Organisms
Lesson 6
How Have Our Seeds Changed?
In Lesson 6 students revisit the plants which have been growing from the seeds they planted in Lesson 3. They will undoubtedly have been "revisiting" their plants daily but this is the opportunity for some formal observation, discussion and recording of their procedure.
3. Lesson set up and Management
SYSTEMS GLE 1.1.6 Understand characteristics of living organisms: identify observable characteristics of living organisms and observe and describe characteristics of living organisms.
SYSTEMS GLE 1.2.7 Understand that plants and animals have life cycles: observe and describe the life cycle of a plant or animal.
INQUIRY GLE 2.1.5 Understand how to record and report investigations, results, and explanations.
- Students observe and discuss the similarities and differences among their plants to understand how plants change over time.
- Students record and explain the changes they see in their plants.
3. Lesson set up and Management
Materials:
- Some teachers like to laminate and save each of the charts they make in this unit for reuse when teaching Organisms in the future.
- The box & T-chart could serve as a good graphic organizer for writing Planting Card 3 or a comparable science notebook entry.
- Provide Unifix cubes, centimeter cubes or rulers to measure plant growth.
Recorded observations in science
notebook.Students using measurement tools to
help observation.
Student Management:
- Students can use the planting cards they have and continue to record, creating a “Seed Book” that documents the sequence of the plant life cycle.
- The box & T-chart could serve as a good graphic organizer for writing Planting Card 3 or a comparable science notebook entry.
- Another option is to set up a page or two in the science notebook with four sections to record changes in the plant at various observations.
Using measurement tools to help
with recording.Recorded observations in science
notebook.
- Student partners should team up with another partner group that has a different type of plant and discuss how their plants are the same and different.
- Focus students on what the plants needed to grow: water, air (they do get carbon dioxide from the air) and mineral nutrients which they obtain from the soil.
- At this point plants can be sent home with students or they can continue to observe them until you need to make room for the next science unit! If the unit is done in the winter or the spring this may make a well timed Christmas or Mother’s Day gift.
Writing Support:
- Writing and organizing the planting cards in sequence or writing observations in sequence in the science notebook is a first step toward writing a procedure. This is an integral part of writing an investigation, a common WASL expectation.
- Have the class write a story about the seeds and how they grew. Record on a class chart their thoughts in sentences, encouraging them to think about what seeds were planted, what the class did to help them grow, different changes they made as they grew and what they learned. Make this into a class book with each partner group or student responsible for illustrating one page.
- Have student record in their science notebooks how their plants have changed at various observations.
Student recording plant observation in
science notebook.Recorded observations and labeled
diagrams.
Reading Support:
- There are many good literature connections for this lesson. Among them are A Seed Is a Promise, by Clair Merrill and From Seed to Plant, by Gail Gibbons. These books explain the life cycle of the plant.
- Stories such as "Johnny Appleseed" or "Jack and the Beanstalk" make good fiction connections to seed planting and plant growth activities.
Math Support:
- Have students use rulers, Unifix cubes or centimeter cubes to measure plant height at various intervals as it grows. They can then create a plant growth bar graph to illustrate that growth.
- Bring in a pumpkin or a large sunflower head. If possible bring one for each group of four or five students. Have students remove seeds and count them organizing them by tens and ones to assist with counting skills and place value. Enhance the activity by having students estimate the number of seeds before they start and seeing how close they get to their estimate.
- Create a display of some foods we get from seeds or foods that are seeds such as peas, corn, dried beans, or peanuts. Make a graph such as a line plot graph of the student’s favorite foods. Give each student a colored dot or small post-it and have them line their dot up above the food they like the best on the graph.