South Carolina ETV

South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

“I Need Some Help Here!” (Grade 1)

Master Teacher

Gaye Irick

Time Allotment

Two 40-minute classes

Overview

Seeds need help in order to grow. In this lesson, students will participate in hands-on, online, and multimedia activities to examine what helps seeds and plants grow. Students will view a clip of the video, “What Helps Seeds to Grow.” In this video, students will observe plants that are given the appropriate amounts of soil, water, light, and warmth. They will also observe seeds and plants that are placed in the dark, given no water, placed in a cold place, and given no soil. Following the video portion of the lesson, students will actually plant seeds to observe over time what happens if you take care of or do not take care of plants. Finally, they will visit a Web Site to test their knowledge of what helps seeds and plants grow.

Subject Matter

Life Science

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

Describe what help seeds need to grow (light, water, good soil, and warmth).
Observe and discuss what happens when seeds do not have “help.”
State the similarities and differences among seed growth.

South Carolina Standards

(These Standards are available online at http://www.myscschools.com/offices/cso)

Standard II: Life Science

A. Characteristics of Organisms

Organisms have basic needs.
a. Investigate and explain that plants require air, water, nutrients, space, and light to survive and reproduce.

B. Life Cycles of Organisms

Plants have life cycles. The details of the life cycle are different for different organisms.

a. Observe and communicate the growth and development of a variety of plants from seed.

Inquiry

A. Process Skills

Observe
Classify
Measure
Communicate

Inquiry

Plan and conduct a simple investigation.

Media Components

Video

Stage One Science: Growing , “What Helps Seeds to Grow.”

Catchy songs and time-lapse photography add to this video about plants and what they need to grow.

To access this video, log on to your account at ETV’s StreamlineSC Web page (http://etv.streamlinesc.org). In the search by keyword box, type Stage One Science: Growing and hit go. Click the series title and then download the video clip “What Helps Seeds Grow” and preview it. The clip runs four minutes and 50 seconds.

(Note to Teacher: If you don’t have an account with ETV’s StreamlineSC, check with your media specialist or Instructional Technologist about signing up for your own account.)

Web Site

Helping Plants Grow Well

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/plants_grow.shtml

This Web site contains interactive activities that allow the students to help make a plant grow to its full and healthy height. The students must give their plants the appropriate amount of water and sunlight to make them grow or they will die. A quiz is also included at the end of the activity.

Materials

( The number of cups may vary depending on your class. Eight will make one class set.)

8 cups
8 bean seeds
Watering container
Bag of vermiculite
8 sticker labels
black permanent marker
student science journals
Activity Sheets 1 and 2 (one per student)
101 Science Poems & Songs for Young Learners with Hands-On Activities. (Meish Goldish, Scholastic Professional Books, 1998)

Equipment

Computers
Television

Prep for Teachers

Prior to teaching this lesson, bookmark the Helping Plants Grow Well Web page used in the lesson on the computer in your classroom. Also, preview the site before introducing it to the students. In addition, load the Shockwave plug-in, available at http://www.macromedia.com.
Preview and cue Stage One Science: Growing video.
Place cups, small plants, watering container, labels, and vermiculite on a table, along with the students’ science journals.
When using media, provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific responsibility to complete during or after viewing of video, Web sites, or other multimedia elements.

Introductory Activity

Step 1: Introduce the lesson by singing the song, “Green Plants,” found in 101 Science Poems & Songs for Young Learners with Hands-On Activities.

Step 2: Ask the students questions about the song:

What was the song about?
What things did the song say plants need to grow?
Why are these things important to plant growth?
What will happen if a seed or a plant does not get these things?

Step 3: Explain to the students that in this lesson, they will be making predictions and observing how seeds and plants grow.

Learning Activities

Step 1: Explain to your students that they will be investigating the concept of what seeds and plants need to grow using the video clip “What Helps Seeds to Grow” from the ITV series Stage One Science: Growing. Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by telling students to listen for the narrator’s question and think about answers to it.

Step 2: BEGIN where you see a bean plant pushing on the lid of a jar. You want the students to hear the narrator’s question: “What helps seeds grow?” PAUSE the video after that statement.

Step 3: Distribute students’ science journals and tell them to open their journals and write answers to that question. Ask students for their answers and write them on the board. Ask students what they could do to find out if these things are really necessary for seed and plant growth.

Step 4: Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, asking them to continue watching to see if their answers are correct. Also tell them to begin thinking about what will happen if a seed or plant doesn’t get what it needs.

Step 5: BEGIN video where children are at a table with materials to plant. The narrator says, “That’s what these children are trying to find out.”

Step 6: PAUSE the video when the narrator says, “And some put in the refrigerator where there is no warmth.” A student places a container in a refrigerator.

Step 7: Explain to students that they are to work out the same investigation as the children did on the video. Choose 8 students and divide them into groups of 4. One group will have instructions to plant a seed and give the seed the proper “help”—water, soil, light, and warmth. The other group will be instructed to plant without soil, use no water, place in the dark, and finally, place a container where it will not get any warmth. Each student in the group will prepare 1 cup. The materials are on a table for the students to use. They will get a cup, soil, a seed, and water, if those are their instructions. Students will label their own cups with their names. The cups will then be placed where needed.

Step 8: Have students clean up the area and instruct them to take out their journals and write about the activity. Tell them to include what their seed looked like today and what they predict it will look like in one week or two weeks.

Step 9: Provide the students with a Focus for Media Interaction, telling students to watch what happens to the plants on the video. Do their predictions that were written in their journals match what happens on the video?

Step 10: BEGIN video where there are four containers and the narrator says, “Here's what happened to the plants without soil, warmth, water and light.” PLAY to the end of the clip.

Step 11: To check for comprehension, ask students to reflect on different things seeds and plants need to grow in their science journals. Ask for volunteers to share reflections with the class.

Culminating Activity

Step 1: Tell the students that they will now have the opportunity to practice what they have learned about what seeds and plants need to grow. Have the students log on to the Web site at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/plants_grow.shtml.

Step 2: Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction , telling them they are to make the seed grow. They are to water it and give it light. In addition to this, they must watch a gauge to know when to give it water and/or light. Clicking on the water and light lever does this. If done successfully, the plant will be healthy and bloom; if not, the flower will wilt and die.

Step 3: After the students do this activity a few times, tell them to stop. Ask the students if they believe that this is how plant growth really works. Students should see that seeds and plants always need care whether it is water, light, warmth, or good soil.

Step 4: Tell students to click on the QUIZ to test their “What Plants Need to Grow” knowledge. Circulate the room to observe students as they practice what they have learned. Give assistance if necessary.

Step 5: As an assessment, each student will complete Activity Sheet 2.

Cross-Curricular Extensions

Math: Students could measure the growth of their plant and place it on a graph. This could then be compared with the other plants from other groups.

Language Arts: Students could write a story about what it would be like if they were a seed planted in a container.

Make a Venn diagram. Let the title be “What a Seed Needs to Grow and What a Person Needs to Grow.” (See Activity Sheet 1.)

Drama: Have students act out a growing seed as it germinates.

Act out the play “From Seed to Plant.” (25 Just-Right Plays for Emergent Readers, by Carol Pugliano-Martin.)

Art: Make a seed mosaic.

Community Connections

Invite a local farmer to visit the classroom to discuss how the weather conditions help or hurt crops.
Invite a soil and Water Conservation Representative to discuss what seeds and plants need to grow.
Take a field trip to a local farm.
Invite a member of a local garden club to discuss seed and plant needs.

Student Materials

Science journals
Pencils
Activity Sheet 1
Activity Sheet 2