Awarded the NGSS Design Badge

This second grade unit on plant growth starts off with students exploring the mystery of their harvest corn, something they initially saw as decoration. The corn begins to sprout what appears to be leaves and roots. Disagreements about how the corn is growing spark a series of questions and ideas for investigations related to what is causing this growth.

Elementary Science and Integrated Subjects is a statewide Clime Time collaboration among ESD 123, ESD 105, and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Development of the resources is in response to a need for research- based science lessons for elementary teachers that are integrated with English language arts, mathematics and other subjects such as social studies. The template for Elementary integration can serve as an organized, coherent and research-based roadmap for teachers in the development of their own NGSS aligned science lessons.  Lessons can also be useful for classrooms that have no adopted curriculum as well as to serve as enhancements for  current science curriculum. The EFSIS project brings together grade level teams of teachers to develop lessons or suites of lessons that are 1) focused on grade level Performance Expectations, and 2) leverage ELA and Mathematics Washington State Learning Standards.

Elementary Science and Integrated Subjects is a statewide Clime Time collaboration among ESD 123, ESD 105, and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Development of the resources is in response to a need for research- based science lessons for elementary teachers that are integrated with English language arts, mathematics and other subjects such as social studies. The template for Elementary integration can serve as an organized, coherent and research-based roadmap for teachers in the development of their own NGSS aligned science lessons.  Lessons can also be useful for classrooms that have no adopted curriculum as well as to serve as enhancements for  current science curriculum. The EFSIS project brings together grade level teams of teachers to develop lessons or suites of lessons that are 1) focused on grade level Performance Expectations, and 2) leverage ELA and Mathematics Washington State Learning Standards.

This is a two day presentation that kicked off the beginning of the Growing Elementary Science Project in October of 2019. This was a teacher professional learning session with the goal of increasing teacher content and pedagogical content knowledge through engagement in a learning cycle to answer the question "Where does a seed get the material it needs to become a plant and produce more seeds?" Teachers also experienced a structured planning session to support them in developing a garden centric science unit to do with their students. The resource includes the template and a completed model to explore. 

Objectives:
- To teach students how different conditions can change seed and sprout growth.
- To introduce photosynthesis.
- To investigate the growing stages of a seed to a plant.
- To introduce the concept of a hypothesis.

This lesson plan explains how seeds can be dispersed, describes seed adaptations to ensure dispersal and explain the importance of this process.

This lesson plan explains how seeds can be dispersed, describes seed adaptations to ensure dispersal and explain the importance of this process.

Students plant sunflower seeds in plastic cups, and once germinated, expose them to varying light or soil moisture conditions. They measure growth of the seedlings every few days using non-standard measurement (inch cubes). After a few weeks, they compare the growth of plants exposed to the different conditions and make bar comparative graphs, which they analyze to draw conclusions about the needs of plants.

What do plants eat? This unit explores plants and how they make food.

The teacher leads a discussion in which students identify the physical needs of animals, and then speculate on the needs of plants. With guidance from the teacher, the students then help design an experiment that can take place in the classroom to test whether or not plants need light and water in order to grow. Sunflower seeds are planted in plastic cups, and once germinated, are exposed to different conditions. In particular, within the classroom setting it is easy to test for the effects of light versus darkness, and watered versus non-watered conditions. During exposure of the plants to these different conditions, students measure growth of the seedlings every few days using non-standard measurement. After a few weeks, they compare the growth of plants exposed to the different conditions, and make pictorial bar graphs that demonstrate these comparisons.