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The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

The World’s Best Class Plant

STEM + ELA Lesson

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The World’s Best Class Plant

STEM + ELA

A 1st - 3rd grade STEM lesson

Bridget Hagest

September 1, 2024

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Notes for teachers

Grade level: 1st - 3rd (but can be modified to meet the needs of other grade levels)

Time: 1 class period for main lesson; approximately 1-3 weeks to observe optional propagation / regeneration with celery, garlic, beets, or sweet potatoes

You only need one of the plant options listed to have as your class plant. If you want to propagate with spider plants or pothos, you will need more than one depending on how many students you have.

Materials:

straws
tape
plastic bottle of water
paper
styrofoam cups
The World’s Best Class Plant book
several plant options: spider plant, snake plant, pothos, fiddle fig, monstera, caladiums, peace lily, bird of paradise, aloe, fern, areca palm, cactus

OPTIONAL MATERIALS-

knife (adult supervision)
cutting board
water
cloves of garlic
small glass jars
clear cups
one bunch of celery
clear tray or shallow dish
beet with greens
sweet potato

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Arizona Science Standards

1.L1U1.6

Observe, describe, and predict life cycles of animals and plants

1.L2U2.7

Develop and use models about how living things use resources to grow and survive; design and evaluate habitats for organisms using earth materials.

Arizona Educational Technology Standards

K-2.6.a.

Students, with guidance, use a variety of tools for creating something new and communicating with others

Arizona Science and Engineering Practice

define problems
plan and carry out investigations
design solutions
obtain, evaluate, and communicate information

Arizona Math Standard

1.MD.A

Measure lengths indirectly and by iterating length units.

Arizona ELA Standard

1.RL.1

Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, why, when, and how about key details in a text

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NGSS:

1-LS1-1 (Structure and Function): Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
1-LS3-1 (Heredity): Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.

National Alignment (ISTE Standards for Students):

1.6 Creative Communicator: Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.
1.6.a: Choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.
1.6.b: Create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.

Arizona Science and Engineering Practice

define problems
plan and carry out investigations
design solutions
obtain, evaluate, and communicate information

Common Core State Standards Math:

1.MD.A.1: Order three objects by length; compare the lengths of two objects indirectly by using a third object.
1.MD.A.2: Express the length of an object as a whole number of length units, by laying multiple copies of a shorter object (the length unit) end to end; understand that the length measurement of an object is the number of same-size length units that span it with no gaps or overlaps.

English Language Arts (ELA)

Current AZ Standard: 1.RL.1 (Ask and answer questions about key details)
National Alignment (CCSS ELA):

RL.1.1 (Literature): Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
RI.1.1 (Informational Text): Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. (Recommended if students are reading non-fiction books about plants).

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Objective(s):

Today we will ask and answer questions about key details in the story The World’s Best Class Plant.

Today we will design and engineer a watering device that waters multiple plants at the same time.

Today we will make observations about our own class plant.

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Agenda (lesson time)

Story: The World’s Best Class Plant (8:00)

Our Very Own Class Plant (10:00)

Best Class Plant Journal (10-15 minutes)

Pothos Plant Care (5:00)

How can we grow plants without using seeds? (2:00)

Propagation and Regeneration (varies)

Design Challenge: Build a watering device that waters multiple plants at the same time (15:00)

Assessment (5:00)

Agenda & Timeframe: Read (1 minute)

The lesson time depends on what components you want to incorporate. For example:

You can teach students about different types of plants and have them vote on which one they think would make the best class plant. This would take a bit longer, but might increase buy-in. Or- you can just reveal a class plant you bought ahead of time. Having them just decide on a name would take significantly less time. The ten-minute time frame above is assuming you already have the class plant and the kids will just vote on a name.
The plant journal for day one might just include having the kids draw a picture of what the plant looks like and writing the plant’s name on the page. They could count leaves or write more another day. So this could take 10-15 minutes, or it could take longer, depending on what you want to include on this first day.
The propagation and regeneration is optional, so the time varies. The options are explained in future slides.

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Intro/Driving Question/Opening

How can we grow plants without using seeds?

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Read Aloud

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Let’s adopt our VERY OWN class plant!!!

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What should we name our new class plant?

???

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Best Class Plant Journal

Give students (or have them create) a plant journal. Students will observe and document the growth and changes in the class plant throughout the school year. They can draw pictures, write observations, and note any interesting discoveries.
For the first day, I would start with having the students draw and color a picture of the class plant on the front page. Once the name is decided, students can write the plant’s name on it as well.
A first grade math standard is to measure lengths indirectly and by iterating length units. You could include this as a journal observation. Have students measure the length of the plant using some tool from class. Have them count how many leaves are on the plant, etc.
A basic journal is linked here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-bgNRDg7yXPfhy6PLnS8-bVTT9RTyILOnr8AJdP9Tbo/edit?usp=sharing Modify the pages to meet the needs of your students.

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Pothos Plant Care

Most classes may choose to have a spider plant as the class pet since that is what is featured in the story. The spiderettes are really cool, and roots will grow fast, however- you need a bunch of spiderettes so each student will get their own. Some spider plants have a bunch of spiderettes- others, not so much. I have actually found it way easier (and faster) to propagate pothos. Include how to care for your plant in the journal.

Change this slide if you choose a different type of plant.

Pothos Watering Suggestion:

Pour water over the soil.
Continue adding water to the pot until it starts to run out from the drainage holes.
If you have a tray under the pot when watering, make sure you remove all the collected water afterwards- never let your plant sit in water.

* Too much water can cause the roots to rot, black spots on the leaves can appear and the whole plant can collapse.

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How can we grow plants without using seeds?

Propagation

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Regeneration

How can we grow plants without using seeds?

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Propagate Pothos with Water

Take stem cuttings. Each cutting should have 3-4 nodes.
Remove the bottom leaves from the cutting as the bottom of the cutting will be in water.
Fill a small container with fresh water and place the stem cuttings in the water, ensuring that the leaves stay above water and the nodes on the stem stay submerged.
Change the water once a week.
Once the cuttings have roots that are at least 2-3” long, they can be moved from water to soil.

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Propagate Pothos in Soil

Take stem cuttings. Each cutting should have 3-4 nodes.
Remove the bottom leaves from the cutting.
Dip the cut end of each stem cutting in a powder rooting hormone.
Plant the cuttings in soil.
Keep the soil moist.

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Propagate Pothos in Perlite

Take stem cuttings. Each cutting should have 3-4 nodes.
Remove the bottom leaves from the cutting.
Place the cut end of each stem cutting in the perlite prop box.
Push the perlite around the stem. Make sure the leaves are not touching the perlite.
Spray the stem cuttings with some water.
Put the lid on top of the prop box.

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Propagate Garlic Cloves

Peel several cloves of garlic, being careful to get the whole clove.
Tightly pack the cloves of garlic into a small clear container.
Cover three-fourths of the cloves with water.
Water will need to be changed daily.

The first signs of growth should begin in 1-2 days. This photo shows growth after one week.

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Propagate Sweet Potatoes

Cut the sweet potato in half and insert three toothpicks midway into the halved potato.
Rest it in a shallow vase of water with the cut portion of the potato resting in water and the upper half exposed to sunlight.
After about two weeks, shoots will sprout from the top. Each one of these will become their own plant. Roots will also grow from the base of the potato. The sprouts are called slips. Once they are about 5” tall

they can be removed from the top of the sweet potato and will develop into their own sweet potato vines.

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Regeneration: Celery

Cut the stalks off a bunch of celery about three inches from the base.
Place the celery base into a shallow bowl of water.

Leaves should start to grow out of the center of the stalk in about one week.

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Regeneration: Beets

Cut the greens off the top of a fresh beet, leaving about ¼” of the stem showing.
Cut the bottom of the beet off, leaving a disk about ½” thick.
Place the remaining beet disk, stem side up in a shallow dish of water. Keep the bottom of the cut end covered with fresh water, but do not cover the top part where there were leaves.

New beet leaves will start to grow from this disk and can be harvested to add into salads. The beet greens will continue to grow back if you harvest the larger leaves first.

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Design Challenge

In a group of 2-4, design and build a watering device that can water three plants at the same time.

Constraints:

Must only use the materials provided
Time limit

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How do we assess our work?

We field test our invention

We seek feedback

We iterate and repeat

We evaluate our final iteration’s ability to meet requirements and stay within constraints

Arrange your three flowerpots (styrofoam cups)

Put your watering device on or near the plants.

Pour water in the device. Does it give water to all three plants?

Draw a picture to show one thing that happened during the test.

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End of Year

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Differentiation

Students who may need more help can be given pictures of examples to use as a guide for the engineering challenge.

If you are going to have groups of students do different versions of propagation and regeneration, you can work more closely with a small group of students who need more assistance.

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

Students who may need more challenge could create a watering device that watered more plants at once.

These students can do some of the different propagation and regeneration methods that are available.

These students can take more accurate measurements of the class plant (height of stem). You can also introduce them to different measurements like soil moisture, pH level, or temperature readings (depending on ability).

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Students were EXCITED to walk in and see this!

Premade buckets with all supplies needed for the design challenge