Shelley Vaughn November 3, 2017 Kindergarten

Science: Celery Experiment

I. Standards
Standard - 3.1.K.C2 Describe changes animals and plants undergo throughout the
seasons.

II. Prerequisites
Students should know that plants have basic parts; they are the roots, stem, leaves and
flowers.
Students should be able to sit and participate in whole group instruction and small
groups.

III. Essential Question

How do plants get water?

IV. Objective
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to describe how plants get water from the
roots.

V. Instructional procedures
Before: The teacher will review the parts of a plant by showing the picture in the science
big book.

Step one: The teacher will tell the students that good scientists perform experiments in
order to answer questions. She will explain that roots bring water and nutrients up to the
rest of the plant. The roots and stem act like a straw. She will tell the students that they
will be doing an experiment using celery to learn how plants get water. The teacher will
show the students the materials that they will need. Then she will say, When scientists
perform experiments they need to ask a big question. The teacher will ask the students
what they think our big question should be. The teacher will be looking for a question
along the lines of, how do plants drink? Then the teacher will explain that scientists also
make a guess or hypothesis on what might happen in the experiment. The teacher will
tell the students that they will be putting a piece of celery in a cup of water that has food
coloring in it. She will then ask what they think will happen when the celery is put into
the water.
Step two: The teacher will tell the students that before they start the experiment, they
must observe the piece of celery and draw what it looks like now. They will do this in
their science notebooks. The students will break up into their science groups, the teacher
will determine the groups ahead of time, get their science notebooks and go to their table.
The teacher will visit each group to check on their drawings and start the science
experiment. The teacher will fill up the cups with water and put the food coloring in.
Before she puts the celery in, she will ask the students what they observed about the
celery. They should be able to see the dots on the bottom, the ridges going up the stem
Commented [SV1]: 3a. Communicating with students. I
am telling the students what good scientists do with the
information they have in order to do an experiment.
Commented [SV2]: 3a continued. I am telling the
students the materials that is needed for the experiment.
Commented [SV3]: 3b. Using questioning in
instruction. I am not telling them what the big question
should be for the experiment, I am asking them to come
up with a question.
Commented [SV4]: 3a. I continue to tell them what
good scientists do and what will be done during the
experiment.
Commented [SV5]: 3b. I ask the students for their
prediction of what might happen with the celery.
Commented [SV6]: 3a. I am giving directions to the
students.
Commented [SV7]: 3d. Informally assessing the
students.
and the leaves. She will make sure that each student gets the chance to hold and feel the
celery. Once the celery is put into the cup of water with food coloring, the cups will be Commented [SV8]: 3c Engaging students in learning.
placed onto the windowsill. The students will feel, touch, and look at the celery in
order to observe what it looks like before the experiment.
They also draw a before picture of the celery.
Step three: The next day, the teacher will show the pieces of celery to the students as a
whole group. She will ask them, What happened to the celery overnight? What do
you see? The leaves should have the color that was placed in the cups in its veins. The Commented [SV9]: 3b. Using Questioning in
students should also notice that the bottom of the celery is the same color as the dye and instruction. I am asking the students to observe and
describe what happened with the celery.
the spots they observed are brighter. The teacher will ask the students to go get their
science notebooks and go to their table. She will place the groups celery on the table for
them to observe. Then they are to draw and color what happened after the celery has
been in the colored water.
Commented [SV10]: 3c. Engaging students in learning.
Step three: The teacher kept the celery in the cups over the weekend to see if the celery The students touch, feel and look at the celery after it has
been in the colored water overnight. They draw an after
will get brighter. The teacher will bring the celery out so she can cut into the celery to picture of the celery.
see the inside. In order to keep the students safe and in order, she had the boys come and
watch first. She cut off a piece of the bottom and a leaf off. The students will take turns
looking and passing around the celery pieces. They will observe what the pieces look
like. The girls will have a turn with another piece of celery.
Commented [SV11]: 3e. Demonstrating flexibility and
VI. Materials responsiveness. Originally, I was going to stop the
experiment after 24 hours, however, I decided to
Three cups to fill with water and food coloring continue it until Monday. At the end of the day, I cut into
Water and food coloring to put into cups the celery to see the inside. The students really enjoyed
Celery with leaves at the top looking at the pieces more closely and they got to see
how the roots took the water up to the leaves.
Knife to cut off bottom and pieces to observe
Science notebooks
Pencils
Crayons

VII. Assessment
The teacher will be informally observing the students for understanding of how to do a
basic science experiment. She will expect the students to remember the plant parts and
what they do to help the plant. (They learned this in a previous lesson). She will also be
looking at their drawings to make sure that they drew the celery before and after it is
placed into the colored water. Commented [SV12]: 3d. Using assessment in
instruction. Even though I am informally assessing the
students with the drawing and how they are observing
VIII. Accommodations the celery, I check for understanding throughout the
The teacher will make sure every student gets the chance to feel the celery and get to experiment.
observe it. Sometimes students have a hard time taking turns and sharing.

IX. Technology
Technology is not needed for this lesson.

X. Self-Reflection
The teacher will reflect on the lesson by asking herself questions. She will ask how did
the lesson go? Were the children engaged? Did they understand the concept? If the
answer was no to any of these questions, she will ask herself why. She will write down
notes on a sticky note to place onto the teachers manual for the following years. This
will aid in recalling what went well and what didnt.

The reason why I decided to do this experiment was because the science materials
that are provided by the school can be dry and the students tend to be unengaged. We
also have science at the end of the day. While learning about plants, we learned about
parts of a plant. We also learned what each part of the plant does in order to help the
plant live. The students had a hard time understanding how a plant gets water through its
roots. The book described the stem as a straw. I thought back to experiments I saw as a
child and remembered the celery experiment. I felt that this experiment would be simple
and age appropriate in order to reinforce the concept of plants getting water. This
experiment is a perfect example of Engaging Students in Learning. Instead of just
dispensing information to the students, I involved them in the learning process. Students Commented [SV13]: 3c: Engaging students in learning.
at this age are visual and kinesthetic learners. The fact that they got to observe a plant
getting water through the roots by feeling, looking and drawing what they saw fit their
way of learning.
While explaining the experiment to the students, I told them the materials we
would use during the experiment. I also explained how we were going to use the
materials. I also gave them clear directions for what they were to do with the celery and
how to draw the celery in the science notebooks. This is evidence of how I used Commented [SV14]: 3a. Communicating with students
communicating with the students in instruction.
Throughout this lesson and experiment, I used a variety of questioning
techniques. I encouraged them to come up with the big question for our experiment.
Some of the students had trouble with coming up with a question; however, one student
said exactly what I was looking for. Giving the students the opportunity to come up with
the big question allowed them to take ownership of the experiment. I also asked questions Commented [SV15]: 3b. Using questioning and
to get the students involved with what happened with the celery after it has been in the discussion techniques.
water and what the pieces of celery looked like when I cut them. I gave the students the
chance to observe and answer the questions.
This lesson didnt have any formal assessments but it did have informal
assessments like 3d explained in the framework. I observed the student during the lesson. Commented [SV16]: 3d. Using assessment in
I looked for the students to be engaged, I listened to the students answers and what they instruction.
drew in their science journals.
This lesson was a result of being flexible and responsive. The students were not
that interested in the materials I had from the curriculum. Providing this experiment
brought the subject matter to life. The students got to see with their own eyes how plants Commented [SV17]: 3e. Demonstrating flexibility and
get water. They didnt have to take the book or my word for it. It is important for responsiveness.
teachers to reflect on the lessons they teach. They also need to reflect on and assess how
the lesson is going while the instruction is taking place. This is why I choose to do this
lesson. I was excited that the students were able to learn by observing plants like real
scientists do.
I have grown in the area of instruction throughout my student teaching
experience. On one of my major goals is to be more creative especially with younger
students. Young students are visual, tactile and kinesthetic learners. I feel that be
providing many different teaching tactics will help reach the diverse learners in my
classroom.