1. Add a drawing or symbol that represents something about you.
Welcome to Plant Kit Training – Third Grade Please make a Nametag. Draw on both sides.
Do you like to garden?
Draw a large shape on the left side Leave a space to write your name on the right side.
2. Do you think you will use the Plant Kit in your classroom?
Draw a plant in the shape.
Big Garden
Small Garden
Pots
No Garden
Circle
Rectangle
Square
Triangle
Can’t Wait
Need more information
Maybe
No Time
Rose
Daisy
Tree
Cactus
Add a drawing or symbol that represents something about you.

2. Clare Kaplan Roy Waldron School
Third Grade Plant Kit
Clare Kaplan
Roy Waldron School
Essential Questions:
What do you want to know about the Plant Kit?
How do you want to use it in your classroom?

3. Schedule
8:30 - 8:45 Introductions and Essential Questions 8:45 - 9:00 Standards, I Can Statements, Journals, and Plant Kit Supplies 9:00 - 9:15 Lesson 1 and 2: Wet and Dry Lima Bean 9:15 - 9:25 Break 9:25 - 9:45 Lesson 3: Plant Seeds 9: :00 First Week Extension Lessons and Literature Lesson 4: Thinning and Transplanting 10: :15 Lessons 5-9: Observing Plants Grow and Why Bees are Important? 10: :30 Lesson 10 – 12: Observing and Pollinating Flowers Lesson 16: Harvesting Pods 10: :45 Additional Resources 10:00 – 11:00 Wrap up and Exit Questions

4. TN Science 3rd Grade Level Expectations
Cells
Conceptual Strand 1: All living things are made of cells that perform functions necessary for life.
GLE : Use magnifiers to make observations of specific plant and animal body parts and describe their functions.
Interdependence
Conceptual Strand 2: All life is interdependent and interacts with the environment. (Discuss how plants have learned and adapted to survive in environments)
GLE : Categorize things as living or non-living.
GLE : Explain how organisms with similar needs compete with one another for resources.

5. TN Science 3rd Grade Level Expectations
Flow of Matter and Energy
Conceptual Strand 3: Matter and energy flow through the biosphere.
GLE : Describe how animals use food to obtain energy and materials for growth and repair. (Food Chains-plants as producers)
Heredity
Conceptual Strand 4: Plants and animals reproduce and transmit hereditary information between generations.
GLE : Identify the different life stages through which plants and animals pass.
GLE : Recognize common human characteristics that are transmitted from parents to offspring. (Seeds and new plants)
Biodiversity and Change
GLE : Explore the relationship between an organism’s characteristics and its ability to survive in a particular environment.
(Discuss how plants have learned and adapted to survive in environments.)

6. I Can Statements
I can use magnifiers to make observations of specific plant and animal body parts and describe their functions.
I can describe how plants use sunlight to obtain energy and materials for growth and repair.
I can Identify the different life stages through which plants and animals pass.
I can explore the relationship between an organism’s characteristics and its ability to survive in a particular environment.

7. Brassica Plants
Brassica (/ˈbræsᵻkə/) is a genus of plants in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). The members of the genus are informally known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, or mustard plant. Crops from this genus are sometimes called cole crops— derived from the Latincaulis, denoting the stem or stalk of a plant.
Members of brassica commonly used for food include cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and some seeds as in the production of canola oil. The genus is known for its important agricultural and horticultural crops and includes a number of weeds, both of wild taxa and escapees from cultivation. 

8. Getting Ready to Use the Plant Kit
Supplies:
Wanted Sheet for Science Staff – Have students fill out sheets and pick students to help. They can count supplies, get supplies ready, and hand out supplies.
Science Journal – Use regular science notebook, folders, or make one. You can have students create charts or paste copies in notebook.
Plant Kit and Light Supplies
Word Wall, Anchor Charts, and Plant Lesson Plan Activities
Reading Passages

9. K W L
Plants

10. Lesson 1: What do you know about plants?
Create Plant Journals
Make a circle map or KWL to discuss what they know about plants
Read the text of your choice (Textbook, Workbook, Plant Passage)
Investigate the dry lima bean and record observations on Activity Sheet 1 or make your own chart
Supplies:
Dry lima beans
Activity Sheet 1
Science Journal

11. Lesson 2: What is inside a seed?
Make sure you have a wet lima bean for each student.
Discuss why seeds are important to plants and what a seed does.
Show students the parts of the lima bean seed.
Have students dissect a wet lima bean seed and draw a diagram or use a diagram to identify parts of the seed.
Record the observations on Activity Sheet 1.
Read the Seed Passage or text of choice.
Supplies:
Wet Lima Bean (Soak beans overnight)
Activity Sheet 1 and Seed Passage
What’s Inside a Seed? Worksheet

12. What is inside a seed?

13. Lesson 3 – Planting Seeds
Pass out supplies and have students plant in phases.
You need to model what to do before each phase.
Review Lesson 3 in teacher manual beginning on p. 19.
Activity sheet 2 gives instructions for students on how to plant the seeds.
This may take up to 45 minutes.
Supplies: Plant Kit

14. Journal Writing after planting the seeds.
What do plants need to grow?
Sequence the steps in planting.
What do you predict will happen next?

15. Extensions for the first Week of the Plant Kit
Science Textbook: Chapter 1 – How Living Things Function p. 10
Lesson 1 – Directed Inquiry/Bean Bags on pp
Growing a Lima Bean Greenhouse Template
Lesson 1 – Plants Meet Their Needs pp
Great information on plant parts and functions.
Science Textbook: Chapter 2 – How Living Things Function p. 10
Lesson 2 – Direct Inquiry/Growing Greens pp
Students can bring in seeds to plant and watch
Lesson 2 – Plant Life Cycles pp
Lesson has a flowering plant and conifer plant life cycle.
Reader Classroom Plants

16. Extensions for the first Week of the Plant Kit
Science Workbook: Lesson 1 – Plant Parts pp. 6-13
No Photosynthesis in vocabulary
Science Workbook: Lesson 2 – Life Cycle pp
Texts to Read:
Plant Life Cycle What do Plants Need
Plant Parts Plants Make Their Own Food
Seeds All Kinds of Plants
Where do Seeds Miss Johnson’s Plants
Come From What Plants Need
My Bean Plant
Who Needs Dirt?
Crash Course Kids
#27.1
Photosynthesis and Parts of a seed song.
Parts of Plant Rap Song

17. Lesson 4: Thinning and Planting
Teach Students that to maintain a healthy garden it is important to thin and transplant. Pull out extra plants in a quad and transplant them in a quad where the seed didn’t grow.
Discuss why it is important to thin the plants to help them survive. The plants would have to compete for food.
Wisconsin Fast Plants and Genetically Modified Plants
Check out the website for a video and story about the history of Fast Plants. Use the story as an informational text prompt. Pair with the texts on this website about genetically modified plants.

18. Lesson 5: How Does a Plant Grow?
Measure using a ruler or cubes and record information on the Growth Graph Sheet to use to make bar graphs.
Lesson 6: Observing Leaves and Flower Buds
Measure using a ruler or cubes and record information on the Growth Graph Sheet to use to make bar graphs.
Lesson 7: Observing Growth Spurt
Record observations and measure plant as it grows. These lessons will run from Days 5 – 13.

19. Observations Organizer
Think of properties you can see such as size, shape, color, lines, texture, pattern, behavior…
I observed…
Think of the other senses of smell, sound, touch, and perhaps taste!
I noticed…
Connect it with something that you already know.
It reminds me of…
Add more detail as needed.
This is so because…
Be curious and ask questions you could investigate.
I am curious about…
It surprised me that… OR
I wonder what would happen if…
Observations Organizer
Writing Frame
From
Writing in Science by
Betsy Rupp Fulwiler

20. Lesson 8: Why Are Bees Important Lesson 9: Getting a Handle on Your Bee
Brainstorm what you know about bees.
Discuss why bees are important. Identify the parts of a bee and the roles of a bee in a colony.
Talk about how bees are endangered and it is effecting our crops and flower population.
Make the bee sticks to use for pollinating the plants.
Figure 9.1
Reader Facts About Honeybees

21. Bees pollinate the flowers, thus helping the plant to develop new seeds. What are the different types of bees?
Students use a hand lens to observe dried bees. Students make bee sticks to be used as a tool for pollination.

22. Lesson 10: Looking at Flowers Lesson 11: Pollinating Flowers
Identify the flowers of the plant and discuss pollination.
Use the bees to pollinate the flowers. These lessons will happen between days
Figure 10.1 and 11.1
Lesson 12: Observing Pods
Dry out the plants to ripen the seeds.
Bring in fresh beans from the store or canned beans to dissect and predict what will be in the pods. This will be between days
Figure 12.1

23. Lesson 16: Harvesting and Threshing the Seeds
Use with social studies standard to show a natural resource to a finished product.
Show video about crops and discuss the plants we eat.
Observe the seeds and record observations in journal.
Lesson 13: Making a Brassica Model
Lesson 14: Making a Bee Model
Lesson 15: Interpreting Graphs
Could be used for guided reading for students in the 4th and 5th quintile to give them a STEM project that can be shared with class.

24. Appendix A: Assessment 1 – Life Cycle Worksheet
Assessments 2 and 3 – Drawings and Observations on the experience with the plant kit.
B: Teacher’s Chart for Student Progress
C: Introduction to graphing – Uses pictures for an overhead, but you could cut them out on cardstock or use real seeds (corn, dried beans)
D: Bibliography
E: Life Cycle Cards – Great resource for centers or group work
F: Black Line Masters
G: Reorder List

25. Reading Story Wonders Reading Text: Unit 3 - Week 4
What Ideas Can We Get From Nature? P. 226
Great vocabulary and ELA standards that bring plants and animals together. Short story is Bats Did It First?
Read Big Ideas from Nature p. 258
I like to bring life science together with this text. You can also bring in inventions and have students create an invention inspired from nature as a writing project.

26. TNReady Exit Questions

29. How will I use the Plant kit in my room?
Ticket to Leave
How will I use the Plant kit in my room?
What extensions will I add to the Kit?
How will I incorporate math and writing?
Questions I still have…….?

30. Credits www.wastatelaser.org www.ebecri.org www.fastplants.org
Writing in Science by Betsy Rupp Fulwiler, ISBN #
Science Formative Assessment, by Page Keeley, ISBN#
Using Science Notebooks in Elementary Classrooms by Michael P. Klentschy ISBN #