Science Unit #2 - Plants

Unit: Grade 1/ Structure and Function - How are Organisms Structured to Ensure Efficiency and
Survival
1.2 - Living things(plants) have different structures and behaviors that allow them to
meet their basic needs.
Instructors:
Cheyann Kelly - cheyann.kelly@uconn.edu
Pam McDonald - pamela.mcdonald@uconn.edu
Hannah Ragonese - hannah.ragonese@uconn.edu

Unit Summary
In this unit, first grade students will explore plants, their parts, their growth, and their
basic needs for survival. Students will leave the unit with an enduring understanding of how
changes in environmental factors affect the growth and survival of a plant. Students will
investigate and learn about the specific natural phenomena that influence plant life: Sunlight, air,
and water. Students will acquire this enduring understanding by manipulating plant needs on
their own plants in class to investigate the changes that occur to the plant. Furthermore,
students will engage in class discussion, small group work, and teacher demonstrations
throughout the unit to supplement the experience. Throughout their investigations, students will
answer the following essential questions: What are the best conditions for plant survival?,
How do plants acquire sunlight, air, and water?, and How do changes in plant needs (sunlight,
air, and water) affect the plant?.

Standards
GLEs
Students will be able to sort and classify plants (or plant parts) by observable characteristics.
Students will be able to use senses and simple measuring tools to measure the effects of water
and sunlight on plant growth.
Students will be able to infer from direct observation and print or electronic information that
plants need water, food, and air to stay alive.

INQs
A INQ.1 - Make observations and ask questions about objects, organisms, and the environment.
A INQ.2 - Use senses and simple measuring tools to collect data.
A INQ.3 - Make predictions based on observed patterns.
A INQ.4 - Read, write, listen, and speak about observations of the natural world.
A INQ.6 Present information in words and drawings.

Disciplinary Core Ideas (NGSS)

 LS1.A (Structure and Function) - All organisms have external parts that they use to perform daily
functions.
LS1.C (Organization for matter and energy flow in organisms) - Plants need water and light.
LS2.A - (Interdependent relationships in ecosystems) Plants depend on water and light to
grow
ESS3.A (Natural Resources) - Living things need water, air, and resources from the land
LS2.B (Cycles of matter and energy transfer in ecosystems) - content found in LS1.C and
ESS3.A

Scientific/Engineering Practices (NGSS)

1. Asking questions
2. Developing and using models
3. Planning and carrying out investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting data
6. Constructing explanations
7. Engaging in argument from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Unit Lesson Plans

Unit Overall Timeline: (5 weeks, Tues/Thur- 1 hr per day)

Week One
DAY 1: Bring students on a nature walk - have them investigate where they see plants growing
and whats around them (SJ) about the walk - table/chart provided by teacher (See
Supplemental Activity #1).
Have each student pick a plant on the nature walk.
Bring the students inside and have them dissect their plant.
Have students discuss in groups about what they think each part of the plant does.
DAY 2: Teach the parts of a plant: does this go along with what they thought yesterday? If they
made changes, why?
Class discussion on the functions of plant parts .
(SJ) Leading question: Are the parts of the plant the same or different than you originally
thought?
Have students fill out plant diagram (see Supplemental Activities #2).
Read poem Parts of a Flower by Risa Jordan to the class (see Supplemental Activities #3).
Send students to their desks to write a short poem individually about plants (writing activity
continued during writers workshop).

Week 2
DAY 3: Think back to your nature walk: what did you see outside? What was around the plants
(clouds, sky, grass, soil, etc)?. Have them think about what they think plants need to survive
(teacher prompt: think about what humans need to survive and if its the same for plants).
Lead a class discussion, using what students learned about the functions of the parts of the
plant, investigating the essential things that a plant needs to survive (water, air, sunlight).
Read Jack and The Beanstalk to the students (see Supplemental Activity #4).
Inquire about what the beanstalk needed to grow big and tall.
 INQUIRY PROJECT - Students will work in groups of three to four (making six groups). Two of
the groups will be investigating the effects of sunlight on plant health, two will investigate the
effects of water consumption on plant health, and the last two will investigate the effects of
carbon dioxide availability on plant health. Each group will have a control plant and a treated
plant. The teacher will give explicit instruction on how to maintain the control plants (ex: amount
of water given weekly, exposure to sunlight, consistent air conditions). The students will decide
how to treat their treatment plants in order to investigate the effects of their assigned variable.
The effects of these variables will be investigated and analyzed over a period of three weeks.
Essential questions: Which plant will die the fastest? Which factor is the most important?

Lesson Objectives
Content/Knowledge Objective - Students will accurately identify the essential needs to sustain
plant life. These include sunlight, water, air, and soil.
Science/Engineering Objective - Students will identify problems in their individual experiments
and develop relevant solutions/revisions to construct a whole-class model.
Attitude Objective - Students actively participate in written, oral, and kinesthetic activities
throughout the unit.
Language Objective - Students will be able to identify and define relevant plant vocabulary.

DAY 4: Quick review in small groups of plant parts and plant needs. Introduce Inquiry Project.
Teacher holds discussion on plant needs and prompts students to critically think about the
needs of plants and theorize how these needs affect plant health.
Teacher clearly identifies and defines sunlight, water, carbon dioxide, and soil.
Plays song The Needs of a Plant for students (see Supplemental Activity #5).
Split the class into six groups of three and assign each group to a variable.
(SJ) Have the students discuss within their groups about how they might test this variable and,
furthermore, predict how their variable could affect their plants health.
Week 3: Focus on Sunlight
DAY 5: Present student groups with their two plants. Students begin collecting data on the
plants and manipulating their respective variables.
Students will observe their plants.
(SJ) Students sketch an image of their two plant for later comparison.
(SJ)Students will write a brief journal entry on what they observe about their plants.
Students will begin manipulating their variables, in a way that they find suitable with guidance
from the teacher.
Ideally, the two groups assigned to each variable will decide to manipulate the variable in a
slightly different way so that the groups can compare their results throughout the inquiry. (For
instance, in one water group, the control plant will receive a healthy amount of water while the
treated plant receives too much).
(SJ) Students will record their procedure and predictions.
DAY 6: Students groups will get together and observe their control and treatment plants. The
teacher will give a demonstration of the importance of sunlight on plant growth.
Students will observe their plants.
(SJ) Groups will sketch an image of both of their plants.
(SJ) Students will write a brief paragraph on what they notice about the plants, including
differences from the last observation.
 The teacher will show the importance of sunlight for plants through a tropism (plant leaning
into/growing towards the sunlight) demonstration (See Supplemental Activity #6).
Teacher will have pre-prepared plant demonstrating tropism.
Have students turn and talk with a partner, inquiring about why this phenomena occurs. (During
this, the teacher will walk around and observe the student conversations).
Teacher will lead a whole-class discussion on the essentiality of sunlight in plant growth and
health.

Week 4: Focus on Air

DAY 7:
Student groups will observe their two plants.
(SJ) Students will sketch an image of the two plants.
(SJ) Students will write a brief journal entry on their observations.
Students will continue their inquiry project and appropriately treat their two plants.
(SJ) They will record their procedures and predictions.
Students will meet in their treatment groups, (the two groups assigned to the same variable).
They will discuss their procedures and predictions, as well as their current observations with
each other. These discussions should include conversations about why the groups might have
experienced differences, as well as why they think that their variable is affecting the plant
growth. (SJ)

DAY 8:
Students will observe their plants.
(SJ) Groups will sketch an image of both of their plants.
(SJ) Students will write a brief paragraph on what they notice about the plants, including
differences from the last observation.
Students will separate into two groups, the mixed variable groups. Each of the two groups will
contain one group from each variable.
They will share their findings and observations with each other, as well as discuss reasons that
they think each variable is affecting the plant growth in which ways
Teacher will bring in a pre-prepared demonstration of balloon plants to demonstrate what
happens when a plant is given Helium, rather than air (carbon dioxide) - (see Supplemental
Activity #7)
Teacher will lead a class discussion on the importance of carbon dioxide which helps provide
energy to the plant.
Students will do a turn and talk with their groups, and will discuss what might happen if the
balloon were filled with a mix of helium AND air.

Week 5: Focus on Water (Plants absorb water through their roots: celery demonstration)
DAY 9:
Student groups will observe their two plants.
(SJ) Students will sketch an image of the two plants.
(SJ) Students will write a brief journal entry on their observations.
Students will continue their inquiry project and appropriately treat their two plants.
(SJ) They will record their procedures and predictions.
Students will meet in their treatment groups, (the two groups assigned to the same variable).
 They will observe all plants and discuss observations. They will compare and contrast between
groups and notice what is happening and why it is happening. They will be able to say why each
group had different results based on how they changed the variable
Teacher will introduce the final class demonstration to the whole class.
Teacher will ask students their initial thoughts on how water affects plans and there will be a
quick whole class discussion
Teacher will set up and start the celery experiment (See Supplemental Activity #8)
teacher will explain to students that there is going to be food color added to the celery and that
the class will see what changes on Thursday
the class will turn and talk to make predictions and record (SJ)

DAY 10:
Teacher will first show students what happened to the celery.
Students will individually record 2-3 observations on what changed (SJ)
Students will raise their hands and share observations with the class
Teacher will facilitate discussion and make sure students understand that plants absorb water
through their roots and that is why the celery changed color
Students will observe their plants.
(SJ) Groups will sketch an image of both of their plants.
(SJ) Students will write a brief paragraph on what they notice about the plants, including
differences from the last observation.
Students will work independently on the Plant Parts and Needs Matching worksheet - See
Assessment Section #2
Students will meet in their groups and work on creating a summative poster that demonstrates
an understanding of what happened in their personal experiment.
Suggestions include but are not limited to:
Diagrams comparing the plants at the beginning and end of the experiment
Explanations of their findings - why did they choose a certain treatment? How did the treatment
affect the plant? Why?
A concluding statement about all three of the groups findings (can come from the meetings in
mixed variable groups)
What could they have done differently?
What did they learn from the other groups?
What are further investigable questions?
See Assessment section 1

DAY 11 (Friday): Final Day of the unit and Official Inquiry Project. Students will meet as a whole
class, discuss their findings, and then begin a year-long project in which the class will work
together to keep one plant alive.
Teacher will facilitate a discussion about the optimal amount of each basic necessity (air,
sunlight, and water) for a plant. Is there a such thing as too much water? How do you know?
(SJ) Students will do a small writing activity about what they think is the most important aspect
in keeping a plant alive and why.
Teacher will present students with a class plant. The students will work together to use what
they found during their three week inquiry project to decide the starting conditions for the class
plant.
Throughout the year, students will constantly need to make changes and revisions to their
conditions based on how well the plant is surviving.
 Assessment:
1. Final Group Poster Rubric - Content/Knowledge Objective (Also touches upon
Science/Engineering Objective and Language Objective)
Developing Proficient Mastery

Content Students Students identified Students

demonstrated a the plant parts and labeled/defined all
limited ability to needs and appropriate plant
label, define, and demonstrated a parts and needs.
understand the shallow
plant parts and understanding of Students
basic needs. their functions. demonstrated an
enduring
understanding of
the plant parts and
needs.

Inquiry Students Students indicated Students developed

demonstrated a an ability to form relevant
limited ability to relevant questions investigable
develop and an emerging questions and
investigatable and plan as to how to appropriate
inquisitive follow through. methods to find a
questions about solution/answer.
plant structure and
function. Students
demonstrated an
ability to generalize
their findings and
think critically
outside of their own
experiment.

Quality of Work Students provided Students provided Students included

one relevant form of more than one multiple forms of
explanation/demon explanation/demon explanation/demon
stration of their stration of their stration of their
thoughts. thoughts with thoughts.
Students used one limited detail or
color/marker/pencil color. Students included a
to create their comprehensive
poster with no illustration or
detail. diagram that utilizes
the art resources
 available in the
room.

2. Plant Parts and Needs Matching Worksheet - Language Objective, Content/Knowledge

Objective
3. Science Journal Rubric -

Science/Engineering Objective
Developing Proficient Mastery

Inquiry/Asking Students presented Students presented Students presented

Questions investigable investigable thoughtful and
questions with one- questions investigable
to-one teacher collaboratively with questions at the
guidance. some teacher beginning, middle,
Questions were revision. Questions and end of their
presented in the were presented investigation with
beginning of the mainly in the little teacher
project. beginning and guidance.
middle of the
project.

Observation Students recorded Students recorded Students recorded

few relevant many relevant relevant
observations about observations with observations about
their inquiry project. limited detail and their inquiry project,
use of illustrations including diagrams,
Students did not or diagrams. illustrations, and
record their multiple details.
observations on a Students recorded
weekly basis. observations on a Students recorded
weekly basis. observations on a
weekly basis, or
more frequently.

Revision/Reconsi Students main Students raised Students

deration focus is on their some questions continually raised
initial question with and focused some new questions
limited attention to attention to errors based on collected
errors or and opportunities to data and
opportunities to refine. observations.
refine their project.
Students recognize
personal errors and
take appropriate
action to fix them.

Organization Students journal Students journal Students journal

lacks structure, demonstrates contains concrete
including evidence of structure with
observation dates, organization, appropriate labels,
labels, and neatly including a few dates, and neatly
 recorded observation dates, recorded
observations. labels, or neatly observation.
recorded
observations.

4. Class Participation Rubric - Attitude Objective

Developing Proficient Mastery

Participation Student participates Student participates Student frequently

minimally in group routinely in group participates in
work, whole-class work, whole-class group work, whole-
discussions, and discussions, and class discussions,
individual work. individual work. and individual work,
as well as takes
Student Student initiative to help and
demonstrates little demonstrates engage other
enthusiasm. enthusiasm. classmates.

Student
demonstrates much
enthusiasm.

SIOP Strategies

ELL Students Content and language objectives will be clearly stated and written on the
board at the start of each lesson. Students are provided with definitions and examples of
relevant plant vocabulary found in the objectives. All students in the class will be
provided with wait/think time during lessons. Throughout the unit, students will engage in
cross-cutting concepts through incorporated literacy lessons.
Students with Special Needs Ensure that each student in need of accommodations is
grouped with students that are on or above grade level. Students in need of physical
accommodations will be placed in an appropriate group and will receive the resources
necessary to fully participate in the investigation and lessons.
Gifted Students Students will be given additional journal prompts that lead them to
think critically about all elements of the investigation throughout the whole study, rather
than just journaling about their own variable.

Supplemental Activities
1. Nature Walk Observation Sheet - https://www.pinterest.com/pin/142989356892704808/
2. Plant Diagram - http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/nttidb/lessons/nh/plantnhw.html
3. Parts of a Plant Poem
http://poetryfilesls.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/1/6/14161835/life_of_a_plant.pdf
4. Jack and the Beanstalk - Retold by Alan Trussell-Cullen
5. The Needs of a Plant Song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUBIQ1fTRzI
6. Tropism Experiment- http://herbarium.desu.edu/pfk/page11/page12/page13/page13.html
7. Balloon Plants Experiment -
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/4hwildlifestewards/pdfs/balloonplants.pdf
8. Celery Experiment - http://www.education.com/activity/article/celery_stick_science_first/