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Arizona STEM

Acceleration Project

Plant Growth and Gardening Part 2: Elements for Plant Survival and Planting a Garden

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Plant Growth and Gardening Part 2: Elements for Plant Survival and Planting a Garden

A 3rd Grade STEM Lesson

Patricia Mendez

5/12/2023

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Notes for Teachers

Context: This lesson takes place in a classroom and/or garden for one-two hours per week for about 6-9 weeks or longer.
Students may work in small groups of 2-4 or individually.
An emphasis on the target product (one seed/plant per student, pairs or small group).
Creative note-taking should be encouraged with drawings.
Facilitate student reflection on noticings and wondering about their plant growth.

List of Materials:

Plant Growth Materials:

· Seeds (vegetable or flower)
· Soil
· Planting containers or raised garden beds
· Watering can or hose
· Gardening gloves
· Shovel or trowel
· Ruler or measuring tape
· Pencils and Science Journals

Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt(video or book
Additional Resources:

STEMAZing.org (Elementary Resources

Kidsgardening.org

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Arizona Science Standards

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

Life Science:

3-LS3-1: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.
3.L1U1.5 (NGSS-P: 4-LS1-1) Develop and use models to explain that plants and animals (including humans) have internal and external structures that serve various functions that aid in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.

CCSS.Math:

3.MD.B.4: Generate measurement data by measuring lengths using rulers marked with halves and fourths of an inch. Show the data by making a line plot, where the horizontal scale is marked off in appropriate units—whole numbers, halves, or quarters.

Arizona ELA Standards

3.RI.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

3.RI.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

3.RI.7 Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

3.W.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.

3.SL.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

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Objective(s):

We will review the basic concepts of plant growth and the parts of a plant.

We will collaborate and communicate effectively with our peers to discuss what are the elements that help a plant survive.

We will be able to plant and learn how to care for a garden.

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What are the parts of a plant?

What do plants need to survive?

Why are plants important?

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Watch the video and think about this question- What do plants need to grow and thrive?

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What are some of the elements you are noticing in this picture that will help the plants in this garden grow?

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Plants need water to survive because they use it to carry nutrients around the body and to take away waste.

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What are the two remaining elements that are needed for plant growth?

Hint: (one is visible and the other is not)

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Time to plant our seeds into our garden.

Will we use gardening pots OR raised garden beds?

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Steps for Planting a Garden

1. Gather your tools 2. Plant and water your seeds 3. Wait for the first sign of life

4. Note observations 5. Measure your plant’s growth 6. Remove weeds from garden

Activity:

Step one- Research the organizations in your area that donate these tools to schools. (This is how I got all my supplies; from tools, seeds, soil, to human resources that volunteered to come and give my students a lesson on planting day. For us, it was the community food bank.)

Step two- Research seeds that you will be planting to see what are their spacing and watering specifications. Some seeds need to germinate before you plant them in your garden.

Step three- Encourage student to be patient. I would say that the first week after you planted the seed, make sure to check on your garden everyday. We placed an irrigation system so that we would not forget to water our garden everyday. Especially because we were obviously not there on the weekends. Students really enjoy making their observation of all the great things that happen in the garden.

Step four- Have students use science journals to draw their plant and make written notes about their noticings and wonderings. Students can ask questions and then do research to answer them.

Step five- Make sure that students have access to rulers everytime you visit the garden so that they can track the growth of their plant. They can graph their data and write comparison statements to interpret it. I had my students first draw a table in their journals as they were collecting data and every week when we came back from the garden, we would focus on the mathematical concepts of bar graphs that could be used to represent their plant’s growth.

Step six- Make sure that you teach your students how to tend to the garden. even in raised garden beds, bermuda grass and other types of stubborn weeds get in there. If you do not remove them by hand and ensure that you’ve uprooted them completely, they will grow back.

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Why are plants important?

Students can talk about how plants are:

food for animals and humans
the nutrients in them give us energy to function

Students should be encouraged to talk to a partner or to a group to discuss this.

The students should be referred to the food chain and how it all starts with plants. Scientists describe the levels in a food web with a trophic level. Plants which are producers are in level one. Animals that eat plants which are primary consumers are in level two, and so forth. Here are the five trophic levels:

Level 1: Plants (producers)
Level 2: Animals that eat plants or herbivores (primary consumers)
Level 3: Animals that eat herbivores (secondary consumers, carnivores)
Level 4: Animals that eat carnivores (tertiary consumers, carnivores)
Level 5: Animals at the top of the food chain are called apex predators. Nothing eats these animals.

Have students make connections between all these trophic levels.

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Assessment

Planting a Garden:

Are students able to plant their seed correctly?
Are students able to water the correct amount of water?
If yes, how much?
Were students able to record the growth of their plants by the correct use of a ruler?
If yes, how did they represent their data?

ELA Assessment

How is what you are doing in the garden similar to what Nana and the girl did in Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt?

How is it different?

Describe in detail how Nana and the girl worked their garden, and what it accomplished.

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Differentiation

One way to remediate is to have the math tables and blank bar graphs ready to hand out in case some students struggle with drawing them in their science journals.

Another differentiation, is to have students draw a representation of their data as their final assessment piece.

Students who are successful right away can plan how they would start a garden in their home or if they have one, they can think about starting one for our community to accomplish a real-world task.

Remediation

Enrichment/Extension