My Big Backyard
3rd-5th
Students will gain a deeper knowledge of the use of light, and also
the parts and functions of plants.
The content standards we covered were: A- Science as an Inquiry, B- Physical Science, C- Life Science, D- Earth and Space Science, E- Science and Technology
1 Introduce My Big Backyard Unit through See Lesson Plan
Shadows and Light Lesson Plan
2 Today we will go over the use and function See Lesson Plan
Of UV light through the UV Lesson Plan
3 The students will discover the different See Lesson Plan
colors in the sun in the Heat Absorption
Lesson Plan
4 Next we will show the relationship between See Lesson Plan
plants and light with the Plants & Light
Lesson Plan
5 Today we will introduce the parts and See Lesson Plan
summarize the uses of these parts in the
Plant Parts Lesson Plan
6 We will focus on the flower portion of the See Lesson Plan
plant and expand on it through the
Flower Lesson Plan
7 The students will learn about the root See Lesson Plan
and its uses in relation to the plant in the
Root System Lesson Plan
8
Lastly the students will see and experience See Lesson Plan
the effects of erosion in the Erosion Lesson
Plan
Title: UV Beads
Grade: 3-5
MCF Benchmark: Standard IV.5, 4 absorb and refracting light
Process and Content Objective: Students will discover that UV light is a form of light energy, invisible to the human eye, through observation, prediction, experimentation and interpreting data.
Materials: UV beads (from science stores), several pair of sunglasses (with and without UV lenses), florescent light, incandescent lights, several different brands and SPFs of sun block
Introductory Activity: Read Sunburn by Sharon Gordon. Then ask students if they’ve ever had a sunburn and wondered why the sun did that? Ask students why they get sunburned outside but not inside?
Analysis: Create interest in topic (engage activity), tap prior knowledge. Posing a question allows the students to create own ideas and question it (inquiry).
Exploring Activities:
*Examine several UV beads that have not been exposed to direct sunlight. Keep them under indoor lighting. Record observations such as color of beads, in part A.
* Bring these beads out into direct sunlight. Have students answer part B questions. (UV beads should change in color when exposed to sunlight.)
* Place several beads that have not been exposed to sunlight near a florescent light. Place another set of beads near a incandescent light. Switch on the lights. Have students record what happens to beads. (UV beads should remain white.)
*Each student will coat several beads with different strengths of sun block lotion.
*Students will wash their hands after applying lotion.
*Have students fill out part C.
Analysis: Hands on activities are supported by brain based, constructivist, choice theory, and multiple intelligences, such as interpersonal, intrapersonal, kinesthetic, visual, and logical. They also obtain observing, predicting and experimenting practice.
Discussion Questions:
* Ask students why the beads changed color outside but did not change inside.
*Ask students who can explain why they get sunburned outside and not under indoor light.
*Was there a difference in the suntan lotions? Which one would you wear and why?
Analysis: Children interpret data and hypothesize connections.
Further Investigation:
* During station time, students must access and complete the power point presentation.
Lesson: Different Colors in the Sun Target Age: 3-4
Science Topic: (PWV) IV.4 All students will explain shadows, color, and other light phenomena- Describe ways in which light interacts with matter.
Science Processes: observing, communicating, measuring, interpreting data, inferring, hypothesizing, and experimenting
Children will discover how color affects the absorption rate of heat from the sun through experimentation.
Materials: several different colored toddler socks, thermometers, the sun or sun lamp
Task
Description
Analysis
Introductory Activity
On a hot sunny day, take students outside. Tell students you want them to touch the black top, the white sidewalk, a piece of wood and two other objects of their choice. Tell them to pay special attention to the temperature of these objects.
-Engaging activity, gets students moving and interested (kinesthetic learners)
-Connects the outside with the inside of the classroom (brain based theory).
-Allows them some freedom in work (control/choice)
- Hands- on activity (brain based, multiple intelligences, constructivist)
- Observing,
Have students rank the objects from the hot to hottest when they touched them.
-Writing the responses for multiple intelligences and more exposure to information
-Observing, communicating, measuring, interpreting data
When students finish, ask them if they noticed anything. Do they have any ideas why some things were hotter than others? (you will get several responses, including material things are made of- ask them to explain why the blacktop would
-Interpreting data
-Posing a question (constructivist, inquiry based)
- Inferring, hypothesizing
Be hotter than the white sidewalk if they are both made out of cement. Students will also suggest color. Tell them they are going to experiment to see if that is true.)
Exploring Activities
Experimenting
Question: Does the color affect the absorption rate of heat (how hot something gets) from the sun?
Posing a question (inquiry, constructivism)
1) Have students predict whether the color will have an effect on the absorption rate and if it does which color will absorb the most heat (become the hottest)
Predicting
2) In small groups, have students record the temperature of each thermometer.
-Measuring
- Interpersonal and intrapersonal learning styles support group work, constructivism, brain based
3) Place a thermometer in each color of sock (red, white, yellow, dark green, light blue, navy blue, black, pink)
4) Place the socks containing the thermometers under the sun (on a hot day) or sunlamp.
5) After an hour read the thermometers for each color.
Measuring
6) Record data
7) As a class, graph the data
8) As a class analyze the graph
Interpreting data, group work (constructivist, brain based, multiple intelligences)
-Communicating
9) Students work in groups to form a conclusion on whether color affects the absorption rate of heat
Interpreting data
Task
Description
Analysis
Discussion Questions
Ask students what they have discovered; does color affect the rate of heat absorption?
How?
Analyzing data, higher order thinking (how?)
Is there a pattern in which colors absorb more heat? (darker colors do)
Higher order thinking, (synthesizing data)
Applications/ Assessment
Have students write a paper. Tell them they are going to be sent to Alaska, what color would they like to wear? Why?
-The students are using information in a real life situation (brain based, choice theory)
-Multiple intelligences
-Applying information in a different settings
When they get back from Alaska they are sent to Florida. What color clothing do they pack. Why?
Jodi Smith
EDU 345
Lesson Plan
Lesson: Growing plant stems Target Age: grade level 3-5 Science topic: Plants Science Processes: Observing, modeling, inferring, interpreting Children will Discover: (National Standard: Life- Science: Content Standard C k-4 and 5-8) Children will discover that plant stems grow towards light no matter which direction the light is coming from. Materials: Book: Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato An Irish Folktale, Sweet potato, tap water, shoe box with cover, cup, toothpicks, tape, and scrap cardboard.
Task
Description
Analysis
Introductory Activities
1. Read the story Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato An Irish Folktale by Tomie DePaola
2. Discuss with children that potatoes grow underground.
- Engaging in the activity
- Warm-up activities to tap prior knowledge
Exploring Activities
1. Set up for the experiment by giving each child a sweet potato, some toothpicks and a cup.
2. Demonstrate and have the children put the toothpicks in a circle around the center of the potato.
3. Place the potato on the cup with the toothpicks resting on the top of the cup.
4. Fill the cup up to the bottom of the potato. Make sure that the bottom of the potato is covered with water or the potato will not grow.
5. Taking the shoebox, cut a hole circular hole in either end. The hole needs to be about 3 inches or 8 cm wide.
6. Make three or four light walls from the scraps of cardboard. These walls should be about three-fourths the width of the shoebox.
7. Place the potato in the cup in the box at the opposite end of the circular hole.
8. Cover the box.
9. Make sure to water the potato everyday or two.
10. After a couple of weeks the vine will have grown!
(The vine will have grown in a snake path around the cardboard pieces inside to find the light.)
- Kinesthetic, visual, and spatial approach.
- Brain-based- a discrepant event often leads to construction of new ideas to explain.
Discussion Questions
1. Why doesn’t every potatoes vine look the same?
2. Even though all the vines look different, did they all grow from the same side?
3. Why do you think they all grew from the same end?
4. Why do you think they grew around the cardboard inside?
5. Discuss what plants need to grow and how the potato was able to grow in some darkness because it grew towards the light.
- If the children can answer these questions they understood the experiment.
- The children should be able to figure out that the vine grew towards the light.
- If the children do not learn this, they may learn something else or discover something for themselves.
Further Investigation
1. Doing the same investigation, cover each person’s hole with a different color plastic. Do some of the colors attract the vine better then others?
2. Have some of the student’s place more walls in the boxes. How many walls will the vine crawl around?
3. Have another group of students stand their box upright. Does this make the vine grow faster because it is growing skywards?
- The children should learn more about how plants grow.
- These investigations will be kinesthetic and visual.
Lesson: Plants
Target Age: 2-4
Science Topic: parts of plants
Science Processes: observing, inferring, making a model, using microscopes
Children Will Discover: Strand III/Content Standard 2/Elementary/Benchmark 5, the parts of plants by looking at different specimen and diagrams
Materials: microscopes, different types of plants, paper, pencil, colored pencils
Task
Description
Analysis
Introductory Activity
“Have you ever played outside?”
Choice Theory: Freedom and Fun
“Did you notice the different types of plants?”
Brain Based: sparking students interests
Exploring Activities
We will look at some different plants that we brought to class that day; dandelions, rose, tomato, and an apple, etc…
Brain based: learning from the world around us.
After looking at some of the different plants, we will ask the students if they know the names of some of the parts of the plant. The parts that we do not get from the students, we will tell them.
Constructivist Theory: Learners have their own ideas and are often unaware of what they already know.
Multiple intelligence:
Interpersonal: giving and receiving feedback
We will look at a diagram, together on the overhead projector of the different parts of a plant.
Constructivist: Learners need help from others, concrete help.
Discussion Questions
After looking at the diagram, could you to label the parts of a plant? Draw a plant and label the different parts, using colored pencils to make it colorful.
Multiple Intelligence: visual and spatial
What do these parts do for the plant?
Constructivist: learners have their own ideas
Further Investigation
Hand out the parts of plant/ what plants need to grow sheet.
Constructivist: Students need other people
Explain to the students that we could get a better look at the plant parts, tubes that transport food and water, by looking through a microscope.
Brain-based: Orchestrated meaning: Creating learning environments that fully immerse students in an educational experience
As a whole class, do the microscope slide show with the students. The last slide is quiz; it shows the students examples of how much more detail a microscope can give.
Choice Theory: fun: includes pleasure and enjoyment.
Brain-based: teachers must immerse learners in complex interactive experiences that are both rich and real.
Applications
Have the students get into groups of two, and take a microscope to their desk. Give each pair of students a leaf to examine.
Multiple intelligence: bodily-kinesthetic: lab experiments
Constructivist:
First-hand experiences.
Explain to the class as a whole how to clamp the leaf to the base. Once they have this done, have one student look through the lens. Tell the students that if they can not see clearly to adjust by using the dial on the side until they can see clearly.
Constructivist: students need other people, need to know how to learn.
Have the students draw what they are seeing through the microscope, and compare their final drawing to what the leaf looks like without the microscope.
Brain-based: learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat.
Title: Celery Experiment
Grade: 3-5
MCF Benchmark: Standard 3.2 number 5: Explain functions of selected seed plant parts.
Objectives: Students will understand that a celery stalk is a stem and students will understand that the tubes carry water from the root through experimenting, observing, and inferring.
Materials: Several leafy celery stalks, red food coloring, blue food coloring, jars, water, knife, teaspoon
Introductory Activity: Look at the "Frog, Sun, Flute Player, and Bird", by Milland Lomakema (Hopi) and the Tohono O'odham basket. Discuss with the students how plants need to "drink"' water. Point out that even huge saguaro cacti, like the one on the basket, get water through their roots. Roots are clearly shown in Lomakema's painting. The roots take in the water, and then it is distributed to all parts of
the plant. Ask students how does the nutrients get from the roots to the rest of the plant?
Analysis: Create interest in topic (engage activity), tap prior knowledge. Posing a question allows the students to create own ideas and question it (inquiry).
Procedure:
1) Cut at a slant across a leafy stalk of celery near the bottom. Make a lengthwise cut from the bottom to within an inch of where the leaves branch out. (Teacher should have this done before experiment begins. Explain to the students what was done)
2) Put 25ml of water and 25 drops of blue food coloring in one glass.
3) Put 25ml of water and 25 drops of red food coloring in the second glass.
4) Put each section of the celery stalk into a glass.
5) Place the glasses and the celery in a sunny spot in the classroom.
6) Look at the stalks after a few hours. Do the stalks look different?
7) Leave the stalk in the glasses overnight. In the morning,
take the stalks out of the glasses and cut across each section. What colors are visible in the sections?
8) Ask the students what part of a plant they think the celery is? Then ask the students how the food coloring was absorbed? (The strings are the tubes that carry the nutrient and the water the plant needs from the roots to the leaves.)
9) Point out the veins in the leaves. Ask students what they think the veins connect to.
Analysis: Hands on activities are supported by brainbased, constructivist, choice theory, and multiple intelligences, such as interpersonal, intrapersonal, kinesthetic, visual, and logical. They also obtain observing and experimenting practice.
Assessment:
Have students draw a picture of a plant and label the parts
and their functions.
Analysis: Visual, kinesthetic learners can benefit from this type of assessment. Students are using their knowledge that they have gained through the experiment.
Further Investigation:
Students can do independent experiments using the same
procedure but with stems of different plants.
Plant Roots
Lesson: Plant roots
Target Age: 3rd-4th grade
Science Topic: different types of plant roots
Science Processes: drawing, observing, inferring, discussion
Children will discover: Science/Strand III/Content Standard 2/Elementary, how the root is an important part of the plant by looking at how the different types of plant roots make the plant sturdy along with bringing the water into the plant.
Materials: Carrot roots, weed roots, potato roots, perennial roots, one microscope per group of two students, piece of paper per student, eager students and teacher.
Task
Description
Analysis
Introductory Activity
Have a carrot, weed, potato, and perennial in the front of the class. Have the students all take turns taking a good look at the four examples.
First hand experiences.
Have the students compare and contrast these four items with their group. After 3 minutes, have the class all come together and do a group discussion on what they discovered (they all have roots).
Learning from others what the students may not be able to think of on their own.
Exploring Activities
Have the students get a partner and take a microscope to one of their desks.
Working with others. Using technology to help in discovery.
Give each pair of students an example of the fore mentioned plants.
Hands-on activity, Spatial/visual learning style
Have each pair of students look at the carrot roots, and explain to the students that this is an example of a plant with a taproot system. Do the same with the weed (fibrous roots), potato (tubers & rhizomes), and a perennial (bulbs & corms).
Working with others, hands-on, gaining information from lecture while looking at specific examples.
Discussion Questions
1. Why do plants need roots? (brings water into the plant)
Review of prior lesson, applying to prior knowledge.
2. What are the four different types of plant roots, and examples of each?
Assessment of lecture, review of material.
3. Does the size/quantity of the root help in the health/growth of the plant?
Learners have their own ideas, allow them to think and conclude themselves.
Further Investigation
Group discussion on whether we believe the size of the roots make the plant sturdier, and how that helps the plant.
Learners need help from others, get discussion going. Applying to prior knowledge, possibly misconceptions.
Application
Have the students draw their idea of a sturdy plant, showing the roots and writing a paragraph on why they drew what they did.
Learning is enhanced by challenge. Power of making own model. Visual-spatial. Description to help viewer see artists’ ideas, if not apparent.
Lesson: Erosion
Target Age: Grades 3-4
Science Topic: Erosion
Science Processes: making a model, observing, recording, inferring
Children will discover: Strand V/Content Standard 1/Elementary/Benchmark 3, what erosion is, where it occurs, and how is can be prevented through making a model.
Materials: Per group: ruler, tissue, water, moist sand, toothpicks, 2 small paper cups, pie pan, and newspapers on the floor and table. All supplies for each group will be in a paper bag, making 5 paper bags needed as well.
Task
Description
Analysis
Introductory Activity
Have any of you ever seen a volcano erupt on TV?
Applying to knowledge students may already have.
What happened when the lava was going down the side of the volcano?
Applying to preconceived notions.
Where there buildings at the base of the volcano? What happened to them?
Learners are often unaware of what they know.
Exploring Activities
Place students in 5 groups.
Love and belonging.
Have a person from each group come to the front of the class and grab a paper bag, which has all the supplies needed in it.
Creates the feeling of power and freedom.
Have the students make a model of a plain by placing the moist sand evenly throughout the pie pan.
Hands on activity.
Take one cup and using the toothpick, make small holes in the bottom. Fill the second cup with water.
Learners need to test their ideas through relevant activities
Holding the cup with holes over the center of the plain, slowly pour the cup with water into the ‘rain cup’.
Power feeling by making it rain.
The students are to observe what happens to the plain when it rains, and record their findings on the worksheet.
Learners may not discover expert’s conclusions, and often contradict the ideas of teachers.
Have the students create a model of a plain with a mountain…using their own logic.
Power, Freedom, Fun and Love and Belonging.
Have them make it rain on the mountain, observe what happens and record their observations on the worksheet.
Learners need other people. Interactive and real experiences. Learners need to test their ideas through relevant activities.
Now have the students make a mountain again, but place tissue around it, to symbolize grass, and gently pat the tissue to make sure that it is touching the sand everywhere.
Relevant activity, hands on, power of creating a model
Make it rain on the mountain and observe and record the findings on the worksheet.
Searching for meaning by patterning, and repetition.
Discussion Questions
What happened when it rained on the model of a mountain with grass?
Power and fun by sharing own ideas.
What other types of plants could help prevent erosion?
Students may not know what they know.
What are some characteristics of plants that make the soil not erode?
Students have own ideas, and may not be the same as experts.
Further Investigation
Group discussion on what other substances are eroded, and by what? (wind, waves)
Students have their own ideas.
Have the students create a model of waves eroding the soil. Using the materials given to them, have them infer and create this themselves.
Learning is enhanced by challenge. Power of making own model. Visual-spatial.
Applications
Draw the model and share with the other groups, to see the different ideas. As a whole class, use these five different models, and create a whole class model.
Students need other people, students need to know how to learn. Hands on and expressing own ideas.
Each brain is unique.