Grade 1 Science

Core Unit: Plants

Common Essential Learnings foundational objectives which should be emphasized:

To promote both intuitive and imaginative thought, and the ability to evaluate ideas, processes, experiences and objects in meaningful contexts. (CCT)

To support students in coming to a better understanding of the personal, moral, social, and cultural aspects of science. (PSVS)

Science foundational and learning objectives:

1. Compare various plants, plant parts, and plant products.
   1. Identify similarities and differences among plants.
   2. Identify the roots, stems, leaves, and flowers of plants.
   3. Compare and classify plants using characteristics of their leaves.
   4. Compare the root systems, the flowers, and the stems of several plants.
   5. Describe some seasonal changes in plants.
   6. Identify foods which come from plants.
   7. Recognize some products other than foods which come from plants.
2. Describe the functions of the various parts of the plants.
   1. Identify basic plant needs.
   2. Match each need of a plant with the part(s) which supply that need.
   3. Observe and describe some plant habitats.
   4. Discuss how the varying needs of plants suit them to different habitats.
   5. Compare the types of care needed by several types of indoor plants.

1. Take students for a walk in the neighbourhood around the school. Identify some young plants and some old plants of the same species. Compare them. How are they the same? How are they different? Trees are a good subject for this activity. The first time you are out with the students is a good time to begin to develop a respect for the environment with them, and to model appropriate behaviour with respect to care for the environment.

   One possibility is to leave this activity until both the animal and plant units are finished. Then this could be combined with a walk looking for both animals and plants, and the relationships between the two which exist.

   Factors: B1, B4, C2, C3, E2, F1, G2

   Objectives: 1.1, 1.2

   Assessment Techniques: 1, 3, 5, 7c

   Common Essential Learnings: Personal and Social Values and Skills, Critical and Creative Thinking. In any activity involving contact with the environment, the need to treat the environment with care of and respect for other organisms should be stressed. It is also a very broadening experience to be outdoors for the purpose of making specific and detailed observations.

2. Go for a short hike and collect a variety of small weeds, or other plants which can be dug up without serious environmental or social consequences. Ensure that both boys and girls get the opportunity to participate in digging out the plant. Remember to stress the importance of respect for the environment. If possible, remove the weeds carefully from the ground so that their root systems remain intact. Soil can be removed from the roots by carefully shaking the plant, or by placing it in a pail of water and gently swirling the water.

   Some of the plants can be examined fresh. Identify and label their parts. Others can be dried in a plant press or between two paper towels inserted in a catalogue and placed under a stack of books or a concrete block. Flowers can also be dried in sand. Cut the stem short enough so that it can stand erect in a shoe box. Put about 4 cm of dry sand in the bottom of the box. Stand the flower in the sand and add sand until the flower is covered. Add the sand very carefully around the petals so that they are not crushed, bent or torn. Mark the location with a toothpick. Leave for two or three weeks. Carefully remove the sand from around the flower. Once they are dried, they can be mounted and labelled with the names of the plant and of its parts.

   Factors: B4, C3, E2, F3

   Objectives: 1.1, 1.2 , 1.4

   Assessment Techniques: 3, 4, 5, 8, 9

   Common Essential Learnings: Personal and Social Values and Skills, Communication. This activity presents an opportunity for students to become aware of the complexity of plants, and to begin to exhibit a respect for the contributions that plants make to the environment. The students will also become acquainted with the correct terminology to describe plants.

3. Another short hike may yield a selection of leaves. Remove them carefully to prevent damage to the plants. Identify some characteristics of the leaves: colour, vein pattern, edge type. Give each student two different leaves to study, and have some students report to the class on the similarities, and the differences, of the leaves. Small plastic hand lenses are useful for examining the leaves. Leaves can be dried in a press or between the pages of a magazine, and then mounted. Fresh leaves can be preserved in their original condition for several weeks by sandwiching them between two layers of clear adhesive plastic. Paper laminators also will do that job. Dried leaves can be treated by placing them between two pieces of waxed paper and heating gently with an iron. The wax coats the surface and helps preserve them.

   Factors: B1, B6, C1, C2, C3, F1, F3

   Objectives: 1.2, 1.5

   Assessment Techniques: 3, 4, 5, 8, 9

   Common Essential Learnings: Critical and Creative Thinking. Students are encouraged to look for detail and structure in things which they encounter in everyday life. Students learn that scientific knowledge is expanded by people who notice detail and ask questions about it. Reinforce this skill in both boys and girls.

4. Students could collect pictures of plants and pictures which show how these plants are used in foods, fabrics, construction, and for other purposes. Check your library collection for picture file study prints and suitable magazines. The pictures could be mounted together in plant/product groups for display, or separately for use in a matching game.

   A list of plants could be prepared. Brainstorm with the class to list both possible and actual uses for each plant. For example: trees -- firewood, hold up hammock, play in, shade, lumber for houses, medicine, protection from wind. Plants which are used for medicine, healing, and ceremonies could be included in this list.

   Factors: C2, F1, F3

   Objectives: 1.6, 1.7, 2.2

   Assessment Techniques: 1, 3, 5

   Common Essential Learnings: Communication. Each student can contribute to the pool of information available in this unit by contributing pictures, and by helping in the production of the mounted pictures. Students show their understanding of the uses of plants through this activity.

5. Students may create a display which shows seasonal changes in plants. This can be done with pictures from magazines, or with their own montages or drawings. Animals can be included in these works.

   Photography could also be used to illustrate seasonal changes. Polaroid photography works well because of the instant feedback. Colour slides could be taken at the same time. They can be projected on a large screen, or viewed through hand viewers at learning centres.

   Factors: B1, B2, B4, C2, C4, G2

   Objectives: 1.5

   Assessment Techniques: 3, 5, 9

   Common Essential Learnings: Independent Learning. The organization and presentation of the material requires independent thought and decisions. Stimulate and support students to develop abilities to do independent work through advice and encouragement.

6. A horticulturist could be invited to talk to the students regarding the care of indoor and outdoor plants. This would be especially valuable if the speaker could refer to plants that are kept in the classroom or in the school, and to ones that are found in the school yard. Perhaps a plant care project for the plants in the school yard could be established.

   A variety of plants can be grown from seed in the classroom. Grains such as wheat, canola, and rye as well as house plants, such as coleus, could be used. Some plants could be grown using vegetative reproduction. Coleus, geranium, pineapples, and potatoes can all be grown in this manner. To grow a pineapple, cut the crown leaves together with the top 2 cm from a fresh pineapple. Suspend this so that the fruit portion is in water. Keep the water level covering the fruit. When roots have started from the core, transplant to a pot containing potting soil.

   If a local greenhouse or nursery is available for a tour, that would be a good follow-up activity to the talk about plant care. The manager of such a facility would be able to explain the purpose for which each plant is being grown, and some of the special characteristics of each plant.

   Factors: B2, B4, C2, C3, C4, E2, F1, G2

   Objectives: 1.1, 1.6, 2.1, 2.4, 2.5

   Assessment Techniques: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9

   Common Essential Learnings: Communication. Here is an opportunity for the students to listen to someone using a vocabulary different than what they are used to, but about a subject with which they are becoming familiar. It also enables them to have a wide range of experiences which they can continue to encounter outside the classroom.

7. Go on a field trip to a wooded area, or an area which has a wide variety of plant life. Look for the largest plant, the smallest plant, the strangest plant, the plant with the roundest leaves, and so on. Give the students the opportunity to examine one plant closely, and then to describe to others how it is special.

   Factors: B1, B2, C2, C3, C4, E2, F3, G2

   Objectives: 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 2.3

   Assessment Techniques: 1, 3, 5, 8

   Common Essential Learnings: Personal and Social Values and Skills. This is an opportunity to discuss respect for the environment and for the rights of others to enjoy the environment.

8. Take a trip to a lake, pond, or slough to observe the plants which grow in or near the water. Have students find a plant and explain to others its characteristics, and the similarities and differences between it and other plants.

   Some plants could be collected, or pictures taken of them, for use in activities back at the school.

   Factors: B2, B4, C1, C3, E2, F1

   Objectives: 1.1, 2.3

   Assessment Techniques: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7c, 8, 9

   Common Essential Learnings: Independent Learning. Outdoor activities involving observation of the flora is means to introduce students to the diversity of species which surrounds them whenever they are outside. Encourage them to always be observant.

9. Have a student, or a group of students, become 'expert' in identifying one species of tree, based on its growth habit, bark, seeds, or shape of leaves. When the class is outside, many of the trees encountered can be identified by name.

   Many trees of the same genus but different species look very much alike, and are difficult to distinguish. Balsam poplar and trembling aspen are examples, as are several of the willows. A good tree book is essential for the teacher to aid the students in making positive identifications. Useful information is also available from the Forestry Branch of Saskatchewan Parks and Renewable Resources. Their poster on the trees of Saskatchewan is especially useful.

   Students could be taken on a trip to the lumber yard to see the lumber and plywood which comes from different types of trees.

   Factors: B4, C2, C3, C4, E2, F1, F3

   Objectives: 1.1, 2.2

   Assessment Techniques: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7c

   Common Essential Learnings: Independent Learning. Students have an opportunity to demonstrate their achievement and to cooperate with each other. An opportunity to contribute to the learning experience of other students in the class is one way to build self-esteem in the student.

10. Visit the produce section of the local grocery store. Identify which parts of each type of plant are being sold. Count how many different leaves are for sale. How many fruits, stems, roots, and flowers are for sale? (Potatoes and yams are modified underground stems. Cauliflower and broccoli are the flowers of those plants. Any seed, or seed-containing structure, is classified as a fruit.)

    Factors: B4, C1, C3, F1, F3

    Objectives: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6

    Assessment Techniques: 3, 5, 9

    Common Essential Learnings: Communication, Critical and Creative Thinking. This is an opportunity for the students to show their understanding of the major concepts of this unit through their identification and explanation of the things they see. They look at some things that are common place in a new light, and see some which they might not have recognized as foods.

11. Have students collect leaves from as wide an assortment of trees and shrubs as possible. Mount the leaves individually on pieces of cardboard, and cover with clear adhesive plastic. Laminating them works well. Write the name of the plant on the opposite side of the cardboard from the leaf. The cards can then be used to acquaint students with the leaves of each species, and as flash cards for a game between two players. Shuffle and place them face up in a pile. The first player looks at the leaf on the first card and attempts to name the plant. If correct, player 1 gets the card. If incorrect, the card goes to the bottom of the pile. Player 2 then takes a turn, and so on until all the cards have been claimed.

    A double or triple set of the cards could also be created and then used in the same game, or in a matching game where each person in the class gets a card and then has to find a person with the same type of leaf.

    Factors: B4, C1, C2, C3, C4, F3, G2

    Objectives: 1.3

    Assessment Techniques: 3, 7c

    Common Essential Learnings: Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Values and Skills. This activity provides students with the opportunity to compare their observations of leaves with their knowledge of leaves and determine if there is correspondence between the two. Students also have close interpersonal contact during the game.

12. Grow some plants in the classroom. In addition to house plants such as geraniums, coleus, and ivy, it is possible to grow grass, corn, beans, radishes. Individual students or groups could select which seeds to plant, and then take responsibility for the care and watering of those plants. Journals or graphs could be used to record growth, dates and amounts of watering, and so on. Some hints for care of plants in the classroom are found in the introductory section of this Curriculum Guide, and in numerous reference books.

    Factors: B1, B2, B4, C3, C4, F1

    Objectives: 1.1, 2.1, 2.5

    Assessment Techniques: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9

    Common Essential Learnings: Independent Learning. This activity gives students a significant amount of responsibility for the creation of the conditions for learning.

13. Ask students to sketch the shape of leaves of plants grown in their homes or yards. They can also make rubbings of such leaves. If possible, the name of the plant on which the leaf is found should be included with the sketch or rubbing. The students can bring these to school and compare size, shape, and number of different kinds of leaves.

    Factors: B4, C1, C3, E2, F3

    Objectives: 1.1, 1.3, 2.4

    Assessment Techniques: 4, 5, 7c, 9

    Common Essential Learnings: Critical and Creative Thinking. This provides a wider array of leaves to analyze than would be possible by using only the plants in the school. The analysis after the sketches and rubbings are made is key to accomplishing this goal, although the motivation comes from actually making the sketches and rubbings to share.

14. Consider setting up some major science display areas in your school. You could cooperate with other teachers to keep it supplied with students' work and with artifacts of interest to students.

    Factors: A1, B1, C1, C2, C3, C4, F1, G2

    Objectives: all objectives

    Common Essential Learnings: Independent Learning. When students are surrounded by visual stimuli in the classroom and school, it will make them more sensitive to stimuli which are present outside those areas. Encourage them to look for ideas in nature for their displays.