Parts of the Plant  

K. Negrette, ​Grade 2: Lesson 5 of 6 

I expect this lesson to take 45 minutes. The students will engage in an interactive activity to 
lay the foundation for seed dispersal. Through the act of discovery, students will dissect a 
plant to learn the different functions and how essential each part is to the whole.  
 
NGSS targets:  
PE Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to
2-LS2-1 grow. ​[​Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to testing one variable at a
time.]​
 
CCC: Cause and Effect
● Events have causes that generate observable patterns  
 
SEP: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
● Planning and carrying out investigations to answer questions or test solutions
to problems in K-2 builds on prior experiences and progresses to simple
investigations, based on fair tests, which provide data to support explanations
or design solutions.  
 
Student Learning Objectives 
1. Students will be able to dissect a plant and its parts.  
2. Students will create a drawing in their science notebooks about what they are 
observing, and recording their data and drawings.  
3. Students will evaluate the structure and function of the plant through group work: 
understanding that different structures serve different functions in growth, survival, 
and reproduction.  

Engage 
Take the students on a nature walk: can be to the garden or just around the school. Give 
students sticky notes, and have them write down all the living things that they are observing 
(trees, plants, students, etc.) As they are walking, start to narrow their questions into what they 
notice about the plants. Pull a flower out of my bag that I had from before and as a 
“pre-assessment,” see if the students can name the parts of the plant based on location.  
Explore 
Guide the students in that they will be going into the lab section of this lesson.  

In their groups, students will be taking the plant apart with the roles that they were assigned in 
the group.  

Each group will be given a plant that they will dissect. Before dissecting, the groups will draw a 
picture of their plant as a whole, including coloring it. Once drawn, have the students begin to 
take apart and dissect their plant (making an exploded diagram).  

Encourage the students to take apart the leaves and petals of the plant, to pull apart the roots 
and use their magnifying glasses, documenting what they are seeing. Have the students label 
and name everything they are taking apart, even if they do not know, encourage them to label 
based on previous knowledge.  

Explain (ie: scaffolding) 

“What is the purpose of each part of the plant that you listed?”

“Where did you locate (part of the plant)”?

“Which part of the plant helps produce food?”

“How does each part help the plant survive?”

Elaborate 
Talk about if these plants would have a relationship with insects, and how that would be
noticable.

Evaluate 
Each of the groups at the end of the activity will come up and show their exploded diagram 
model to the class. They will explain the functions and importance of each plant structure based 
on what they recorded.  

 
Resources:  

MAKING INQUIRY:  

https://www.brighthubeducation.com/lesson-plans-grades-3-5/127881-parts-of-a-flowering-plant/