I Wanna Know About Plants!

A Pathfinder for Second Grade Students

QCC Objectives:

QCC 10: The Living World: Plants
Standard: Describes how plants use water, nutrients and light to produce their own food in a process called photosynthesis. Compares plants grown with all of these resources with plants deprived of these resources.

QCC 12: The Living World: Plants
Standard: Identifies and explains function of main parts. Names parts of a plant and explains functions of each (root, stem, leaf, and flower).

QCC 14: The Living World: Plants
Standard: Identifies varieties of plants and their uses. Recognizes that plants are used for beauty, food, clothing, and shelter.

Key Words:
Plants, photosynthesis, root, stem, leaf, flower, plant parts, plant life cycle

Student Resources:

Web Resources:

Why do leaves change color in the fall?
www.sciencemadesimple.com/leaves.html
This site teaches you more about how plants eat and how they prepare for the winter. Their are also word puzzles on this web page.

The Great Plant Escape
www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case1/case1.html
Help detective LePlant solve the mystery of plant life on this fun site. You will learn more about plant parts and the life cycle of plants.

The Magic School Bus/Friz TV
http://scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/games/frizfreshfacts/index.htm
Watch Ms. Frizzle report to you about plants on this web video.

Brain Pop Photosynthesis Movie
http://brainpop.com/science/plantsandanimals/photosynthesis/index.weml?&tried_cookie=true
Here is another movie about how plants make food through photosynthesis.

Plant Parts, Build a Salad
http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/vegquiz/plantparts.html
This is a fun game that lets you build a salad out of the different plant parts.

Plants Vocabulary List and Definitions
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/science/plants/vocab/
On this site you’ll find a list of words about plants that will help you learn more about them.

Plants for Kids
http://www.kathimitchell.com/plants.html
This site gives a list of all types of plants and other web sites that give information about them.

Kids Valley Garden
http://www.raw-connections.com/garden/
This is a site you can visit if you want to start your own garden, or plant your own plants. It gives you ideas for planning, planting, and showing plants.

Plants Word Search Worksheet
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/science/plants/search/
This worksheet will help you learn plant terms while you have fun searching for words.

Plants Maze Worksheet
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/science/plants/maze/
Here’s a maze just for fun! Take the seeds to the flower garden.

Print Resources:

Morgan, S. (2002) Flowers, Trees, and Fruits. (Young Discoverers: Biology Facts and Experiments). Houghton Mifflin Co.
This book provides basic information about the structure, uses, and growth of plants, accompanied by a variety of experiments.

Jordan, H. (1992) How a Seed Grows. Harper Trophy.
This book tells young readers how to plant a seed and care for it through the very earliest stages of its growth.

Gibbons, G. (1993). From Seed to Plant. Holiday House.
A simple introduction to how plants reproduce, discussing pollination, seed dispersal, and growth from seed to plant

Worth, B. (2001). Oh Say Can you Seed?: All About Flowering Plants. Random House Books for Young Readers.
The Cat in the Hat examines the various parts of plants, seeds, and flowers; basic photosynthesis and pollination; and seed dispersal.

Non-print Resources:

The Magic School Bus Gets Planted Video
Topic: Plants
When Phoebe tries to grow a big vine for her school's production of Jack and the Beanstalk, all she ends up with is a stunted little sprout. To help out, Ms. Frizzle turns her into a real vine. But to grow tall, Phoebe needs to figure out how plants eat - fast! To unearth the amazing ways plants make their own food, the Friz and the kids shrink down and dig deep in a quest to root out the facts!

All About Plant Structure & Growth (23 min. Schlessinger/Plant Life Video for Children) Viewers discover the vital role that roots, stems and leaves play in a plant's role as energy producer. Grades K-4.

Teacher Resources:

Web Resources:

Classroom Clipart Page
http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=plants
This page supplies teachers with all kinds of plant clip art.

Plant Growth and Development Curricular Companion
http://www.keystone.fi.edu/cc_pgd/index.shtml
The Plant Growth and Development Curricular Companion features resources that correspond to the following kits:
Plant Growth and Development (STC), Experiments with Plants (STC/MS), Growing Things (Insights), Trees (FOSS), and New Plants (FOSS).

Germinating Seeds on Gelatin
http://www.rohmhaas.com/company/plabs.dir/htmldocs/germinateseeds.html
This site has an experiment based on growing seeds in a sterilized baby food jar filled with 3/4 inch of unflavored gelatin to which a few drops of liquid house plant fertilizer has been added for nutrients.

Plant Life Teaching Theme Site
http://teachers.teach-nology.com/themes/science/plants/
This page is full of resources for teachers, from worksheets to lesson plans, clip art, and more.

GLC Lesson Plan-Drawing and Labeling a Plant
http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/BuilderV03/lptools/lpshared/lpdisplay.asp?Session_Stamp=&LPID=32297
In this lesson, teachers take students on a nature walk at school. Students then discuss what they have found and use KidPix software to illustrate.

Print Resources:

Moore, J.E. (2000). Learning About Plants. Evan-Moor Educational Publishers.
Learning About Plants gives your students a complete introduction to plants, from the roots to the seeds. Whether they're coloring, cutting and pasting, matching, or just listening to you read a favorite story about plants, children will be involved with the subject on several levels.

Barhydt, F., & Morgan, P. (2002). The Science Teacher’s Book of Lists. Jossey-Bass.
This book of lists has 33 lists on: "What Plants Need to Grow and Reproduce" and "Plant Terminology," to "Examples of Endangered Plants" and "Carnivorous Plants"

Non-print Resources:

Simon and Schuster New Millennium Encyclopedia of Science
Teachers can use this reference guide in their classrooms to allow students to do research on plant life.
Interactive CD-ROM, simon and Schuster Interactive

Tools:

Microsoft Powerpoint is a helpful tool for this subject in that teachers can present information on plants through slide show presentations with plant pictures and graphics. This allows students to learn more about plants visually.

Inspiration is another tool that teachers and students can use to map out what they know about plants and what they are going to learn about them.