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The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

What Do Sunflowers Need to Grow? PART 4

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What Do Sunflowers Need to Grow? PART 4

A 2nd Grade STEM Lesson

Tawny Bounds

2/1/2023

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Notes for teachers

This is the 4th and final lesson in a series of 4.
What do sunflowers need to grow? PART 1 | Arizona STEM Acceleration Project (ASAP)
What Do Sunflowers Need to Grow? PART 2 | Arizona STEM Acceleration Project (ASAP)
What Do Sunflowers Need to Grow? PART 3 | Arizona STEM Acceleration Project (ASAP)
NOTE: Check your region’s hardiness zone prior to planting your sunflowers outside.
See Speaker’s notes.

List of Materials

Check your region's hardiness zone here
Click here to find out when to plant sunflowers in your zone
Learn About Transplanting Sunflower Seedlings
Sunflower Seeds
potted sunflower seedlings
permanent marker to label cups/plants
popsicle sticks for labeling flowers outside
soil
watering cans
small garden shovels
outdoor space to transfer flowers to
Sunflower Diary
Graph paper (optional)
rulers with centimeters and/or inches
meter sticks and/or yard sticks
pencils

Notes to Teacher:

Students should feel comfortable using graphs and rulers before this lesson begins.
Students will learn how to grow sunflowers, collect and chart data of sunflower growth.
Sunflowers can take around 3 months to grow and bloom. Please check your region’s hardiness zone.
The recommendation is that you start growing your plants indoors 4-6 weeks before the projected last frost of the winter season.
A variety of seeds gives students different data.
Differentiation is provided in the diary.
The data numbers on the graph will need to be filled in by a teacher or students. You may need to use one graph for inches/centimeters and one graph for feet/meters. Additionally, you can use graph paper.
Other flowers may be used if time, weather, or space is a problem.
Parent volunteers and prepping for planting helps the planting process move more quickly.
The book, What’s Inside a Flower, is a great resource to have available and share with your colleagues. However, you can also check it out of your school’s or public library for free.
Remember to water plants as needed.

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Arizona Standards

Science Standards

2.L2U1.9: Obtain, analyze, and communicate evidence that organisms need a source of energy, air, water, and certain temperature conditions to survive.

2.L2U1.10: Develop a model representing how life on Earth depends on energy from the Sun and energy from other organisms.

NGSS Standards

2-LS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.

Math Standards

2.MD.A.1: Measure the length of an object by selecting and using appropriate tools (e.g., ruler, meter stick, yardstick, measuring tape).

Writing Standards

2.W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

2.W.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report; record science observations).

Science and Engineering Practices:

ask questions and define problems
develop and use models
plan and carry out investigations
analyze and interpret data
use mathematical and computational thinking
construct explanations and design solutions
engage in argument from evidence
obtain, evaluate and communicate information

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National Standards

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

2-LS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.

Connection: Students conclude their weeks-long investigation by transplanting their seedlings outside, confirming the plants' need for space, soil, sunlight, and water to continue growing in the natural environment.

2-LS4-1: Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

Connection: By moving plants from the classroom (controlled environment) to the school garden (natural habitat), students observe how the environment affects plant growth.

Common Core English Language Arts (CCSS.ELA)

W.2.2: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

Connection: Students write a "How to Grow a Flower" paragraph or journal entry, explaining the steps and requirements for plant growth based on their experience.

W.2.8: Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

Connection: Students reflect on the past 4 weeks of their sunflower project to answer the question "What do plants need to grow?" in their journals.

Common Core Mathematics (CCSS.MATH)

2.MD.A.1: Measure the length of an object by selecting and using appropriate tools such as rulers, yardsticks, meter sticks, and measuring tapes.

Connection: Students use rulers and meter sticks to measure the height of their sunflower seedlings before and during transplanting. * 2.MD.A.4: Measure to determine how much longer one object is than another, expressing the length difference in terms of a standard length unit.
Connection: Implicit in tracking growth over weeks, students compare the current height of their sunflower to previous measurements in their "Sunflower Journal".

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Objective(s):

Students will plant and grow sunflowers to understand what plants need to grow.

Students will use rulers to measure sunflower growth, collect data in their sunflower diaries, and track the growth of the sunflowers in a growth over time graph.

With the help of peers, students will write observations about the growth of their sunflowers in their sunflower diaries.

Students will write a paragraph about planting and growing sunflowers in their sunflower diaries.

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Lesson 4 Agenda (Day 1 45 - 60 min) (Day 2 30 - 45 min)

Day 1

Whole Group: Review what plants need to grow

Small Groups: Plant sunflowers outside

Small groups: Make observations

Small Groups or Individuals

Day 2

Small Group: Make an observation

Individual: Write a paragraph about how to grow a flower

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Introduction

Hello tiny scientists! It’s been a few weeks since we planted our sunflower seeds. The weather is also warmer than when we first planted our sunflowers.

Today, we’re going to plant our sunflowers outside around campus and in our school garden. Tomorrow, we will create a paragraph about what we need to grow a plant. What do you think we will need to plant our flowers outside?

Let’s discuss!

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Planting Sunflowers Outside

You will need:

●Your sunflower seedling

●Sunflower journal

●Watering can

●Compost or Soil

●small garden shovel

●A ruler

●A partner

SAFETY FIRST! Do NOT touch supplies until you are told you can!

Listen Carefully! Follow the directions. Ask a grown-up for help!

Notes to Teacher: You will need to have an area large enough to plant your sunflowers. Each flower should be about a foot apart from one another depending on the variety of flower that you have. It’s important to let student groups do this themselves with help from an adult as needed.

You will need:

●Sunflower Journals

●Sunflower seedlings

●watering cans

●compost or soil

●small garden shovels

●adult volunteers (OPTIONAL)

●rulers

Begin by having students measure their sunflowers prior to planting for some interesting discussion after planting. When you reach your garden area of choice, remind the students to follow directions. Students should be using their planter to guide the size of their hole. The hole should not be much larger than the pot the plant is currently in. You can mix the dirt with soil as you place it back into the hole. Water the sunflowers after they are planted. Measure the sunflowers after planting them. DO NOT let students change their plant’s size. They will use one number they collected for their growth over time graph.

You can ask the following questions:

Why did some of our plants grow or shrink after planting them? How do we know this?

Did some of our sunflowers actually grow or shrink? Why or why not?

Why did we mix the dirt with compost/new soil when we transplanted our sunflowers?

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Assessment

Formative

Observe what and how students write in their journals.

Assess student understanding throughout the activity and any discussions.

Summative

How to Grow a Flower

Journal entry or other form of students answering the questions,what do plants need to grow? This could be in list or paragraph format.

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Differentiation

Small Group work as needed.

How to Grow a Sunflower: worksheets that provide vocabulary or vocabulary can be written in.

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

Read: Give Bees a Chance to discuss pollinators and why we need bees and wasps in the garden.

Discuss where sunflowers may lie on the food chain and what types of creatures may use sunflowers and why/how.