It's Plantin' Time! Writing About Science & A Freebie

Happy Spring!  I am so enjoying our warm 

spring temperatures!  Spring weather means 

plantin' time so last week during 

Spring Break I spruced up my little reading

 nook, planted all of my pots and finally

 moved my (very messy) fuscia back outside.

 She really needed to get out of the 

house and look!

She's already blooming! 

It's almost plantin' time in my classroom too! 

We're gearing up to study life cycles and 

I wanted to share someof the fun plant activities 

that we do! This is one of my very favorite

units to teach and we incorporate a lot of 

writing and hands on fun! 

We germinate lima beans and start by soaking

 them to observe the inside of a seed. 

 These large beans are perfect for a close up view
of the inner workings and labeling the parts of a seed.

Last year I placed one under a document camera
and my class thought it was the coolest thing ever! 

We'll place our seeds between damp paper towels
(with a little squirt of hand sanitizer to prevent mold)
inside a sandwich bag.  We check on them
every couple of days and record any changes. 

We do several mini labs along the way including answering 

the question,"How do leaves help a plant get light?"

We looked at different types of leaves and compare 

their shape, size and outer covering.  We predict which 

leaf types would help a plant 

get more sunlight. We also ask ourselves, 

"Can we tell how much light a plant needs by the type 

and shape of leaf it has?"

Next, we went outside and students worked in pairs

 to use their hands as leaves to test their predictions 

and record their observations.  We demonstrated how 

different leaf shapes helped a plant 

to get more or less light.

We did this little cut and paste activity during 

our literacy centers to help us understand the 

causes and effect involved in a plant's life cycle.

During our unit we make several mini books to include 

in our culminating project.

In order to manage our time, I spread this out across the curriculum 

and students do some of these activities during our literacy centers. 

Students research plant facts at the computer center or during our
computer lab time, and do some of the writing
during our writing block.

We used these charts to help us identify the parts of a plant and
to understand the process of photosynthesis.  

You can download a free copy of  these charts{HERE} 

We later wrote about photosynthesis and
how a plant makes it's own food in  mini books
that will go inside of our final flower booklets.

We used yarn to make the roots of our flowers before writing 

about the job of the roots.

Students researched interesting plant facts and included them 

on the back of the flower's petals.

We compiled all of our learning and writing in our flower booklets.

My kiddos worked so hard on these and I love how they turned out!

During our unit we learned how a plant makes it's own food 

and why a plant's leaves are green.  For some Friday 

afternoon art fun we "painted" with 

chlorophyll by doing leaf rubbings.

This is our spring hallway display for our open house
with our butterfly haiku and acrostic poetry.

I love to tie in art wherever I can and this year we'll be
learning about Van Gogh's sunflower painting
during our plant unit!

 You can find all of these activities along with learning labs,
printables, minilessons, charts, and the foldable flower
booklet in my Life Cycle of Plants unit.

Happy planting friends!