KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Teacher Candidate: Shantell Boyer Date: 3/04/2

Cooperating Teacher: Mrs. McDonald Coop. Initials N/A

Group Size: 15 Allotted Time 1 hr Grade Level First

Subject or Topic: Science (Plant) Section 304

STANDARD:

3.1.1.A2. Investigate the dependence of living things on the sun’s energy, water,
food/nutrients, air, living space, and shelter

4.1.1.A Identify and describe the basic needs of living things in a terrestrial habitat.

I. Performance Objectives (Learning Outcomes):

Students will be able to show their understanding of a plants five basic needs by coloring,
cutting, pasting, and labelling the five essential resources of a plant.

II. Instructional Materials

 “The Needs of a Plant” song
 5 Basic Needs Pictures
 Scavenger Hunt
o Cup of water
o Flashlight with sun picture
o Bag of soil
o “Air” picture
o “Space” Picture
 “Get Growing” Virtual simulator
 “Plant Needs” Worksheet

III. Subject Matter/Content (prerequisite skills, key vocabulary, big idea, outline of
additional content)
A. Prerequisite skills
 Students are able to identify a basic plant
 Students are able to identify the parts of the plant
 Students understands what water, soil, sun, air, and space are
 Students have a basic understanding of basic needs/ resources
  Students understand the difference between living and nonliving things
B. Key Vocabulary
 Sun- gives the plant energy
 Water- something that all living things need to survive
 Soil- gives nutrients/food to the plant, and holds plant into the ground
 Air- helps the plant to breathe and make their own food
 Space- area in order to grow
C. Big Idea
 Students will achieve an understanding of the five basic things that a
plant needs in order to survive, they can identify and understand what
the resources do for the plant.
D. Content
 The students will know the five needs of a plant (air, space, water, soil,
and sun) and what each of the five needs do for the plant.
IV. Implementation
A. Introduction
 Welcome back my super scientists! Today we are going to learn even
more about plants! Today we will be learning about the main things
that a pant needs to grow!
o Does anyone want to take any guesses as to what a plant would
need to grow?
o *Writes guesses on the small whiteboard easel
 Wow! You are all practically already florists, you knew many of the
things a plant needs in order to grow!
 In order to keep these five main needs of a plant, we are going to learn
a little song about the needs of a plant!
 You may stand behind your desk and follow along with me to the song
about the needs of a plant- this is an echo song, and I will also have
movements that you may follow along with for each part- We are
going to practice this song twice.
 Everyone turns your science brain on, and let’s learn what a plant
needs in order to grow!
o *Plays song twice following along with movements and
assuring that every student is participating in some way
 Great job everyone, you had some awesome movement and echoing,
maybe we can review with the song at the end of the lesson.

B. Development
 Next, we will be breaking into five teams and you will all be doing a
small scavenger hunt around the classroom- this scavenger hunt is to
find the main things that a plant needs in order to survive.
o Let’s review quick with some pictures on the board!
 Here are the five main needs of a plant, I want to also discuss what
each of these things does for the plant.
 o * Goes through the five main needs of a plant on the
Smartboard with pictures, and assists students in finding the
reason for each*
 Great! Now I want you to break into your rows and look for one of the
five things that a plant needs to grow. All of these things around the
classroom have pink stickers on them, so you will know you have one
of the five if there is a pink sticker on it. Once your group finds one of
the five things you go back to your seats and discuss why this “thing”
is so important!
o *Assist students on scavenger hunt, giving clues to areas where
there is a part. Make sure that students are correctly discussing
while waiting on the others to find the resources*
 Wow you guys found all five, and you did it so fast and nicely! Let’s
have each group share what they found and why this resource is so
important for a plant in order for it to grow.
o * Go group by group discussing what need each group found
and why the plant needs it in order to survive*
 Next, we are going to use your iPad and you will be virtually growing
a plant through a link on Google Classroom. This link will have you
grow three different plants, but in order for them to grow you will need
to do certain tasks and give the plants what they need.
 You may go ahead and access your iPad and get to Google Classroom,
the link to access the virtual plant growing is under “science” and all
you have to do is click on the link and begin!
o *Walk around the room to assist and ensure that students are
on task with the resource*
 Wow look at all of you florists, everyone was successful in growing
the plants- let’s talk as a class about the things that you needed to do or
your plant had on the simulator in order for it to be able to grow
o *class discussion on the simulator and what the students gave
their plants in order for them to grow*

C. Closure
 Now that we have discussed the five main needs of a plant- let’s go
through them one more time (runs through the five needs of a plant),
we are going to complete a cut, paste, and color worksheet.
 On this paper I would like you to cut off the bottom words and place
them on the resource that it is showing. After you have cut and pasted
all five then you may color the plant paper also! Please work quietly
and raise your hand for any questions!
 Great job today my plant experts! The last thing we will learn about
tomorrow will be all about the life cycle of the plant, how it goes from
a tiny seed and grows into a great big plant!

D. Accommodations/Differentiation
 Student “S”
 o One on one para throughout the lesson
o Purposefully placed into group for scavenger hunt
o Frequent check ins during game simulator in iPad
o Worksheet: trace name, precut out, assistance with glue,
assistance with placement

E. Assessment/Evaluation Plan
1. Formative
 Thumbs up/Thumbs down
 Check ins/ observation of the room
 Completion of the simulation game
 Participation in class discussion
2. Summative
 “Plant Needs” cut, paste, match, and color

V. Resources
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=dUBIQ1fTRzI&ab_channel=HarryKindergartenMusic
 https://www.tvokids.com/preschool/games/get-growing
Needs of a Plant