roots, and sometimes flowers.

Plants can grow from seeds or the stems of other plants.
Standards:
CA- CCTC: Aligned CSTP's and TPE's
• Standard : CSTP: Standard for Assessing Student Learning
TPE: B. Assessing Student Learning
CSTP Description: Teachers establish and clearly communicate learning goals for all students. Teachers collect information about student performance from a variety of sources. Teachers involve all students in assessing their own learning. Teachers use information from a variety of ongoing assessments to plan and adjust learning opportunities that promote academic achievement and personal growth for all students. Teachers exchange information about student learning with students, families, and support personnel in ways that improve understanding and encourage further academic progress.
• CSTP Key Element : Establishing and communicating learning goals for all students.
 Question : involve all students and families in establishing goals for learning?

CA- California K-12 Academic Content Standards
• Subject : Science
• Grade : Grade One
• Area : Life Sciences
• Sub-Strand 2: Plants and animals meet their needs in different ways. As a basis for understanding this concept:
 Standard a: Students know different plants and animals inhabit different kinds of environments and have external features that help them thrive in different kinds of places.
• Area : Investigation and Experimentation
• Sub-Strand 4: Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:
 Standard e: Make new observations when discrepancies exist between two descriptions of the same object or phenomenon.
Objective(s):
Students will communicate their knowledge and curiosity of/about plants by stating at least two accurate facts about them and one thing they want to learn.
Prerequisite Background Skills/Knowledge:
Prerequisite knowledge that children should have is the names of basic flowering plant parts such as roots, stem, and petals. Students should also know that plants can grow from seeds. Students may already know this, however, if students do not have this information then some time should be spent reviewing the plant parts.
Vocabulary / Language Skills:
Students will work with comparing and contrasting in talking about the living plants in the room. Students will also be reintroduced to the word observation as it relates to science processing as they are asked to observe the plants in front of them.
Materials:
Living plants of different types
Chart papers
Markers
Classroom Management:
Plants will need to be rotated among students in an orderly manner. The creation of the K-W-L chart must be done in stages so as to avoid student boredom. Students will move in groups of four around the room from station to station. Students should be warned not to touch the cactus except with the lightest touch possible.
Procedure:
Preparation:

Spread different types of living plants around the room (snap dragons, a planted amaryllis bulb, a cactus, a green plant with yellow spots), making sure to include some non-flowering plants such as ferns in addition to those with flowers.

Create a K-W-L Chart.


Open
Ask students if they know what the plants are. They may say flowers but take the opportunity to point out that although all of them are plants, not all of them are flowers. Ask students to tell you a few things that they know about plants, chart these things in the K column of the K-W-L chart.

Explain to students that today they are going to be scientists and are going to be doing observations, looking closely at the plants around the room to see what they notice about them. Students should look to see what is similar about all of them as well as different and see if they have any questions about them. Good scientists wonder about why things are the way they are and communicate their questions about those things.

Body
Students will rotate around the room in groups of four. At each "station" will be a different type of plant, a large sheet of paper, and markers. The paper will be split in two, one side for what students know and one side for their questions.

Students will have a few minutes to gather their thoughts about the plant and then will be asked to record their observations and questions on the sheet of paper at their table. Students will be strongly encouraged to draw their observations if it is easier for them so that all students can participate.

After all five groups have rotated, gather the group together again. A break, like recess or P.E. may benefit the students at this time depending on their interest level. If possible, the teacher can collect the chart paper at the stations and chart it on the master K-W-L chart before students return to class. Then review with students their questions and their prior knowledge of the subject.

Close
Explain to students some of the things that they will be doing during the plant unit, including different parts of plants, what plants need to grow, and how to create new plants. Make sure students are able to their questions about the subject and that these questions are charted and taken into account when planning the rest of the unit.
Assessment:
After observing the plants in the room, students will demonstrate their knowledge and interest by communicating two accurate things they know about the plants and one thing they want to know about them.
Reflection:
This lesson went well. The best part about it was the life-size concept question boards at each station. All students were able to participate since they were allowed to draw. However, I made sure to compliment those students who were writing questions and other question writers soon followed. One unintended outcome of the process was that even without my prompting students would read over what other people had written before writing their own comments or questions down. This was terrific because it was good science. Good scientists, I explained when someone showed me how someone had drawn a flower that looked nothing like the one on the table, examine what other people have written and then agree or disagree. I asked the student if he disagreed--he did and so it was then his responsibility to offer what he thought the plant looked like by drawing a picture.

One concept that was difficult for my students was which side of the board to put questions on and which sides to put concepts (though this may simply have been due to it just being easier to write the questions on your own side of the table). I liked this process so much that I would definitely do this again. I think with additional practice students would learn the difference between questions and concepts and what good practice this would be for them across the curriculum.

I opted not to write the students questions on the KWL chart in front of them (I did this after school). I did, however, paraphrase questions that I heard repeatedly from students but did not give answers. I simply explained they would be finding answers to their questions during the unit.

One of the plants on the tables was just a pot with amaryllis bulbs in it. Many students asked why it was so dead or why there wasn't a plant there. This led the way for my reading a portion of the book, A Flower Grows, which led students to conclude the plant was an amaryllis. I think this worked much better than me telling them all the answers. This was a different way of using the inquiry process than I had used it previously. Instead of me asking the questions, I let the children loose and had them ask the questions. I think this was quite effective in activating prior knowledge and stimulating interest in the upcoming unit.