Outreach Programs: Plant Survival Preschool, Kindergarten & 1 st Grade

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Reynard Turner
5 years ago
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1 Outline 5 minutes Introduction Your Name The Civic Garden Center- what do you think happens at the Civic Garden Center? Why Plants are Important-use them for clothing, food, medicine, shelter, etc. Survival-what is it? What do humans need to survive? What do plants need to survive? 5 minutes Story Time Read The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss Ask the students to think about the sequence of events in the story. What did the little boy do to help the seed grow? What would have happened if he hadn t done those things? 5 minutes Activity: Living versus Non-living Materials: Example pages with Living and Non-living images, 30 individual images representing a mixture of living and non-living things, two paper bags labeled living and non-living Show the students the example pages with the Living and Non-living images. Ask them to name more that aren t shown on the page. Pass out an image to each student and place the paper bags in two different areas of the room. Ask the students to decide where their images belongs, either in the living or non-living bag. Review the contents of each bag after the students have sorted their images. 15 minutes Activity: Plant Parts & Functions Materials: 30 chenille stems, 30 individually cut images of the following items with a hole punched in each: water, sunlight, roots, stem, leaf Prep: combine each of the five items into a bracelet, spread the images around the room Ask the students if plants and trees are living. Explain that trees are indeed living and have basic needs just like people do! Explain to the students that they will create a survival bracelet to help them remember the plant parts and the non-living things plants need to survive. Show them the example bracelet and ask them to count how many things they will need to find to make their bracelet. Review each image and ask the students if it is living or nonliving. Hand each student a chenille stem and challenge them to find all of the pieces they need to be a healthy tree. When they are finished, talk about each plant part and why it is important. o Roots: take in water, nutrients, and minerals from the soil, provide support for the plant o Stems: support the plant and transport water, nutrients, minerals, and sugars o Leaves: they eat sunlight! Leaves turn sunlight into sugars for energy. 10 minutes Activity: Planting Seeds Materials: pots, soil, seeds, tray Have the students line up and plant seeds one at a time. Hand each student a pot, instruct them to scoop up some soil and then plant two seeds into their pot. Put all of the pots on a tray, place in a sunny window and add water. When everyone is finished, ask the students how they can help their seeds grow. 5 minutes Conclusion: What Can You Do? Materials: 30 copies of student handout (1/2 page printed front and back), teacher handout with extension activities While you pass out the handout, ask the students what they should add to the picture to help the plant grow (sun, rain, pollinator, etc.)

2 Example page for Living LIVING

3 Example page for Non-living NONLIVING

4 Plant Parts & Functions Survival Bracelet Images

5 Student Handout (PreK)

6 Student Handout (K & 1)

7 Teacher Handout with Extension Activities These lessons were reproduced from: Materials: 6 clear plastic cups, 6 plants that have already sprouted, soil, water, permanent marker, paper, pencil Activity 1: Sun Begin a conversation with the children about why they think the sun is an important part of the garden. Allow them to help place two sprouts into two separate clear cups (one sprout per cup). Add soil and water to each cup. Place one plant in a sunny spot of the garden. Place the second plant in the classroom closet where it will not be exposed to much light. Ask the children to observe the two plants each day and record as a group what they are noticing. Activity 2: Soil Begin a conversation with the children about why they think soil is an important part of the garden. Allow them to help place two sprouts into two separate clear cups (one sprout per cup). Add soil to only one of the sprouts. Add water to both plants. Place both plants in a sunny spot of the garden. Ask the children to observe the two plants each day and record as a group what they are noticing. Activity 3: Water Begin a conversation with the children about why they think water is an important part of the garden. Allow them to help place two sprouts into two separate clear cups (one per cup). Add soil to both plants. Add water to only one of the sprouts and label it plant A, the other will be labeled plant B. Place both plants in a sunny spot of the garden. Ask the children to observe the two plants each day and record as a group what they are noticing. Continue to water plant A but do not add any water to plant B.

Outreach Programs: Plant Survival 2 nd & 3 rd Grade

Outreach Programs: Plant Survival 2 nd & 3 rd Grade Outline 5 minutes Introduction Your Name The Civic Garden Center- what do you think happens at the Civic Garden Center? Why Plants are Important-use them for clothing, food, medicine, shelter, etc. Survival-what