Task

You are going to analyze a teacher’s work plan for this year.

Situation: Marcela is teaching English in 6º form in astate primary school in La Plata. She is working on aproject that integrates English and Natural Science.

Analyze the project that this teacher developed

You are expected to use Diseño Curricular to answer

these questions: what content is Marcela teaching? What context do they belong to? What linguistic exponents is she teaching? What functions (prácticas del lenguaje)

would kids be using to perform the tasks?

ContextsContextos de la vida cotidiana y

escolar

Contextos de contenidos escolares

YoMi escuelaMis amigosMi familia y mi hogarMi mascotaMi día a díaMi barrio / ciudad / provincia / país

El espacioEl cuidado del

medio ambienteLos cambios en

la naturalezaLos seres vivos

Animales extintosLas actividades humanas

La organización social

Poemas y cancionesRimas y adivinanzasCuentos y fábulasNovelasHistorietasSlogans y Graffities

Contextos literarios y populares

Annual project work plan

Growing and

change

Project work: Plants and me

Brief description: The teaching sequences that form

part of this project account for the succession of tasks for a group of eleven-year-old students from a sixth class of a primary school from the city of La Plata.

PLANTS AND ME

THIS PROJECT IS IN FIVE PARTS

CONTENT AREA: Growing and changeTOPIC PLANTS AND ME

AIMS • To identify the different parts of a plant and their functions• To identify the factors that influence the growth of plants.• To do experiments and interpret the results.• To describe the growth process of a plant.• To develop awareness of the importance of plants as a source of food.

LANGUAGE • To describe the different parts of a plant and their functions • To talk about the conditions a plant needs to grow healthily.• To use appropriate vocabulary.• To follow simple instructions.• To make comparisons.• To act out a simple story.

VOCABULARY AND STRUCTURES

Use words and phrases related to plants (roots, stem, trunk, flower, branch) growth (seed, roots) instructions, adjectives.

WHAT CHILDREN NEED TO KNOW ALREADY

• The life cycle of a plant• How to take simple instructions• How to do an experiment

MATERIALS Flower pots, compost, sand, etc

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

• Science: Discovering plants, what plants need to grow• Story• Art work and video

Part 1Discovering plants.Time: 2 hours

1.1 Preparation Organize a ‘Plant Hunt’ in the school garden. Ask children to observe the plants and ask them

questions to help them identify. Do you know this plant? Can you see any flowers? What colour are they? Children answer either in their mother tongue or in English.

1.2 Core task Back in the classroom, ask the children to draw

one of the plants they saw in the garden. T shows Worksheet 1 to introduce the vocabulary for the different parts of the tree. Ss play Simon says “Simon says point to the flower, point to the trunk, etc.”

1.3 Plant and flower puzzleCopy of worksheet 1 SS cut out the pictures

stick them in their notebooks and glue the labels next to the corresponding part

1.4 Each part of the plant is important Discuss the function of the different parts of

the plant. To help SS with vocabulary. e.g.: The roots fix the plant/ tree to the

ground and suck water and minerals.

A. Experiment. SS carry out a simple experiment to

demonstrate how the stem and roots work. B. Zigzag Book. SS fold the parts of the

Zigzag Book, read the captions and fill in the gaps above the captions with the missing words. Under the flap they should draw the part of the plant that matches the description.

1.5 Follow up

Part 2 What plants need to grow Time: 2 hours + 20 days for the experiment

2.1 PreparationThe aim of the experiment is to observe and

discover the factors that influence a plant’s growth.

What you need: Plant pot, bean seed, soil.

Procedure

1) T says: Plants need four things to grow. What are they?

2) T draws symbols of the four key words on BB, as she says that plants need: Water, light, nutrients and warmth.

3) T says: “Look, here’s a pot. Here’s a bean seed and here’s some soil. Let’s put the soil in the pot and plant the bean seed like this. Let’s give the bean seed water, light, nutrients and warmth. Let’s watch it grow and record what happens!”

4) Get the children to plant their own seeds and label the pot with their names (you can give a pot for each pair or groups).

5) In subsequent lessons, as the bean stem starts to appear children draw and label pictures to record the growth of their plant.

Part 3 Plants we eat

Aim: To develop awareness of the importance of plants as a source of food.

Materials: Pictures of fruit and vegetables. Procedure:

1) T asks Ss if they think plants are an important source of food and to give examples of plants we eat.

2) Explain that different food we eat comes from different parts of plants: the seeds, the roots, the bulbs, stems, the leaves, the flowers or the fruit.

3) Divide the class into pairs and ask them to complete the web by noting as many food as they can think of which comes from different parts of the plant. E.g.: Carrots are the roots of the plant.

4) Matching game. T shows Ss a picture and they should say what part of the plant it is.

“Plants we eat” web

Part 4 Jack and the BeanstalkTime: 1 hour 40 minutes

4.1 Story

4.2 Tell the story again and ask the children to act it

out. Get the children to think about and compare the

growth of imaginary beanstalk in the fairytale with the

real growth recorded during the experiment.

4.3 Jack and the beanstalk dominoesWorksheets P-4/P-5. The aim of the game is to

tell the story by matching pictures and captions.

Rules: shuffle the cards, put one with START on the table, and deal the other to the players; the player who has got the card with the caption that matches the picture of Jack and the cow, puts the card on the table . The game continues and the winner is the first player left without cards.

Story Activities

4.4 Make a poster by dividing a piece of paper in half. Draw Jack on one half and the Giant on the other. Ask the children questions in order to get them to describe some features of the two characters. Record their answers on the poster.

Part 5 Extension activity: ART/VIDEO Time: 1 hour

ART

5.1 Get the children to look at and describe paintings by various artists, mentioning their colours, forms, lines and painting techniques (e.g. Sunflowers or Cypresses by Vicent Van Gogh; Big Flower by Andy Warhol…)

5.2 Explain to the children that they are going to make pictures of a flower and a plant by using parts of their bodies (hand, arm) and following your instructions.

• Flower: dip the palm of one hand in a bowl filled with non-toxic paint; make a hand-print on a blank sheet of paper (this represents the flower); paint the stalk, the leaves and the roots.

• Tree: put your forearm and hand on a blank sheet of paper and draw round them with a pencil; colour the resulting silhouette brown; complete the picture by sticking leaves and flowers on to it. These should be made by roughly tearing coloured paper.

VIDEO

Episode “Charlie & Lola” “I really wonder what plant I’m growing”

References

Calabrese, I Rampone, S. (2007). Cross-Curricular Resources for Young Learners. Oxford. OUP.

Foresman, Scott. Science. (2006). Pearson Education.

Read, C. (2007). 500 activities for the primary classroom. Oxford: Macmillan.

Jack and the Beanstalk. Penguin Young Readers. Level 3.

Carlie & Lola. Episode: “I really wonder what plant I’m growing” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-abBziIvWI