How Plants Grow Elementary Science Lesson
Planting Seeds, Observation Journals & Experiment Primary Unit Plan
Mar 4, 2009
Spring is the season for planting and a great time to teach students about how plants grow. Elementary teachers can lead students through the steps of a scientific experiment to help them determine that plants need sunlight, water, soil, and air to grow.
How Plants Grow Elementary Science Lesson Objective
Primary school students will record plant growth observations in their science journals. Primary school students will identify the four factors needed for plants to grow.
How Plants Grow Lesson Introduction
To introduce the topic of how plants grow during an elementary science lesson the teacher can read a plant themed trade book such as Grow Flower Grow by Lisa Bruce [Scholastic, 1999] or How a Plant Grows by Bobbie Kalman [Crabtree Publishing Company, 1996] to the class. The elementary teacher then asks the students what things they think a plant needs to grow and lists their answers on chart paper.
The students review the list with the teacher and discuss the things that the students think plants need to grow. The teacher will guide the students to refer to any plant themed classroom books to get more information if needed.
After the primary students have finalized the list of what they think plants need to grow the teacher will point to water on the list and ask the class if they that plants would grow if they got milk or juice instead of water. The class will discuss their thoughts and consider other similar substitutions such as sand instead of soil.
How Plants Grow Science Lesson Experiment
Primary students can test their plant growth predictions by conducting a science class seed experiment. Students can plant one type of seed in small cups under different conditions.
- The control seed cup is planted in soil and receives sunlight, water and air.
- One seed cup is planted in soil and receives sunlight and water, but is placed in a box with no new air.
- One seed cup is planted in soil and receives sunlight and air, but instead of water it receives milk or juice.
- One seed cup is planted in soil and receives air and water, but is placed in the dark and receives no sunlight.
- One seed cup receives sunlight, water and air, but is planted in sand instead of soil.
The students work in cooperative groups to plant one of the seed cups and label its conditions. Then each elementary student draws each of the plants on a different page in his science journal and describes the planting conditions. The students then make a prediction about how each plant will grow.
During science class, the kids record daily observations for each plant detailing its height, color, and position. The students make a drawing of the plants and describe how the plants are growing and if they think any of their predictions need to be changed.
How Plants Grow Elementary Science Lesson Conclusion and Assessment
After the plants have grown for two weeks the class will use their observation journals to discuss the results of the experiment. The teacher will help the elementary students analyze their results. To demonstrate understanding of the lesson each student will then create a how plants grow pamphlet using the information they learned from the experiment.
Students learn that plants need soil, sunlight, air and water to grow during an elementary science lesson plan. They plant seeds under a variety of conditions and record their observations in their science journals. After the lesson has concluded they use the results of the lesson to create how plants grow pamphlets.
For more elementary science lessons read: Pumpkin Pie Math and Science Cooking Lesson Plan and Ocean Unit Lesson Plans.
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