South Carolina ETV

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Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

Got Plants (Grade 2)

Master Teacher

Ellen C. Holman

Time Allotment

One 90-minute class

Overview

Animals and plants are living things. All living things need energy to live. All of the food we eat comes from plants. Plants get the energy they need to grow from the sun. Therefore, without the sun the plants would die and so would every other organism on this Earth. The purpose of this lesson is to guide students through the connection of animals to plants and back again. Without plants, no life would exist. (Have you) Got Plants?

Subject Matter

Life Science

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

Recognize that all organisms need food in order to live;
Discover that all living things depend on plants;
Identify which animals eat plants for food and which animals eat animals that eat the plants;
Investigate and describe ways in which animals interact with each other and with the environment.

South Carolina Standards

Visit Standards Web site

Grade 2: Science

II. Science Life

C. Organisms and Their Environments

1. All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the plants.

A. Investigate and describe ways in which animals interact with each other and with the environment.

Media Components

Video

Bill Nye the Science Guy, "Food Web," can be purchased on line at the Disney Teacher's Store.

Web Sites

Show What You Know (about Ecosystems) is an interactive, on-line activity that allows students to investigate a food web and figure out who is prey and who is predator. The second activity, "Build Your Own Caterpillar," could be utilized with advanced students who finish quicker than others.

Enchanted Learning is a site that enables teachers and students to use reference skills to get information on just about everything. Students can log on and utilized the user-friendly pages to navigate through finding information that is needed. Specific pages used in the lesson are listed in the Prep for Teachers.

Materials

Per student:

paper
pencil
crayons
markers
Activity Sheets 1 and 2

Equipment

computer with Internet access
VCR
TV

Prep for Teachers

Students should have some prior knowledge of animals and plants.
Prior to teaching this lesson, gather all materials. Also make copies of Activity Sheets 1 and 2 for each student.
The song, "I Know An Old Lady (Who Swallowed a Fly)" is on a recording by the legendary folk singers Peter Paul and Mary. This song is featured as part of a concert available on CD, audio cassette, LP record , and VHS. The title is "Peter, Paul, and Mommy, Too" and it can be found and ordered at Amazon.com.

Bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer in your classroom:

1. Enchanted Learning: Cricket

2. Enchanted Learning: Jaguar

3. Enchanted Learning: Skunks

4. Enchanted Learning: Lizards

5. Enchanted Learning: Eagles

6. Enchanted Learning: Mouse

7. Enchanted Learning: Deer

8. Show What You Know (about Ecosystems)

Prior to the lesson, check the equipment: VCR, TV, and computer.
Prior to the lesson, make a KWL chart on chart paper (K-what the students already know; W-What the students want to know; L-what the students learned after the lesson). Tape the chart paper on the board. Have markers nearby.
Preview the video to familiarize yourself with the pausing points.
When using media, provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites, or other multimedia elements.

Introductory Activity

Step 1: This activity uses pictures of the characters from the song "I Know An Old Woman (Who Swallowed a Fly)." These pictures are found at the end of the lesson. As you and the students sing along with the CD, tape, LP, and/or VHS hold up the individual pictures. Have the students move and sing if you'd like.

Step 2: To follow up on Step 1, introduce the vocabulary for the lesson. Ask students why did the lady swallow the spider? (The lady swallowed the spider to eat the fly.) Now we know that no one would intentionally eat a fly, but work with the concept. The lady swallowed the spider to catch the fly that she had already eaten. Ask students: "Who knows the science word that names one animal eating another? (One animal hungry and hunting for food.) Say: "If you know the word that names that, raise your hand." (Yes, the word is predator.) Write the word predator on an index card and add it to the K-W-L chart.

Step 3: Continue by asking: "What do we know about a predator?" (Answers will vary. A predator eats smaller animals. A predator is mean.) "What is the word that names the poor little animal that is hunted down and killed?" (The word for the animal eaten is prey.) Write the word prey on an index card and add it to the K-W-L chart.

Step 4: Then say: "What do we know about prey?"(Answers will vary. Prey are smaller than predators. Prey are hunters, too.)

Say: "It depends. For example, think back to the bird in the song. Was the bird a predator?" (Yes, the bird was the predator AND hopefully your students would be able to link the concept that the bird was prey to the cat.)

Learning Activities

Step 1: Introduce the remaining vocabulary for the lesson: plants and food web.

Plants are living things that produce their own food with water and sun light. You are either a plant, or you eat plants, or you eat animals that eat plants. We are all dependent on each other. We call this dependence the food web. Everything depends on plants. All living things need plants. With no plants, there would be no us. This relationship is called the food web. The food web allows you to see how every thing we eat can be traced back to plants.

Step 2: Explain that students will join Bill Nye for a look at plants. Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by telling them to look for how we are all connected, how important plants are, and what a food web is.

Step 3: BEGIN playing the tape just after Bill drives through the drive-thru window and is given some decomposers, and you hear him remembering about today's show. The opening credits of the show will begin. This segment will continue through Bill falling down in the actual food web through visual examples through bees, humming bird, snake eating a rat, and a black pig. Then PAUSE.

Step 4: To check for comprehension, ask the following questions: "What is a food web?" (A food web is how we are all connected to plants.) "Are you part of the food web?" (Yes, you and I are part of the food web.) "If there were no plants, would there be people?" (No, there would be no "us.") "How is everything that is alive connected?" (Everything that is alive is connected through the food web. We are all dependent on one another. Either you are a plant, or you eat a plant, or you eat an animal that eats plants.)

Step 5: Tell students to think about food that they like to eat. Have a few students tell the name of their favorite food. Use the diversity of the class to enhance the discussion. Explain that as animals we need food in order to live. Ask students to tell you what they know about where food comes from. Fill in the K portion of the K-W-L chart. (Possible answers are: Bacon comes from pigs. Eggs come from chickens. Hot Wings certainly come from chickens. Hamburger comes from cows. Pizza comes from cows, pigs, wheat, tomatoes. Food comes from plants.)

Step 6: Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by telling them they will go on line and do some research on what animals eat and what eats them. Have students log on to the previously book marked Enchanted Learning Web sites that were listed in the Prep for Teachers and complete Activity Sheet 1: What I Eat and What Eats Me. Allow students time on computers to complete the activity.

Step 7: Ask students to share their research with the class. Create a large chart with the information. Emphasize which is prey and which is predator. Have individual students list what foods the deer eats? (The deer eats plants.) What animal eats the deer? (The jaguar eats the deer.) What foods did you discover that skunks eat? (Skunks eat lizards, insects and other small animals.)

Ask students if skunks can be predators? (Yes, skunks can be predators to smaller animals.) Ask students what animals prey on skunks? (Jaguars like to eat skunks.) What foods did you discover that mice/rodents eat? (Mice/rodents eat plants). What animals eat mice? (Birds like to eat mice.) What does the bird on the site eat? (The bird eats the lizards, the plants.) What animals eat birds? (The larger animals eat the smaller animals.) Ask students what the insects eat. (Insects eat plants.) What eats the insect? (The birds and lizards eat insects.) What kinds of conclusions can we draw from what we learned on this site? (All living things are connected to each other, from the largest animal to the smallest plant.)

Step 8: Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by explaining that we will join Bill Nye again to explore the relationship between plants and people. Students should look and listen for how we help each other. BEGIN playing the tape when you see a family around a table and you hear "Plants.to eat them is to love them." Continue playing the segment until you see a close-up of Bill Nye, and he's having water thrown in his face and you hear him say, "Thanks for joining me today to consider the following." Press PAUSE.

Step 9: To check for comprehension, ask the following questions: "What do plants make with the sun?" (Plants make their own food with water and the sun. It is called Photosynthesis.) "What do all animals need in order to breathe?" (All animals need oxygen in order to breathe.) "What chemical do plants take in?" (Plants take in carbon dioxide.) "What chemical do people breathe out?" (People breathe out carbon dioxide.) Do you see a working partnership sort of thing going on with the animals and breathing and plants? (Yes, animals give off what plants need and plants give off what animals need. It is a perfect partnership).

Step 10: Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction explaining that they will meet a cool scientist in the final video segment of the lesson. Students should look and listen for what the cool scientist does for a career, where he works, and what he does every day.

Step 11: BEGIN the video segment when you see the words cool scientist on the left of the screen and a twirling microscope on the right. The tape should play through the interview to the cool scientist graphic again. Press PAUSE.

Step 12: To check for comprehension, ask: "What is the cool scientist's first name?" (His first name is Dave.) "Where does Dave work?" (Dave works at Disney World.) "What does he do at Disney World?" (He works with the plants at Disney World.) "How is his job different from planting things in your yard?" (His job is different because there is not any dirt. Some are hanging.)

Step 13: Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction explaining that they will "Show What You Know" on a Web site and will connect animals with plants.

Have students pay attention to how many arrows are by each item. Instruct students to click and drag until all the animals and plants are connected. Tell them to keep connecting until the Web comes "alive."

Step 14: Have students log onto the Show What You Know (about Ecosystems) and click on the Food Web activity.

After the students have linked all the arrows, they will be prompted to name the biggest threat to the food web. Students can click on one of 3 answers and will be asked why they picked that specific answer. Students type in their answer to the question. Each answer is explained. After students type in their names, a certificate is prepared saying they have made the connection.

Step 15: To check for comprehension, ask students which arrows gave them the most difficulty. "Which surprised you?" "Which did you not know?" (The answers will vary.)

Step 16: Bring this lesson to a close. Finish the KWL chart with information from the students

Culminating Activity

Step 1: Give students Activity Sheet 2. Have them draw their favorite meal. Instruct them to include beverage, meat, vegetable, bread, and dessert.

Step 2: When they are finished, have them list each food on the back of the sheet. Have them trace each food back to plants. Allow students time to complete the task.

Assessment

The Culminating Activity is the Assessment.

Cross-Curricular Extensions

Language Arts: Have students do research on the Internet of actual field studies. Have students read biographies of the scientist and some of the other team members in the field study.

Also you could have students write a persuasive paragraph from the mouse's perspective why the bird should not choose him as a meal.

Math: Have students gather information to make a graph of favorite foods. Students can go around school and survey fellow students and teachers. Students should tally in the appropriate place on their form. When students have asked 20 teachers/students, they will make a bar graph that will match the tally information.

Social Studies: Have students gather information from the Internet and/or reference materials. Their focus could be on an animal that is becoming extinct. Students could pick a country other than the United States and find an animal that is native to that area.

Art/Music: Students could make homemade instruments and design elaborate animal masks. Students could use their research to educate the community. Each student could write a short paragraph about his/her animal. This would be a great cross-curricular presentation to the PTSO, or other school related function.

Community Connections

Students could invite a veterinarian to visit to answer questions about animals and how to protect and care for them properly.
Dog trainers could be invited to school to do demonstrations.
Students could visit a local zoo. There is nothing like seeing animals in environments that have been especially designed to mimic their natural habitats.