Lessons Plans Week of:

Teacher: Joanne Cudmore Date:

Grade: Kindergarten
Lesson Title: Plant Inquiry Subject: Language Arts, Science,
Unit: Plants Arts Education
Duration: Materials/Resources: Vocabulary:
Seeds, magnifying glasses, Plant, stem, roots, leaves,
plants and plant parts photosynthesis, sunlight,
(leaves, petals, stems, roots), seedling.
art supplies (paints, paper,
scissors, glue, recyclable
materials, coloring tools)
Time for Kids: Plants! (TIME
for Kids Science Scoops) – by
Editors of TIME for Kids
National Geographic Readers:
Seed to Plant – by Kristin
Baird Rattini
Grandma’s Special Feeling –
by Karin Clark

Objectives/Standards: Essential Questions:

We will learn about plants using stories, and 1. How do you take care of plants? How
text including non-fiction, fiction, and create do they grow in the wild? At home?
visual art pieces. 2. What are the features of most plants?
3. How did the First Peoples use plants?
4.
Factual Knowledge Procedural Knowledge Conceptual Knowledge (Big
(Content) (Curricular Competencies) Ideas)
Students will know: Students will be able to: Students will understand:
Language Arts: Structure Language Arts: Language Arts:
of story (beginning, middle, Use sources of information Language and story can be a
end) and prior knowledge to make source of creativity and joy.
Reading Strategies (making meaning. Stories and other texts can be
meaning) Recognize the structure of shared through pictures and
story. words.
Science: Basic needs of Use developmentally Science:
plants appropriate reading, Plants and animals have
Adaptation of plants listening, and viewing observable features.
First Peoples uses of plants strategies to make meaning. Arts Education:
Science: Engagement in the arts creates
Arts Education: elements Recognize First People’s opportunities for inquiry
of design: line, shape, stories, songs, and art, as through purposeful play.
colour, texture. ways to share knowledge.
Ask simple questions about
familiar objects and events.
Lessons Plans Week of:
Make exploratory
observations using their
senses.
Demonstrate curiosity and a
sense of wonder about the
world.
Arts Education:
Create artistic works
collaboratively and as an
individual, using ideas
inspired by imagination,
inquiry, experimentation, and
purposeful play.

Instructional Strategies: Differentiation:

Discuss the vocabulary that we will be using.
Introduce the provocation and loose parts
tables and explain them.
Show the non-fiction books that are available
and read Grandma’s Special Feeling.
Take students out to the school community
garden to observe plants in their
environment. Taking the magnifying glasses
out with us to look closely at the leaves and
stems.
ELL Students – with the ELL teacher or myself
go over the vocabulary, before reading, in
small groups. Then read the story with them
and discuss beginning, middle, and end.
Advanced readers – independent reading of
non-fiction books and journal reflection
sentence strip sequencing after other
activities are completed.

Introduction/hook: Pre-assessment:
Bring in a plant and the seed that started it. What do they know about plants already?
Introduce the book Grandma’s Special Feeling Where can they see them?
and discuss what they think it might be about.
Instruction (“I do” – teacher models): Read Grandma’s Special Feeling and talk about how
First Peoples used plants and the importance of them. Talk to them about how we are going to
grow our own plant but start with a seedling.
Guided Practice (“We do” – shared practice teacher and students): In a Think-Pair-Share,
students will talk about what they learned from the story. We will then start our seedling and
tape them to the window.
Independence Practice (“You do” – practice collaboratively and/or independently): Students
will then go to the loose parts table or the provocation table and explore about plants and
answer some questions at the tables. At loose parts they will recreate a plant using the parts
and the provocation table they will examine different types of seeds and parts of plants with
the magnifying glasses. After time to explore students will draw a picture of their baggie with
the seed inside and a prediction of the type of plant it will be.
Students can also record in their science journals what they saw in the garden outside either
with pictures or words.
After the students have explored with the loose parts to recreate a plant and recorded their
observations in their science journals, they will be invited to an art table, equipped with
paints and various art supplies, to create a plant of their choice. This will be a way for them to
Lessons Plans Week of:
bring their interpretations and learning to life! They may be influenced by what they saw
outdoors, or perhaps something they discovered at the provocation tables. They may choose
to paint, draw or make a collage of their plant. These beautiful creations could then be posted
up in the classroom to create a ‘classroom garden’. The teacher would conference with the
students to see what influenced their creations and why they chose the materials they did to
create their plant.
Assessments: Think-Pair-Share answers for understanding, questions during exploration at
loose parts and provocation about plants and seeds, completed drawing and prediction.

Closing: Discuss what we learned today about seeds and plants and what they would like to
learn more about. Start a KWL chart.

Extensions: Other Differentiation Considerations:

Creating a story or other text about plants. Dramatic play area and sensory bins set up
for plant exploration and further play.