Victoria Moon

Indiana Wesleyan University

Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template
Science 1

LESSON RATIONALE
Understanding how plants use their outside parts like leaves and stems to breath, grow, and
survive is important because that process is helpful for me and you. When plants breathe they let
off oxygen, which is good air, and they take in bad air that we breathe out. By doing an
experiment and completing a recording sheet, the students will be able to know more about this
process. The experiment will be a visual that will help them to complete the recording sheet
which will show what they know about plants and how they breathe, grow, and survive, as well
as help humans.

READINESS
I.Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s): Students will be able to understand how plants use their external parts to grow
and survive.
B. Objective(s):
a. After the mini-lesson, students will be able to show what they know by taking a five
finger quiz..
b. After completing the experiment, students will be able to give an answer to the
question I asked at the beginning of the experiment..
c. By completing the recording sheet, students will be able to visualize what they
learned from doing the experiment..
C. Standard(s): 1.LS.2 Develop a model mimicking how plants and/or animals use their
external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs. Explore how those
external parts could solve a human problem.
II. Management Plan-
a. Time: 1 hour
i. Anticipatory Set & Purpose Statement: 7 Minutes
ii. Mini Lesson: 15 Minutes
iii. Experiment: 30 Minutes
iv. Closure: 8 Minutes
b. Space
i. Classroom (Anticipatory Set)
ii. Carpet (Purpose Statement, Mini-Lesson)
iii. Desks (Experiment, Closure)
c. Materials
i. Active leaves
ii. Clear bowls
iii. Lukewarm water
iv. Rocks
v. Magnifying glass
vi. Experiment observation worksheet
 vii. Pencils/crayons
d. Expectations and procedures
i. During the anticipatory set, the students should listen to the questions and
the answers to be able to decide what they think the correct answer is
ii. During the mini-lesson, the students should be listening so when they
participate in the experiment they will know what to do
iii. During the experiment, the students should follow directions so they can
do the experiment correctly
iv. During the closure, the students should tell me their favorite part about the
experiment
v. During each part of the lesson, students should raise their hand if they need
anything
III. Anticipatory Set: 6 Minutes
a. “Today I am going to begin by asking you a series of questions and then I am
going to have you go to either the left or the right side of the classroom based on
what you think the answer is. After you make your decision, stay there until after I
read the next question. The first question is, which will protect us from the rain,
sunscreen or an umbrella? If you think the answer is sunscreen, go to the left side
of the classroom, but if you think the answer is an umbrella, go to the right side of
the classroom.” *Watch as students make their decisions.* “The second question
is, if I am hungry what should I choose, a sandwich or water? If you think the
answer is a sandwich, go to the right side of the classroom, but if you think the
answer is water, go to the left side of the classroom.” *Watch as the students make
their decisions.* “The third and final question is, if it is cold outside, should I wear
a coat or not? If you think the answer is yes, wear a coat, go to the left side of the
classroom, but if you think the answer is no, you don’t need a coat, go to the right
side of the classroom.” *Watch as the students make their decisions.* “Class
class!” *Wait for their response. Do it again if not all students are paying
attention.*“Now I want you to come back to the carpet. The activity that we just
did was focused on humans and how we grow and survive. During our lesson, we
will be talking about how plants grow and survive which is very similar to how
humans grow and survive.”
IV.Purpose Statement: 1 Minutes
a. Today we are going to talk about plants and how they use their external parts like
stems and leaves to survive in different places. This is important for you to know
because plants give us oxygen to breathe. Without oxygen, we aren’t able to
survive.

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

V. Adaptations
a. For those students who struggle with reading, I will have other students in the
class read the questions on the recording sheet out loud.
b. In order for every student to be able to participate in the experiment, I will make
sure that someone new gets to do each step.
VI.Lesson Presentation (Input/Output)
a. Mini-Lesson: 15 Minutes
 i. *Go to slide 1 of PowerPoint.* “Today we are going to learn more about
plants and how they use their outside parts like leaves, flowers, their stem,
and more to grow and survive. Before I start, I want to know what you
know about plants first. I am going to say three true or false statements and
I want you to use your thumbs to tell me whether you think the statement is
true or false. If you think it is true, give me a thumbs up and if you think it
is false, give me a thumbs down. Plants need sunlight to survive. Thumbs
up if you think it is true and thumbs down if you think it is false.” *Watch
as the students make their choice. Move onto the next statement.* “Plants
need to be watered every day. Thumbs up if you think it is true and thumbs
down if you think it is false.” *Watch as the students make their choice.
Move onto the last statement.* “If a plant is green, it is dead. Thumbs up if
you think it is true and thumbs down if you think it is false.” *Watch as the
students make their choice.* “You guys did great with that. Plants start out
as seeds that are either planted in soil and placed in the ground or in
planters inside a house or building. Plants need water and sunlight to
survive and it is important that plants don’t get too much water or too
much sunlight or the opposite, not enough water or not enough sunlight.
You want to make sure that plants get an equal amount of water and an
equal amount of sunlight so they can stay alive and healthy. Plants have
many different parts such as the roots, the stem, the leaves, and sometimes,
flowers and fruits.” *Go to slide 2.* “The roots grow from the seed *go to
slide 3*, as it is watered and given sunlight. Then from there, the stem
grows *go to slide 4*, which then the leaves grow off of the stem *go to
slide 5* and the leaves are where the flowers *go to slide 6* or fruits *go
to slide 7* grow off of. When plants become brown and shriveled up, that
is usually a sign that they are starting to die or that they are dead already.
*Go to slides 8 and 9.*Plants are very important for us because as they
breathe, they let out oxygen, which is helpful for us, and they take our
carbon dioxide, which is harmful for us, that we breathe out. As long as we
have plants, this cycle will continue to happen. Before we do our next
activity, I would like you all to take a five finger quiz showing me where
you are with the lesson. 5 fingers mean that you are confident that you
know this information, 3 fingers mean that you need a little more review
on it, and 1 finger means that you don’t know anything and need the
information retaught. Go ahead and show me on your fingers where you
are at.” *Have students take the quiz. Take note of the students with 1, 2,
and 3 fingers up.*. “Now I am going to dismiss you back to your seat by
your table groups. When you get to your seat, do not touch the items that
are in the middle of your tables. Cambri, your table group can go sit at
your seats. Korbin, your table group can go sit at your seat. Trinidee, your
table group can go sit at your seat. Ryan, your table group can go sit at
your seat. Zayvon, your table group can go sit at your seat.”
b. Experiment: 30 Minutes
i. “Today we are going to perform an experiment to help us learn more about
how plants use their outside parts like leaves and stems to grow and
survive. We are going to do this by answering a question that I am going to
ask you. What do you think will happen when we put a leaf in water? You
will notice that you have some supplies on your table. I am going to come
along and pass out a recording sheet that is going to help guide us along
during our experiment. When you receive it, make sure you put your name
on it. Before we do the experiment, I need to tell you something important.
The experiment that we will be doing today is a special experiment that
will be done in two parts. We will do the first part now and then we will do
the second part after specials. Let’s begin. By raising your hand, can
someone read what is written in the first box?” *Call on someone who is
sitting quietly with their hand raised. Allow time for them to read the
question.* “That is correct. You are going to draw the supplies that you
will use. By raising your hand, can anyone tell me one supply that is being
used?” *Call on someone who is sitting quietly with their hand raised.
Allow time for them to respond. Do this until all five supplies have been
said.* “That is correct. The supplies being used are leaves, clear bowls,
water, a rock, and a magnifying glass. However, there is something special
about the leaves and the water. The leaves are active which means that
they came off of a living tree, which I got for you this morning. The water
is lukewarm which means it isn’t too cold and it isn’t too hot so it will
work nicely with our little experiment today. By raising your hand, can
anyone tell me what the second question says?” *Call on someone who is
sitting quietly with their hand raised. Allow time for them to read the
question.* “That is correct. What do you think will happen with the leaf
when we put it in the water? Do you think it will breathe in the water?
Write you answer to what you think will happen in the box and then we
will begin the first part of the experiment. When you have finished writing
your answer, put your hands on your head.” *Allow time for the students
to write their answers down. Once they are done, move onto the next step.*
“Now we are going to begin the first part of the experiment. I want one
person from each table group to take the water and pour it into the bowl.
When that step is complete, I want you to put your hands on your head.”
*Allow time for the students to pour the water into the bowl. Once they are
done, move onto the next step.* Now I want a different person from each
table group to put the leaf in the water. Once you are done, put your hands
on your head.” *Allow time for the students to put the leaf in the water.
Once they are done, move onto the next step.* “Now I want a different
person from each table group to put the rock on the leaf. Once you are
done, put your hands on your head.” *Allow time for the students to put a
rock on the leaf. Once they are done, move onto the next step.* “Now that
we have completed the first part of the experiment, I will call one person
from each group to take their bowl and put it back on the heater gently. I
am also going to collect your papers and magnifying glasses, but I will
hand them back to you when we begin the second part of the experiment.
Cambri, you can take your groups bowl and put it on the heater. Korbin,
you can take your groups bow and put it on the heater. Trinidee, you can
 take your groups bowl and put it on the heater. Ryan, you can take your
groups bowl and put it on the heater. Zayvon, you can take your groups
bowl and put it on the heater.” *Wait until the kids get back from specials
to complete the second part of the experiment. Have their papers, a
magnifying glass, and a bowl on their table waiting for when they come
back.* “Now we are going to begin the second part of the experiment. This
is where we are going to use the magnifying glass. I want one person that
hasn’t yet had a role to take the rock off of the leaf and take the
magnifying glass and look at your leaf. By raising your hand, what do you
think it means if there are bubbles on the leaf? *Allow time for students to
think and a couple to answer.* “That is correct! If your leaf has bubbles on
it, that means it is breathing. Be sure to tell your group if the leaf has
bubbles or not so they can use that information to finish completing their
recording sheet. Before you complete the last two questions on your
recording sheet, let’s think back the question I asked at the beginning of
the experiment. Does anyone remember what it was?” *Allow time for
students to think and call on students who have their hand raise and who
are quiet. Clarify if they can’t remember.* “The question I asked is, what
do you think will happen when we put the leaf in water? Does anyone have
an answer for that?” *Allow time for students to think. Call on students
who have their hand raised and who are quiet.* “Your answer to that
question will go in the fourth box on your recording sheet. Once you have
looked at your leaf, complete the last two questions on your recording
sheet. If you need help, raise your hand and I will come around and help
you. When you finish your recording sheet, hold it up in the air and I will
collect it.” *Allow time for students to complete the last two questions.
Walk around and answer any questions the students might have. Collect
the recording sheets as the students finish. Move onto the closure.*
VII. Check for understanding
a. During the mini-lesson, I ask the students questions to figure out what they
already know about plants
b. After the mini-lesson, I have the students take a five finger quiz to show me what
they know
c. The third question on the recording sheet asks the students to draw what they did
during the experiment and the fourth question asked the students what they
learned
d. During the closure, I ask the students to tell me something they learned from the
lesson, something they liked about learning science, or their favorite part of the
lesson
VIII. Review learning outcomes/Closure: 8 Minutes
a. “Today we learned about plants and how they are able to use their external parts
like stems, leaves, and roots to grow and survive. We also learned why plants are
so important for us. In addition to this, we did an experiment to see how leaves
breath by putting them in water and letting them sit in the sunlight. By a show of
hands, I would like at least three people to tell me something they learned from the
lesson and experiment, something they liked about learning science today, or what
 their favorite part of the lesson was.” *Give students time to answer the question.*
Before we conclude today’s lesson, does anyone have any questions?” *Answer
any questions that the students might have.*

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

 Formative: The five finger quiz after the mini-lesson
 Summative: The third and fourth question on the recording sheet, asking the students
what they learned during the closure
REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS
(CAEP K-6 3.b)
1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
2. What were my strengths and weaknesses?
3. How should I alter this lesson?
4. How would I pace it differently?
5. Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?
6. What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels?
7. Were the students able to go through every step of the scientific process?
8. Did the experiment help the students learn more about plants and how they grow and
survive?
9. Did my supplements (i.e. PowerPoint, recording sheet) help the students understand
more about plants and how they breathe?
 Name:__________________________

Draw what supplies we are going to What do I think will happen?

use _____________________________

_____________________________

_____________________________

_____________________________

_____________________________

Draw what you did

What did you learn?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________