UNIT AT A GLANCE Name: Trinh Le Topic: Plants Grade Level: 2 Introducing the Topic: Activity: Lunch Menu Detectives (Students trace ingredients to plants) Importance of Plants: Read Bits That Grow Big, p. 5-7. Focus question: Where do plants come from? Pretest: Plant Reproduction & Plant Parts (How do plants grow?) Seeds: Read Bits That Grow Big p. 9-14. Focus Question: What s inside a seed? Experiment: (p. 14-15): Opening up a lima bean to view the embryo. What makes seeds grow? Predictions & facts. Set up observation experiments: - Air: PWP p. 2 - Warmth: BTGB p. 20-21 -Light: PWP p. 22 ---Early Dismissal--- What makes seeds grow? Record observations daily for all experiments. Introduction to Plant Parts: Read: Learning About Flowering Plants p. 12, 14, 16, 18, & 20. Focus: Roots & Stems Experiment: Celery stalk in colored water Record celery observations. Plant Parts: Focus: Leaves & Flower/Fruit -Chlorophyll -Photosynthesis Experiment: Tape up part of a leaf and leave outside to see discoloration Record all observations. Review: Video: Harold & His Amazing Green Plants Life Cycle: Drawing the life cycle of & labeling parts of a plant. Vocabulary WS Review: Importance of plants, plant reproduction, & plant parts. Reread Bits That Grow Big Cumulative Assessment Follow-Up WS ---Early Dismissal---
Plant Lesson # 1 (Introducing the Topic: Importance of Plants) Grade: 2 Materials: Bits That Grow Big (By: Irma Webber) School s lunch menu Plant Journal (p. 1 ~ Pretest, p. 2 Lunch menu activity) Worksheet: How Can We Use Plants? Content Standard(s): Earth Sciences: Students know rock, water, plants, and soil provide many resources, including food, fuel, and building materials, that humans use. Student Objective: Given examples of how plants are used on a daily basis, students will be able to recognize the importance of plants. Given a worksheet on the use of plants, students will be able to identify how plants are used for food as well as other ways (to build houses, furniture, etc). Anticipatory Set: Boys and girls, we are going to begin our plant unit today, and as we explore the exiting world of plants, you will all become wonderful plant detectives. Are you ready? This is our class plant, Plato. Plato will be with us throughout this entire unit. What kind of plant do you think he is? Allow time for students to observe and respond. Plato is a tomato plant, and he needs lots of good care. In order for us to take care of him, we ll need to learn how to. Purpose: Throughout this unit, we ll be learning many different things about plants, including where they come from, how they grow, and why they re important. We will be doing several experiments to help us figure out how plants work.
Input: Pass out observation journals. Everyday, we will be working from your plant journals. Go ahead and write your name on your journal. To help us figure out where plants come from, I m going to read you a section from this book, Bits That Grow Big, by Irma Webber. Read the first line on p. 5, Plants are important to people. Ask, Why do you think plants are important to people? Ask the students to open their plant journal to p. 1 and write down their answers. Then call on some students to share. Continue reading up to p. 7. As a teacher, I want to know what you already know about plants, so I know what it is I need to teach you. Take a look at the questions on p. 1. (Read them to the students). This is a pretest, so I want you to try your best to answer those questions. There should be no talking until everybody is done, and I ll know that once you close your journal. Modeling: Let s review that section we just read from Bits That Grow Big. Who can tell me on thing that plants are used for? Allow every child to answer. We are going to do an activity today where you will be looking at this week s lunch menu and you ll be tracing the source of ingredients to plants. Do Monday s menu together with the class. Now I want you to be Plant Detectives and link as many ingredients you to can to plants for Tuesday-Thursday s menu. You will do this in pairs. (Assign 1 day to each pair). Check for Understanding: Does anybody have any questions? Does everybody understand what we re doing? Guided Practice: Once the students are done, ask each pair to share their answers. Allow other students to pull out any other ingredients they may find that link to plants. Independent Practice: Now that we know how important plants are, let s see if you can match the ways we use plants other than for food. Pass out the How We Use Plants worksheet and explain the directions to the students. Closure: Who can tell me why plants are so important? Later on tonight when you eat dinner, I want you to continue to think about the importance of plants, and I want
you to trace the ingredients of your dinner to plants. You can share your findings with me tomorrow as we explore the question, Where do plants come from?
Plant Lesson # 2 (Seeds) Grade: 2 Materials: 8 dry lima bean seeds & 8 soaked lima bean seeds (in water) Journal Worksheet p. 4 Experiment 2 (Do Seeds Need Air to Grow?) 3 jars & spoons Potting soil 12 Lima bean seeds Experiment 3 (Does Temperature Affect Seed Growing?) 2 mugs w/ saucer covers 8 cotton balls 6 lima bean seeds Experiment 4 (Can Plants Grow Normally in the Dark?) 2 flowering pots Potting soil Lima bean seeds Content Standard(s): Earth Sciences: Students know rock, water, plants, and soil provide many resources, including food, fuel, and building materials, that humans use. Student Objective: Given a dry lima bean seed, students will struggle to open it because of the hard seed coat, but will be able discover that seeds need water in order to soften the coat & sprout. Given a lima bean seed soaked in water overnight, students will be able to open it and identify the parts of the seed (seed coat, root & leaf (embryo)). Through the 4 experiments, students will be able to conclude (by the end of this unit) that plants need water, air, warmth, and sunlight to in order to grow. Anticipatory Set: Are you ready to become plant detectives today?
Purpose: The question we left off with yesterday was, Where do plants come from? right? Well, today we are going to explore that question. Input: Ask the students, Where do plants come from? Read p. 9-14 in Bits That Grow Big. Stop at the question, What s inside a seed? Explain to the students that they will be opening up a lima bean seed to see what is inside. Modeling: Let s review that section we just read from Bits That Grow Big. Who can tell me on thing that plants are used for? Allow every child to answer. We are going to do an activity today where you will be looking at this week s lunch menu and you ll be tracing the source of ingredients to plants. Do Monday s menu together with the class. Now I want you to be Plant Detectives and link as many ingredients you to can to plants for Tuesday-Thursday s menu. You will do this in pairs. (Assign 1 day to each pair). Check for Understanding: Does anybody have any questions? Does everybody understand what we re doing? Guided Practice: Once the students are done, ask each pair to share their answers. Allow other students to pull out any other ingredients they may find that link to plants. Independent Practice: Now that we know how important plants are, let s see if you can match the ways we use plants other than for food. Pass out the How We Use Plants worksheet and explain the directions to the students. Closure: Who can tell me why plants are so important? Later on tonight when you eat dinner, I want you to continue to think about the importance of plants, and I want you to trace the ingredients of your dinner to plants. You can share your findings with me tomorrow as we explore the question, Where do plants come from?
Plant Lesson # 3 (Plant Parts ~ Roots & Stems) Grade: 2 Materials: Learning About Flowering Plants (By: Phyllis Ladyman) Celery stalk Two cups/jars Red & blue food coloring Content Standard(s): Earth Sciences: Students know rock, water, plants, and soil provide many resources, including food, fuel, and building materials, that humans use. Student Objective: Given examples of how plants are used on a daily basis, students will be able to recognize the importance of plants. Given a worksheet on the use of plants, students will be able to identify how plants are used for food as well as other ways (to build houses, furniture, etc). Anticipatory Set: Bring Plato (our classroom plant) in and point to the stem, leaf, flower, and root (although not seen). Purpose: Throughout this unit, we ll be learning many different things about plants, including where they come from, how they grow, and why they re important. We will be doing several experiments to help us figure out how plants work. Input: Pass out observation journals. Everyday, we will be working from your plant journals. Go ahead and write your name on your journal. To help us figure out where plants come from, I m going to read you a section from this book, Bits That Grow Big, by Irma Webber. Read the first line on p. 5, Plants are important to
people. Ask, Why do you think plants are important to people? Ask the students to open their plant journal to p. 1 and write down their answers. Then call on some students to share. Continue reading up to p. 7. As a teacher, I want to know what you already know about plants, so I know what it is I need to teach you. Take a look at the questions on p. 1. (Read them to the students). This is a pretest, so I want you to try your best to answer those questions. There should be no talking until everybody is done, and I ll know that once you close your journal. Modeling: Let s review that section we just read from Bits That Grow Big. Who can tell me on thing that plants are used for? Allow every child to answer. We are going to do an activity today where you will be looking at this week s lunch menu and you ll be tracing the source of ingredients to plants. Do Monday s menu together with the class. Now I want you to be Plant Detectives and link as many ingredients you to can to plants for Tuesday-Thursday s menu. You will do this in pairs. (Assign 1 day to each pair). Check for Understanding: Does anybody have any questions? Does everybody understand what we re doing? Guided Practice: Once the students are done, ask each pair to share their answers. Allow other students to pull out any other ingredients they may find that link to plants. Independent Practice: Now that we know how important plants are, let s see if you can match the ways we use plants other than for food. Pass out the How We Use Plants worksheet and explain the directions to the students. Closure: Who can tell me why plants are so important? Later on tonight when you eat dinner, I want you to continue to think about the importance of plants, and I want you to trace the ingredients of your dinner to plants. You can share your findings with me tomorrow as we explore the question, Where do plants come from?
Plant Lesson # 4 (Plant Parts ~ Leaves & Flowers) Grade: 2 Materials: Learning About Flowering Plants (By: Phyllis Ladyman) Small piece of cardboard Paperclips Content Standard(s): Earth Sciences: Students know rock, water, plants, and soil provide many resources, including food, fuel, and building materials, that humans use. Student Objective: Given examples of how plants are used on a daily basis, students will be able to recognize the importance of plants. Given a worksheet on the use of plants, students will be able to identify how plants are used for food as well as other ways (to build houses, furniture, etc). Anticipatory Set: Bring Plato (our classroom plant) in and point to the parts of the plant: stem, leaf, flower, and root (although it is not seen). Let s review what we learned yesterday. What does the root do for the plant? What does the stem do? Purpose: Throughout this unit, we ll be learning many different things about plants, including where they come from, how they grow, and why they re important. We will be doing several experiments to help us figure out how plants work. Input: Pass out observation journals. Everyday, we will be working from your plant journals. Go ahead and write your name on your journal. To help us figure out where plants come from, I m going to read you a section from this book, Bits That Grow Big, by Irma Webber. Read the first line on p. 5, Plants are important to
people. Ask, Why do you think plants are important to people? Ask the students to open their plant journal to p. 1 and write down their answers. Then call on some students to share. Continue reading up to p. 7. As a teacher, I want to know what you already know about plants, so I know what it is I need to teach you. Take a look at the questions on p. 1. (Read them to the students). This is a pretest, so I want you to try your best to answer those questions. There should be no talking until everybody is done, and I ll know that once you close your journal. Modeling: Let s review that section we just read from Bits That Grow Big. Who can tell me on thing that plants are used for? Allow every child to answer. We are going to do an activity today where you will be looking at this week s lunch menu and you ll be tracing the source of ingredients to plants. Do Monday s menu together with the class. Now I want you to be Plant Detectives and link as many ingredients you to can to plants for Tuesday-Thursday s menu. You will do this in pairs. (Assign 1 day to each pair). Check for Understanding: Does anybody have any questions? Does everybody understand what we re doing? Guided Practice: Once the students are done, ask each pair to share their answers. Allow other students to pull out any other ingredients they may find that link to plants. Independent Practice: Now that we know how important plants are, let s see if you can match the ways we use plants other than for food. Pass out the How We Use Plants worksheet and explain the directions to the students. Closure: Who can tell me why plants are so important? Later on tonight when you eat dinner, I want you to continue to think about the importance of plants, and I want you to trace the ingredients of your dinner to plants. You can share your findings with me tomorrow as we explore the question, Where do plants come from?
Plant Lesson # 5 (Plant Review) Grade: 2 Materials: Video: Harold & His Amazing Green Plants Plant Journals & experiments (for observations) Around the World pop quiz questions Content Standard(s): Earth Sciences: Students know rock, water, plants, and soil provide many resources, including food, fuel, and building materials, that humans use. Student Objective: Given a review on plant parts (video), students will be able to answer worksheet questions with 100% accuracy. Anticipatory Set: Purpose: Throughout this unit, we ll be learning many different things about plants, including where they come from, how they grow, and why they re important. We will be doing several experiments to help us figure out how plants work. Input: Pass out observation journals. Everyday, we will be working from your plant journals. Go ahead and write your name on your journal. To help us figure out where plants come from, I m going to read you a section from this book, Bits That Grow Big, by Irma Webber. Read the first line on p. 5, Plants are important to people. Ask, Why do you think plants are important to people? Ask the students to open their plant journal to p. 1 and write down their answers. Then call on some students to share. Continue reading up to p. 7. As a teacher, I want to know what you already know about plants, so I know what it is I need to teach you. Take a look at the questions on p. 1. (Read them to the students). This is a pretest, so I want you to try your best to answer those questions. There should be no talking until everybody is done, and I ll know that once you close your journal.
Modeling: Let s review that section we just read from Bits That Grow Big. Who can tell me on thing that plants are used for? Allow every child to answer. We are going to do an activity today where you will be looking at this week s lunch menu and you ll be tracing the source of ingredients to plants. Do Monday s menu together with the class. Now I want you to be Plant Detectives and link as many ingredients you to can to plants for Tuesday-Thursday s menu. You will do this in pairs. (Assign 1 day to each pair). Check for Understanding: Does anybody have any questions? Does everybody understand what we re doing? Guided Practice: Once the students are done, ask each pair to share their answers. Allow other students to pull out any other ingredients they may find that link to plants. Independent Practice: Now that we know how important plants are, let s see if you can match the ways we use plants other than for food. Pass out the How We Use Plants worksheet and explain the directions to the students. Closure: Who can tell me why plants are so important? Later on tonight when you eat dinner, I want you to continue to think about the importance of plants, and I want you to trace the ingredients of your dinner to plants. You can share your findings with me tomorrow as we explore the question, Where do plants come from?
Plant Pop Quiz ~ What am I? 1. I am a root. I am orange, and if you eat me, I could help you gain better eyesight. (carrot) 2. I am warm and bright. Plants need light from me to grow. (sun) 3. I hold plants in place. I bring water and minerals from the soil up to the plant. (root) 4. My name stands for all of these parts combined: the stem, the leaves, and the flowers or fruits. (shoot) 5. I contain chlorophyll, and I make food for plants through photosynthesis. (leaf) 6. I am the tough, hard, outer cover that protects the seed. (seed coat) 7. I am the process that takes place when leaves take in carbon dioxide from the air to make food for plants. The first part of my name is photo. (photosynthesis) 8. You cannot see me, but I am all around. Plants get the gas they need from me to grow. You need me to breathe. (air/oxygen). 9. I hold up the leaves and flowers of a plant. There are little tubes inside my body that take water and minerals up to the rest of the plant. (stem) 10. My name may be long and hard to say, but I am important. I am the reason why plants are green. (chlorophyll) 11. If you can get through my thick coat, you ll find a baby plant inside of me. (seed) 12. I have seeds that grow inside of me. You can take my seeds and grow them to produce more things like me, but sometimes people eat me before that could happen. (fruit) 13. I am another name for the baby plant inside of a seed. (embryo) 14. Plants, animals, and human beings cannot survive without me. I am a clean, clear, and refreshing. (water) 15. I am the part of a plant that produces seeds. I have petals and sometimes I even smell good. (flower) 16. Some people mistake me for a vegetable, but really, I m a fruit since I have seeds inside me. I am red and round, and I am used to make ketchup. (tomato).
Plant Test Name Date True or False: 1. Carrots are fruits that can help you gain better eyesight. 2. Plants are at the bottom of the food chain. 3. The root is the last thing that grows out of a plant seed. 4. Flowers produce leaves for the plant. 5. Embryo is another name for a baby plant. Multiple Choice: 1. Photosynthesis is: A. a photograph picture of a plant B. the process that takes place when leaves take in carbon dioxide from the air to make food for plants C. the reason why plants are green 2. The outer layer that protects the seed is called: A. the seed jacket B. the embryo C. the seed coat 3. In order for plants to grow, they need: A. air B. sunlight & warmth C. food & water D. all of the above 4. The has small tubes that bring up water to the leaves and the flower. A. seed B. stem C. root 1
5. Which part of a plant produces seeds? A. stem B. root C. flower D. shoot 6. What makes plants green? A. photosynthesis B. oxygen C. chlorophyll D. none of the above 7. Plants are: A. nonliving things B. at the bottom of the food chain C. not used for many reasons 8. Plants make their own food. Where does this take place? A. in the leaves B. in the stem C. in the roots D. in the flower 9. carry water & minerals from the soil up to the shoot. A. flowers B. stems C. roots D. leaves 10. Write a paragraph explaining why plants are important: 2
http://westlakees.wcpss.net/secondgradelinksandlessonplans.htm#lifecycleofplants http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case1/c1facts2b.html http://www.rockingham.k12.va.us/resources/elementary/2science.htm http://www.sparta.k12.il.us/sid/plantunit/index.htm http://www.picadome.fcps.net/lab/currl/plants/default.htm http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/ Plant Unit Samples: http://web.cortland.edu/cormie00/plant%20unit.htm http://www.libsci.sc.edu/miller/plants.htm http://www.usiouxfalls.edu/~mcintyre/cognitive/plantunit.htm Plant Parts http://www.picadome.fcps.net/expo-plants/default.htm Root What will happen to this plant if we cut the roots off? We did an experiment and cut off the roots of one plant. We left the roots on an identical plant, so that we could compare their growth. Here is a picture of what happened to the plant with NO ROOTS. The plant died because it had no way to soak up water. Each time we watered it, the water drained out the bottom of the pot. We left the roots on this plant, so it was able to soak up the water that it needed to live. By doing this experiment, we learned that a plant needs ROOTS to suck up the water. Leaf The leaves are a very important part of the plant. The leaves make food for the plant. The leaves use carbon dioxide from the air and sunlight to produce the food for the plant. This process is called photosynthesis. Stem We did an experiment to see what the function of the stem is. We took a piece of celery and put it in a cup of water We then put red food coloring in the water and left the celery in the water overnight. When we came to school the next day, the leaves had turned red. From this
experiment, we learned that the stem carries the water to other parts of the plant, like the leaves. This is why the leaves turned red. Flower The flower allows a plant to reproduce. Reproduce means to create a new flower. The flower produces new seeds to be carried by the wind, bees, or animals' fur. The seeds are carried to new places to grow new plants. Fruit