Love to Learn about Plants.

Who doesn’t Love to Learn About Plants? Using the season at hand and making lessons memorable is the best way to instill a concept and
make the teachable moments last in little learners minds for years to come.

Check out some of these memorable moments for Springtime Fun that connect literacy and science. What concept are we going to cover?

PLANTS

One tip I highly recommend is using fictional books with fictional books to teach about science topics. I adore the book Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens. This is an exception fictional book to teach your little learners about plants. We used the concept of this book to sort veggies according to whether we eat the “tops” of them like lettuce or the “bottoms” like carrots or potatoes, or “middles” like corn and peas.

We also discuss the book and whether we feel that the character “Hare” is fair. {He tricks another character “Bear” several times in this book.}

I made this carrot chart and we use post-it notes with our names on it to vote if Hare is fair or not.

The first time we voted, 4 students said yes he is fair, while 17 said no. Then we discuss why he is fair with the 4 who voted that Hare was fair.

{Defend your answer time… this is a great way to discuss the book and get to know your students in a different way.}

My students answer with things like

-Hare did all the work.

-Bear could have picked his part after the crops grew.

-Bear didn’t pay attention.

Then I give my whole class a chance to vote again. The second vote shows 19 kids thought Hare was fair, while only 2 thought he was not.

 {Now comes defend your answer time again… why was Hare NOT fair?}

My students answered with things like this:

-He planted those veggies on purpose to trick Bear.

-Bear could have planted his own crops, but he didn’t.

-Bear didn’t have to agree with Hare two more times after he was tricked once.

Overall… pretty good conversations and critical thinking from 5 year olds. Then we voted for the last time… after we thought about BOTH sides of the story… and the final vote showed 12 friends thought Hare was fair while 9 thought he was not.Best yet… I heard my students discussing this book at lunch and at center time later that day and the next week. I also heard friends talking about this book while at Read to Someone. {Insert evil laughter… I got them THINKING!}

We extended the plant theme to our literacy block by using seed packages and putting them in ABC order.

I grabbed these packages for 20 cents each at Walmart a few years ago. I loved them because they displayed the NAME of the seed and a PICTURE. I had to make sure I chose one seed package for each letter. I also grabbed 4 sets of each seed type. This allows me to have 4 sets of seeds packages to complete ABC order with at student tables.

 Why not add some technology learning fun? Check out this QR Scan & Learn activity for Parts of a Plant.

Best yet… this is such an easy way to allow your students to USE technology in the classroom.

Here are the two packs from this post…