| School:
West Iron County Elementary School-67 Students |
| Teachers:
Marquette Baker, Mary Arcand and Howard
Gasman |
| Theme
for the Lesson Week: "Plants" |
| Big
Culture Lesson Description: Students will learn about plants
- their parts and uses. They will gain information about gardening,
farming, and logging and the relevance of these industries to their
communities in the past and today. |
Essential
Questions:
-
How do we distinguish plants from objects that are not
plants?
- What
are the parts of plants and what are the purposes of these
parts?
- What
are some of the uses of plants?
- What
are some ways that flowers, crops, and trees are planted
and harvested?
|
|
| Initiating
Activities: Over a two week period, students complete a Learning
Works Mini-Unit on Plants. This includes about five 15 minute sessions
of reading and discussion with about 15 minutes of additional time
given each day to complete tasks in the booklet- puzzles, sequencing,
graphing, alphabetizing, labeling, and answering questions. Additonal
time is given during the second week to finish booklets independently.
Museum docents visit the 3rd grade classrooms and assist each child
with planting flower seeds. |
|
Student
Activities: Students complete Chapter 1 - The World of Plants
- in their science textbooks (Science Horizons). Lessons in the
text are intitled 1)Grouping Living Things, 2)Grouping Plants,
3)Plants with Flowers, 4)Plants with Cones, 5)Plants Without Seeds,
6)Other Groups of Living Things. In Art Class students learn to
draw pictures of flowers and vegetables.
During
our visit to the Iron County Museum, students plant a flower garden
under the direction of the Michigan State Extention Agent and
the 4-H Agent. Students were assisted in painting rocks which
were used to delineate the section that each class plants.
|
|
Culminating
Activities: In addition to planting flowers and painting
rocks, children participate in other activities during their visit
to the Museum: a tour of the Monigal Miniatures (38 foot long
display of wood carvings depicting logging operations c. 1920-40);farm
tools and animals, and visit the Beechwood Log Cabin where docents
are spinning wool, baking flat bread and/or making butter. In
class, lessons include discussion about what was learned at the
Museum to connect the learning to our social studies lessons on
communities and science lessons about plants.
Student
drawings are shown in the WIC Student Art Show at the Museum and
children make Mother's Day cards to take home along with the flowers
that they planted. Thank you letters are written to the Museum
and Extension participants.
|
| Assessment:
Completed PLANTS book is graded. The book, drawings, and other pertinent
class papers make up a packet for the student to take home. Class
discussion on "Is your flower plant growing?" Completion
of cards and Thank You letters. |
| Criteria
for evaluating student projects/performances: A percentage correct
of all pages in the PLANT book is recorded and included in the student's
science grade. |
Community
Resource Contact Information: Contact Person:
Audrey
Ridolphi, Project Director
1001 Seldon Road Apartment #E
Iron River, MI 49935
906-265-2707 audreyr@up.net |
|
Recommended
Resources :
PLANTS
c 1990 The Learning Works, Inc.
A Learning Works Mini-Unit for Grades 1-4 Written by Linda
Schwartz, Illustrated by Beverly Armstrong
Science Horizons Silver Burdett & Ginn c 1991 |
|
Connection
to Science Content Strands:
Strand
I, Content standard 1, benchmark 2
Strand II, Content standard 1, benchmarks 1,2,3,4
Strand III, Content standard 2, benchmarks 2,3,4,5 |
|
Connection
to Social Studies Content Strands:
Strand
I, Content standard 2, benchmark 2
Strand IV, Content standard 4, benchmark 1 |
|
|
|
