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BROWARD COUNTY ELEMENTARY SCIENCE BENCHMARK PLAN

Grade K—Quarter 2Activities 13 & 14

SC.F.1.1.2The student knows how to apply knowledge about life processes to distinguish betweenliving and non-living things.

SC.G.1.1.1The student knows that environments have living and nonliving parts.

SC.G.2.1.1The student knows that if living things do not get food, water, shelter, and space, they willdie.

SC.H.1.1.1The student knows that in order to learn, it is important to observe the same things oftenand compare them.

SC.H.1.1.2The student knows that when tests are repeated under the same conditions, similar resultsare usually obtained.

ACTIVITY ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES

The following suggestions are intended to help identify major concepts covered in the activitythat may need extra reinforcement. The goal is to provide opportunities to assess studentprogress without creating the need for a separate, formal assessment session (or activity) foreach of the 40 hands-on activities at your grade.

1. Session I—Activity 13: Have the students review their work so far by making a list ofthings they think plants need to grow in a garden. (Answers should include, soil, water,sunlight, seeds.)

2.Session II—Activity 14: Ask, Do all plants look alike when they first sprout? (No; manyplants may be green when they start out. As they grow, different types of plants start tolook different.) Have students draw two different plants that sprouted, side by side on asheet of paper, to elicit what they see as differences and similarities.)

3. Use the Activity Sheet(s) to assess student understanding of the major concepts in theactivity.

broward county hands-on science Quarter 2 147

Planting Day (Sessions I and II)Planting Day (Sessions I and II)

activities

13&1413&14

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In addition to the above assessment suggestions, the questions in bold and tasks thatstudents perform throughout the activity provide opportunities to identify areas that mayrequire additional review before proceeding further with the activity.

activities 13 & 14 Planting Day

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149broward county hands-on science Quarter 2

Planting DayPlanting DayOBJECTIVES

Students plant the objects from Activity 12in a class garden and wait to see whichones grow. They also plant several kinds ofseeds in individual planter cups and, in thefollowing weeks, watch their seeds growinto plants.

The students

þ plant a selection of objects from Activity 12in a class garden

þ plant four kinds of seeds in individualplanter cups

þ observe the garden and planter cups overseveral weeks

þ conclude that the objects that sprout areseeds

þ examine and compare the leaves of thevarious sprouts

SCHEDULESession I—Activity 13 About 45 minutes,with continuing observation sessions for 3weeks

Session II—Activity 14 About 20 minutes,approximately 3 weeks after Session I

VOCABULARY

gardenplantsoil

MATERIALS

For each student

1 Activity Sheet 12 (with objects glued on)

1 Activity Sheet 131 Activity Sheet 141 magnifier1 pr gloves, disposable

For each team of four

4 cups, planter2 trays, planter (fluted)

For the class1 box, garden†

1 chart, Garden Map3 containers, 4-qt*8 cups, planter8 cups, plastic, 9-oz1 bag gravel1 marker, felt-tip*1 roll paper towels*7 bags potting soil†

2 pkg seeds, corn2 pkg seeds, marigold1 pkg seeds, morning glory1 pkg seeds, mung beans1 pkg seeds, nasturtium2 pkg seeds, pea1 pkg seeds, pinto bean1 pkg seeds, radish1 pkg seeds, rye grass2 pkg seeds, sunflower3 sheets, plastic†

1 roll tape, masking1 roll tape, transparent13–15 tongue depressors4 trays, planter, fluted14 trays, plastic (flat)1 bag vermiculite8 water sprinklers

water, tap*1 watering can

DSR From Seed to Plant

*provided by the teacher

†in separate box

activities

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150 activities 13 & 14 Planting Day

PREPARATION

Session I—Activity 13

Make a copy of Activity Sheet 13 foreach student.

Hang the Garden Map chart where allstudents can see it.

Prepare the class garden by lining thegarden box with one of the sheets ofplastic and taping the edges downaround the outside with masking tape.Fill the box with potting soil to withinabout 5 cm (2 in.) of the top. If the soilis very dry, sprinkle it with just enoughwater, a little at a time, to moisten itslightly (students will add more waterafter they plant their seeds). Avoidoverwatering the garden since there isno provision for drainage.

Place one bag of potting soil in each ofthree 4-qt containers and set up threedistribution stations.

Fill the eight water sprinklers with waterand have extra water available.

Empty the packets of seeds onto plastictrays, each kind of seed on its own tray.Prepare two more separate trays: onefor gravel and another for vermiculite.Place those objects students brought inon a separate tray.

Prepare a 9-oz plastic cup for each team with four each of the corn, pea,sunflower, and pinto bean seeds.

Tear off one 5-cm (about 2-in.) piece ofmasking tape and transparent tape foreach student’s planter cup.

Fill eight planter cups with soil. Plantfour planter cups with three pinto beanseeds and four planter cups with threecorn seeds. Plant all seeds about 1/2 inchdeep. Place the eight planter cups infour planter trays. You may also want toplant extra peas, corn, pinto beans, andsunflower seeds in your own containersas replacements for any students’ seedsthat may fail to sprout.

Students will need their copies ofActivity Sheet 12 with the items glued on. Each team of four will need fourplanter cups, two planter trays, fourpieces of masking tape, four pieces of transparent tape, a cup of seeds, and a water sprinkler full of water. Givestudents access to the potting soil andextra water as needed.

Session II—Activity 14

Make a copy of Activity Sheet 14 foreach student.

Each team of four will need twomagnifiers and their planter trays withplanter cups.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

A seed contains both the embryo capable of growing into a plant and the stored foodneeded to nourish the plant. The embryoand food are surrounded by a seed coat thattightly encloses and protects them.

A seed sprouts, or begins to grow, whenmoisture penetrates the seed coat and thetemperature is warm enough. Although weusually plant seeds in soil, they do notactually need to be in contact with soil inorder to sprout. However, soil gives asprouting seed several advantages: it holdsthe water that keeps the seed properlymoist; it acts as insulation to moderate anytemperature fluctuations; and it provides astable foundation in which a seed canestablish its first roots.

Different types of seeds sprout in different lengths of time. Temperature also affects how quickly seeds sprout; cool temperatures can delay sprouting,while warm temperatures can speed up the process. In this activity, rye grass andradish seeds are among the quickest of the seeds to sprout, emerging within 3 to5 days. The other seeds may take from 5 to 15 days.

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Additional Information

Session I—Activity 13

Return students’ copies of Activity Sheet 12.Ask, How can you find out which of theobjects on your activity sheets are seeds?

Write soil and plant on the board. Explainthat soil is the material that grass, trees, andflowers grow in. When we plant something,we put it in soil so it can grow. Stress that soilis a nonliving part of the environment, andthe plants that grow in soil are living.

Students are likely to say that they couldplant the objects to see if they would grow.

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Guiding the Activity

Activity Sheet 13

£

y

Planting Day

I planted this in my cup.

It is a seed.

Drawings should show the four types ofseeds planted.

Activity Sheet 14

£

y

Planting Day

This grew in my cup.

It is a plant.

Drawings should resemble students’ plants.

In this activity, students take part in a truly scientific experiment: They set up theconditions (by planting all the objects) that will allow them to see for themselves whetheror not their guesses in Activity 12 were correct.Some students will probably be surprised thatcertain objects, such as the marigold seeds,

actually are seeds and do sprout into plants;others may be surprised that neither thegravel nor the vermiculite grows at all. If,however, some of the real seeds also fail togrow, students learn another lesson: There isno guarantee that a planted seed will grow.

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Tell students that they will have a chance toplant the objects they have been studying tosee if they will grow.

Write garden on the board. Explain that agarden is a place where many different seedsare growing into plants.

Show students the class garden box and thetrays of items that you have prepared. Tellstudents they are going to plant a classgarden with these different objects todiscover which ones are seeds that can growinto plants.

Have students help you count the number ofdifferent items they need to plant and thendivide the garden into that number of plots.

Next to the garden, place the tonguedepressors, the felt-tip marker, and the roll oftransparent tape. Explain to students how touse the tongue depressors and tape to markthe garden plots.

The number of plots will depend on howmany objects students have supplied. The kitincludes ten kinds of seeds and two kinds ofobjects that are not seeds. In addition,students may have brought in objects theythink might be seeds and wish to plant.

Make a plot marker by taping one of theobjects onto a tongue depressor and thenplacing the tongue depressor upright in theplot where that kind of object is to be planted(see Figure 13-1).


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£ Figure 13-1. Marking the plots in the class garden.

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Ask, Do you think the seeds might needwater?

Show students the water sprinklers andexplain that they will be using them to givethe seeds water. Demonstrate how to use awater sprinkler.

Tell students that soon you will allow teams totake turns planting and marking plots in theclass garden, but first you will show the classhow to plant and mark their own planter cups.

From the materials for distribution, borrow aplanter cup, a planter tray, and a sprinklerbottle for a demonstration. From one of the 4-qt containers, scoop up potting soil with theplanter cup. Place it in one of the planter traysand explain that two cups will go in each tray.Demonstrate how to use the sprinkler bottlesto moisten the soil in the cup.

Return the borrowed materials for distribution.

Students will probably guess that they would.Some students may say that they have seenpeople watering their gardens or indoor plants.

Turn the filled bottle upside down over thesoil and squeeze the bottle. Since the gardenbox has no drainage holes, it is importantthat you carefully monitor the amount ofwater students add to the class garden inorder to avoid overwatering.

Fill the planter cup up to the bottom edge ofthe frosted rim (see Figure 13-2) and place itin a planter tray. Point the water sprinklerdown and squeeze out the water onto the soilin the cup. Show students how to add a littlewater at a time and then wait to see if it dripsfrom the holes in the bottom of the cupbefore adding more.

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£ Figure 13-2. Watering the soil in a planter cup.

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Call students’ attention again to the classgarden. Demonstrate how to plant differentkinds of items, describing each step in theprocess.

Distribute four planter cups, two planter trays,a plastic cup with the four kinds of seeds, fourpieces of masking tape, and four pieces oftransparent tape to each team of four.

Tell each student to write his or her name ona piece of masking tape and place it on aplanter cup.

Call up one team at a time to the class gardenbox and have them plant one or two itemsfrom the trays. Have them first use transparenttape to attach a sample of each item to atongue depressor. Then have them mark offthe appropriate plot. Finally, have them usethe water sprinkler to water the plot.

Number each plot (or have students numberthe plots as they plant them) by writingnumbers 1–15 on the tongue depressors withthe felt-tip marker.

To plant the larger seeds (corn, pea,sunflower, pinto bean, and nasturtium), make a hole in the soil by pushing your fingerin about 1/2 inch deep. Evenly distribute theseeds in the hole and fill the hole with soil.Plant four or five of each of the larger seedsin each plot.

To plant the smaller seeds (rye grass,marigold, radish, mung beans, and morningglory), trace a shallow groove in the soil withyour finger, evenly distribute the seeds intoit, and brush just enough soil back over theseeds to cover them.

Plant the non-seed items in other plots to bedug up later for comparison with seeds inActivity 15.

If students have difficulty writing their names,they may use their initials.

While teams of students are taking turnsplanting the class garden, have the othersplant their planter cups.

Have teams continue to plant the objectsuntil the garden is full. Remind them to plantand mark all the objects, even the ones thatthey do not think are seeds.

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Tell students to fill their cups with potting soilat the distribution station, place them in theplanter trays, and sprinkle the soil with water.

Have each student choose one of the fourkinds of large seeds in the plastic cup, tapeone of those seeds onto the outside of theplanter cup, and then plant the other threeseeds of that kind in the soil (see Figure 13-3). Remind students to use the technique youdemonstrated for planting large seeds.

Each team should now have one planter cupplanted with peas, one with sunflower seeds,one with corn, and one with pinto beans.

After students have finished planting, havethem wipe up any spills from their desks withpaper towels.

Distribute a copy of Activity Sheet 13 to eachstudent. Tell students to make drawings ofthe objects they planted in their planter cups.

When students have completed theirdrawings, ask, How long do you think it willtake the seeds to grow? Which seeds doyou think will grow first?

The amount of water students should adddepends on the condition of the potting soil.You might want to experiment by countingthe number of squeezes of the water sprinklerit takes to moisten a cupful of soil. Then tellstudents how much water to add before theyplant their seeds.

If you prefer, you may tape the seeds onto theplanter cups beforehand.

Tape representative seeds and samples of the other objects onto the appropriate plotson the Garden Map chart. Number each ploton the chart with a number that correspondsto a plot in the class garden.

Answers will vary. If you wish, write theirpredictions on the Garden Map chart forfuture reference.

£ Figure 13-3. Planting corn seeds.

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Place the class garden and the planter cups ina spot in the classroom where they will getlight but be away from any direct source ofheat or cold. Use the remaining two plasticsheets to loosely cover them. Repackage anyleftover seeds, vermiculite, and gravel andreturn them to the kit along with the trays.Leave the Garden Map chart posted.

Check the garden and planter cups every day,adding water with the water sprinklers asnecessary to keep the soil damp but not too wet.

Begin continuing observation sessions afterplants start to appear, in about 3 to 5 days.Every day or two, have students observe theclass garden and their planter cups to see ifthey notice any changes. When plants beginto emerge in the class garden, have studentshelp you write the date in the appropriateplot on the Garden Map chart.

Session II—Activity 14

Schedule Session II when plants haveemerged from most of the planter cups andmany plants are growing in the class garden(about 2 to 3 weeks after Session I).

Give each student a copy of Activity Sheet14. Distribute two magnifiers and the plantertrays with planter cups to each team of four.Tell each student to draw a picture of his orher plant in the picture of the planter cup onthe activity sheet.

While students are observing and drawingtheir plants, have one team at a time comeup to the class garden to observe the plantsin it.

When all students have had a chance to lookat the class garden, have them return to theirseats. Ask, Which of the objects that youplanted sprouted? Which of the objectswere seeds?

Seeds need access to air as well as to waterin order to sprout.

Students should be able to say that all theobjects that sprouted, or grew into plants,were seeds. You may want to mark them onthe Garden Map chart in some way, such ascircling the plot numbers.


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Ask, Which of them were not seeds?

If any of the seeds did not sprout, point themout on the chart and ask, Why do you thinkthese seeds did not sprout?

Ask, What could you do to decide whetherthe objects that did not sprout are reallyseeds or not?

Point out that the seeds sprouted becausethey are living. Things like gravel and many ofthe objects provided by the students are notliving and cannot sprout.

Continue the discussion by asking, Whichplants came up first? How long did theytake?

Ask, Which seeds took the longest to sprout?

Tell students that it is normal for some seedsto take longer than others to sprout.

Ask, Do all the plants look alike when theyfirst come out of the ground?

If students do not notice the differences atfirst, challenge them to look closely at theleaves with their magnifiers and try todescribe them in detail.

The objects that did not sprout were eithernot seeds or were seeds that for some reasondid not sprout.

Students may be able to say that the seedsmight have been too dry, too hot, too cold, or just poor seeds.

Students may suggest planting fresh onesagain. You may want to let them do so to seewhat happens.

Help students by referring to the plotnumbers and dates on the Garden Map chart.Answers may vary, but the grass and radishesare usually among the first to emerge, 3 to 5days after being planted.

Refer to the plot numbers and dates on theGarden Map chart. Answers will vary.

All sprouts have green leaves, but the leafshapes, sizes, and arrangements vary greatly.

Corn and rye grass send long thin leavesstraight up, while the others open two leaveson a single stalk. The shapes and sizes of theleaves vary.


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REINFORCEMENT

Have students help you make a postershowing seeds and the plants that grew fromthem. Have them draw a picture of eachplant with a green crayon or pencil and thentape its seed below it on the poster.

Assessment OpportunityThis Reinforcement also may be used as an ongoing assessment of students’understanding of science concepts and skills.

SCIENCE JOURNALS

Have students place their completed activitysheets in their science journals.

CLEANUP

Maintain the class garden for the remainderof the activities, watering it as needed.Return the planter cups and trays to theirplace in the classroom for use in upcomingactivities. Replace the magnifiers in the kit.Leave the Garden Map chart posted.

SCIENCE AT HOME

Encourage students to participate in anygardening that takes place at home, indoorsor outdoors, comparing the seeds and plantsto the ones they have studied in class.

Guiding the ActivityAdditional Information

Allow time for discussion of any otherobservations or questions students have. Tellthem that they will continue to observe andstudy the plants in future activities.

Save the planter trays and planter cups forActivities 17 and 18.

As appropriate, read or review pages 12 and13 from the Delta Science Reader From Seedto Plant.


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Science ChallengeTell students that seeds can be carried todifferent places by the wind, animals, andpeople. To demonstrate this, do one or moreof the following activities.

þ Spring or autumn: When students enterthe classroom in the morning or afterrecess, have them scrape dirt from theirshoes onto a sheet of newspaper. Put thecollected dirt in a tray filled halfway withpotting soil, water as needed, and havestudents check the tray periodically to seeif anything is growing.

Put a tray of potting soil outdoors in anopen area, water as needed, and havestudents watch to see if anything grows.

þ Spring: Take students to an area with manydandelions going to seed. Let each studentpick and blow on a “puffball” to dispersethe seeds. Bring some dandelions back tothe classroom so students can pull themapart and examine the seeds with amagnifier. Point out that each seed isconnected to a “parachute” of fluff thatcarries it away in the wind.

Take students outdoors to collect wingedseeds from sycamore, maple, or ash trees.Tell students to hold a seed above theirheads and drop it to see how far it travels.Then have them cut or tear the wings offthe seed, drop it again, and compare its motion.

þ Autumn: Take students to an area wherelow-growing weeds are going to seed.(Safety Note: Check the area first to make sure it does not have poison ivy or otherharmful plants.) Let students walk throughthe area. Then have them examine theirclothes to find seeds sticking to them. Youmay want to let students bring the seedsindoors and plant them.

Science ExtensionStudents could investigate the effect ofplanting depth on seed sprouting. Have eachteam plant one type of seed in a plastic shoebox or other waterproof container filledhalfway with potting soil. Tell students toplant the seeds in rows, using a differentplanting depth for each row—from barelycovered with soil in the first row, to very deepin the soil in the last row. Help students labeleach row to show its planting depth. Haveteams check their gardens every day to seewhich rows sprout. Remind students to watertheir gardens as needed. Each team’s resultswill depend on the type of seeds planted.Some types require only a thin covering ofsoil for sprouting, whereas other typesrequire deeper planting. Let teams share theirresults in a class discussion.

Science and the ArtsStudents might enjoy using seeds to makesimple percussion instruments. Collect emptymetal and plastic containers (with lids) ofdifferent sizes. Also provide an ample supplyof seeds of different sizes and weights. Haveeach student choose a container and onekind of seed to put in it, then put the lid onand shake the container to see what kind ofsound it makes. Let students discover thatchanging the number of seeds in thecontainer changes the sound.

Science and Social StudiesAsk students to name as many kinds of seedsas they can think of that people eat. Ifstudents do not recognize some foods asseeds (popcorn kernels, nuts, and rice, forexample), point these out to them. Provide avariety of food seeds for students to examine.

Connections

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