Thematic Units - Plants
You will find various Lesson Plans on the top portion of this page.
Further down, you will find Web Sites.
We have a page full of Books that you can order directly from Amazon.com!
This indicates resources located on The Teacher's Corner.
Little Brown Seeds Grades K-2
A fun poem for younger students.
Little brown seeds so small and round,
are sleeping quietly underground.
Down come the raindrops,
sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle.
Out comes the rainbow,
twinkle, twinkle, twinkle.
Little brown seeds way down below,
up through the earth they
grow, grow, grow.
Little green leaves come one by one.
They hold up their heads
and look at the sun.
Submitted by: Stacie
Poems & Songs Grades K-2
Here are some creative ways to help your students learn about plants and seeds.
Submitted by: Lorti@email-removed
Planting Popcorn Grades Elementary
This is a great activity to help students learn the exact way a seed sprouts and grows. A plant activity I use and one that the kids love is to plant popcorn kernels in a clear plastic cup and they can watch the seed grow into roots and a stem. Roll up a paper towel and place inside a clear plastic cup, making sure the towel lays against the sides of the cup with a hollow space in the middle. Put soil in the cup, in the space inside the rolled paper towel, so that it pushes the paper towel against the sides of the cup. Put about 3 kernels in each cup, point side down, between the paper cup and the towel. Water and watch. The kids keep a journal of the plant's progress and can draw and label the parts.
Submitted by: Debbie
Plant Sale Project Grades Elementary
Growing plants to sell can be a valuable lesson and a great fund-raiser. I incorporate many academic areas into my classroom through studying plants. We grow plants from cuttings, from seeds, and from bulbs. We start at the beginning of the year and by May, we have many different kinds, so my class holds a Mothers' Day plant sale. Students compare and contrast the growth of the plants and record the plants' progress in their writing journals. Students sell the plants, so collecting money and making change become part of the project. They calculate how much was spent on supplies and how much profit was made. We purchase books for the school library with the proceeds. We've been doing this for three years and the students just love this project!
Submitted by: From Amy Graff , a first, second and third grade special educator at The Stapleton School in Framingham, Massachusetts. This idea was posted in the NEA's Weekly "Works4Me" Tip Newsletter.
Various Activities Grades Various
Here are a variety of plant activities. Ranging from tissue paper flowers to graphing plant growth to making a "Dirt" snack.
- List products that come from plants.
- Teach the children the three things plants need to grow: water, sun, food.
- Make tissue paper flowers.
- Plant seeds . Graph their growth. Measure using a ruler, Unifix Cubes or another nonstandard unit of measurement.
- Sort seeds.
- Soak lima beans overnight in water. (First, examine the size of the beans with your class and predict what will happen if you soak them, etc...). Split the lima bean to see the parts of a seed.
- Read, then act out The Carrot Seed by Ruth Kraus.
- Make "dirt" (a snack!) using chocolate pudding, Cool Whip, crushed Oreos and gummy worms. There is no "wrong" way to make this. (I use three boxes of pudding and one tub of Cool Whip. After making the pudding, I mix some of the pudding with cool whip to create a light brown muddy color. The children layer the light colored "mud," the darker colored "mud" and the crushed Oreos in clear plastic cups. They top each cup with a gummy worm.
- See what happens when you put a white carnation in a vase filled with colored water.
- Put a celery stalk in a glass with colored water.
- Put a good sized sweet potato in a glass of water (1/2 in, 1/2 out - Use toothpicks stuck into side of the potato to help it balance on the edge of the glass.). Observe it each day. In 1-2 weeks you should see some interesting changes.
Submitted by: Dmdunk@email-removed
Apples Grades Primary
A great way to start the school year. You will find my favorite ideas, poems, printables, & other great apple sites.
Plants Grades K-2
This unit includes Favorite Links, Internet Activities, Lesson Plans, and Related Resources for Pre-K-5th grade classes studying earth science.
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Aquatic Plants
Learn about the variety of plants that can be found in each aquatic community.
Celebrating Wildflowers Coloring Book
Simply click on a flower, print, and color!
Dendrochronology
Find out how archaeologists date past events like climate change by studying the rings on trees.
The Desert Biome
Learn about the plants that grow in the harsh, dry conditions of a desert.
Fresh Water Plants
Learn about the variety of plants are located in or around fresh water ecosystems.
Geobop's
Find your state's plant.
The Grasslands Biome
Pictures and descriptions of grasslands and the flowers found in them.
Great Plant Escape
Learn more about plants and life cycles while solving a mystery. What fun!
Plant Medicines
Overviews medicinal plants and herbs of the rain forest.
Rainforest Biome
Learn about the different Rainforest plants and their adaptations.
The Tundra Biome
Learn about the plants that live in the Tundra Environment.
Why Do Leaves Change Color in the Fall?
This site includes projects to do with leaves, from the Curious Kids Science Newsletter.
Why Leaves Change Color
Learn about the scientific explanation of the changing colors in leaves.
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The Teacher's Corner has hand selected a bunch of books for our Plants Unit that you can find at great prices on Amazon.com
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EMAIL us your favorite Plant Activity!
