Sofia Freites

Interest Center for 1st graders

Plants and You

Unit

• I need my students to learn that:

1. Plants have basic life needs

2. Plants grow, change and produce new plants like themselves

3. Plants have parts

4. Plants can be really interesting!!

ContentsAudiovisual- #1 http://youtube.com/watch?v=gaNj01DQNhk

#2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nRVZPJdXOo&feature=related#3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYGwgzehf6c&feature=related#4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJpgMDOZInA#5 http://youtube.com/watch?v=lp0VnqiTLxs&feature=relatedPlant song http://www.mrsjonesroom.com/songs/plantparts.html

Materials- plants (real/fake)Soil in a bagfruits leavesseeds (different sizes, colors, textures)flowersTree trunkglobe

Printed Material- picturesbooksmagazinemaps (Amazon)

10 Task Cards

• With different levels of difficulty– Activities:

• Building/Assembling tasks• Reading/Writing tasks• Watching Videos• Measuring and Sorting• Using bar graphs• Handling maps and globe• Listening to music, learning new songs

Gardening

Go outside! Record how many tall trees we have using a bar

graph.• Compare the amounts of trees. Do you

think we need new plants in our school? Why?

• Gardening is when you make and take care of a garden. Now, design you own garden for this school. Make it colorful and use different kinds of plants with or without flowers.

How many trees did you find?

121110

987654321

Do you think we need new plants in our school? Why?

Name: ___________

Draw your garden here

Make your own plantLet’s decorate our classroom with flowers!• Choose your materials: clay, leggos, fuzzy sticks

or popsicle sticks• Name each part of the plant

• Answer these questions:• Which plant part is underground? Why?• Does the stem grow up or down?• What grows on the stem?• What does this plant need to grow?

• Which plant part is underground? Why?

• Does the stem grow up or down?

• What grows on the stem?

• What does this plant need to grow?

Name: ___________

Making water disappear!Do you like magic? Well here’s your chanceto prove your powers!! Make waterdisappear!You will need: soil, a spoon, plastic bags,a large cup, a small cup and water

– Put the bag into the big cup. Spoon some soil into the bag– Pour water from the little cup on the soil. Wait one minute.– Lift the bag carefully. Did the water leak out?– Would this soil be good for growing plants? Why or why

not?

• Would this soil be good for growing plants? Why or why not?

• Why does a plant need soil?

Name: ___________

Killer PlantsNot all plants are the same. Some make fruits, somegive us shade and some can kill!!!Watch this video and get to know some of them. There’salso a book on dangerous plants that you shouldlook at before going into a forest!!!

Now it’s your turn to scare people…• Make a picture of your own killer plant• Describe your plant. What does it look like?• What does this plant need to live?• Where does it live?• What is your plant’s name?

Draw your killer plant here

• Describe your plant. What does it look like?

• What does this plant need to live?

• Where does it live?

• What is your plant’s name?

Name: ___________

Seeds seem different

• Seeds are plants that haven’t started to grow. Look at the different kinds of seeds we have.

• Look at their color. Sort them by their color.• How do they feel? Sort them by their texture.• Use your ruler to measure them. Sort them by

their size• How are they the different?• How are they the same?

Sorting your Seeds

Color Black Brown White

How Many Seeds?

Texture Soft Rough

How Many Seeds?

Sort by Color

54321

Take 6 seeds and measurethem using centimeters

How are they the seeds different?

How are they the same?

Name: ___________

Leaf ArtLook at the different leaves we have

collected.

• Take one and trace it with a crayon

• Look at the different veins each leaf has

• These veins have a very important job they bring water and minerals from the roots to the leaves.

• Think about all the fruits that you love to eat and how yummy and healthy they are. You would not be able to have them if not for the trees that make them.

• Make a book of the plants that make your favorite fruits and share it with your friends.

Telling time with trees

• Trees are some of nature's best story tellers. Their growth layers, the rings in their trunk, tell us about floods, droughts, insect attacks, lightning strikes, and even earthquakes that the tree has been through. Look at the tree trunk we have here, look at all the rings it has. The tree makes a new ring every year.

• Draw your own tree trunk and tell it’s story.

• There are all kinds of plants on our planet, but the biggest home of plants all over are the rainforests. Read the book about the largest rain forest in the world and look at the map and globe to know where it is located. Answer these questions:

• What do we need the rainforests for? • Do you think we have enough?

• What do we need the rainforests for?

• Why are rain forests special?

• Do you think we have enough?

Name: ___________

Look at this

Plants are funny sometimes and they let us tickle them.

• Watch video number 1 and you’ll see just how ticklish plants can be.

• Now take a pencil and paper and write a story about a funny plant doing funny things. Use the books on the table to write your story. Draw pictures of your plant!

Resources• http://www.realtrees4kids.org/teacher.htm• http://interactive2.usgs.gov/learningweb/teachers/

globalchange_time.htm• Science Textbook for 1st grade McGraw-Hill• http://www.kathimitchell.com/plants.html• http://www.steveconrad.co.uk/bog/• http://www.botany.org/carnivorous_plants/• http://www.edenproject.com/childrens/1226.html• http://www.mrsjonesroom.com/songs/alphlist.html#theme• http://www.ticklemeplant.com/

The Interest Center

The Poster

The Interest Center has to be something that catches the eyes of the students. I tried to make the poster colorful and fun, in hopes that it would attract their curiosity.

The Tasks

The task cards were tapped on buckets. Inside each bucket were all the materials needed to complete each activity.

Materials

These are some of the materials that were placed on the Interest Center. The students had a mini library with books on the subject, a real plant, a tree trunk, there was a laptop with the videos and music ready to play, and more!

Reactions

These students are engaged. They listened carefully and launched! They loved it when they heard about killer plants and going out of the classroom to do work kept them on task, surprisingly so!!

They learned new information… They had FUN!

These students were amazed at the opportunity to work on the tasks. They didn’t mind staying longer in the classroom, they wanted to keep going. They worked on graphs, learned the plant parts, asked all kinds of questions and were hungry for more!