Structures of Life
Investigation 2: Growing Further
Part 1
Germination
Students compare four seeds as they germinate and identify and describe emerging plant structures.
3. Lesson set up and Management
1.1.L.1 Use characteristics to sort common organisms into plant groups.
1.2.L.1 Know that all living things are composed of parts made of cells.
1.2 Identify the parts of a system, how the parts go together, and how they depend on each other.
Germination is the onset of a seed's growth.
Plants need water, light, and nutrients to grow.
3. Lesson set up and Management
Materials:
1. Make sure student sheet No. 7 is in their student packet.
2. Students can make a mess tearing apart their seeds. Newspapers on desks work best for easy clean-up.
3. Don't use all of your seeds. You will need 1 plant for each student to grow in the hydroponics and some extras in case you break them putting them in the hydroponics container.
4. It is interesting to save a variety of seeds to use in the hydroponics and to watch the difference in plant growths.
5. You may also want to tear apart some seeds from the green sprouter. If the plants grew better in their small sprouters, save them for the hydroponics lesson.
Students tear apart plants and look for all of their parts. Encourage students to move slowly and look at every detail. |
After tearing apart plants and looking for their parts, use magnifying glasses to get an up close look. |
Student Management:
1. Keep all materials at the station at which the students are working. Let the students go to each workstation and explore.
2. Continue to follow your rules and guidelines for observing the plants during non-science times.
3. Keep Moving! If you are constantly moving, it will keep everyone on task.
1. You can lengthen or shorten the time on any lesson.
2. Use pages 2 & 3 to help guide further inquiry at the end of every section.
3. Some kids may become attached to certain plants. If there are seeds that are sprouting well, either use them in your hydroponics or let students take the seed home to continue growing.
4. Give students time to discuss their observations with each other.
5. Keep word bank and content inquiry chart up so students can see and have more time to copy later, if needed. It's nice if you can keep the charts up all the time and just add to them as you go.
Writing Support:
1. Have students reflect on the day's lesson in their journal.
2. Start and finish each lesson with a KWLQ chart. ("What do I know?" "What do I want to know?" "What have I learned?" and "Are there any more questions to investigate?")
3. Have students write all word from the word bank and inquiries in their journals.
Reading Support:
Check the Resources section of the teacher's guide for more reading suggestions, or the literature link on this site.