Plants an integrated unit

This unit is for a fifth grade classroom and explores plants, with some focus on food crops, and also on cultural differences.
Science – Students will learn about photosynthesis and the ways that plants grow and reproduce.
Cole, Joanna. The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow. Scholastic, (1995).
Penny, Malcolm. How Plants Grow (Nature’s Mysteries). Benchmark Books, New York, (1997).
Math – Students will calculate the amount of water that a food plant takes to grow, and then calculate the amount of water they require over a given period of time to grow the food that they eat.
Tang, Greg. Grapes of Math. Scholastic, (2004).
Geography – Students will learn about the different plants that grow in different parts of the world, based on the different ecological environments. Students will study different plants and learn to identify characteristics that allow them to survive in different environments.
Bash, Barbara. Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus. Sierra Club Books for Children, (2002).
Halfmann, Janet. Plant Tricksters. Children’s Press, Connecticut, (2004).
Welsbacher, Anne. Life in a Rain Forest (Ecosystems in Action). Lerner Publishing Group, (2003).
Social Studies/History – Students will examine the major foodstuffs of cultures around the world, and also where major food plants originated and where they migrated from.
Hollyer, Beatrice. Let’s Eat: What Children Eat Around the World. Henry Holt and Co., (2004).
Meltzer, Milton. The Amazing Potato: A Story in Which the Incas, Conquistadors, Marie Antoinette, Thomas Jefferson, Wars, Famines, Immigrants, and French Fries All Play a Part. HarperCollins Childrens Books, (1992).
Art - Students will use plant parts to make pictures.

1st Lesson – Growing conditions
Objectives: Students observe get a hands-on understanding of what sort of conditions will allow plants to germinate and grow.
Prior knowledge: Seed germination. Students understand that plants come from seeds, and that seeds need certain conditions to grow. It is not necessary for students to understand yet what conditions are ideal for plant life, but some might already have an idea from at home gardening.
Supplies:
Dixie cups, enough for each child in the class to have one.
Packet of radish seeds.
Different types of soil: sand, sandy soil, pebbles or rocky soil, potting soil (unmarked bag).
Slips of paper with one of the soil types written on it, folded in half. Soil types should be evenly divisible by the number of students in the class. If uneven, make more than enough slips.

Activity:- Have each child pick a slip of paper out of a hat. Then fill a Dixie cup for each child with the sort of soil written on their slip. Children should write their names on their cups. Tell the students that they will be planting a seed in their cups. Students should examine their soil and think of a place where such soil might exist (e.g. desert, beach, field, mountain, etc.) and create a hypothesis about how well their seed will grow. Distribute seeds to each student with instructions on how deep to plant their seed. Line the planted cups up on a warm, sunny window sill (preferably away from prying hands). Water the planted cups. Tell the students you will be watering their cups a little every day. Line up another set of cups on the window sill, one for each type of soil. Plant and water a seed in each of these cups. Tell the students that you will not water these cups as often, just to see what happens.
On a large sheet of paper record what students think will happen to the seeds in each type of soil.
Across 2 weeks, have the students observe their cups once a day and record their observations. Radish seeds sprout in 3-5 days, so children should start seeing leaves poking through the soil after a week. After 2 weeks, the seedlings should be pulled up so the root can be observed. Students should record their observations and compare them to their original hypotheses. Show the students the less watered seedlings as well, to display how plants perform in low-water environments. Record their observations on a large sheet of paper.
Ask students to identify places in the world where there are different types of soil and water availability.
Results/Assessment: Students will gain an understanding of the effect of soil quality and water availability on plant growth. Students have recorded 2 weeks worth of observations, and compared their hypothesis to their finished product. Students can identify different types of terrain throughout the world.

2nd Activity – Foods of the World

Objectives: Students will gain knowledge of other cultures located around the world. Students will come to realize that different plants are influenced by the different environments and growing conditions around the world.
Prior knowledge: Different cultures have different foods. Children have been likely been exposed to some form of them already (e.g. Mexican food, Chinese food, etc). Different environment conditions result in different plants being successful.
Supplies: Old magazines that have pictures of different parts of the world, as well as their inhabitants. National Geographic type magazines will be especially useful. Large pieces of posterboard or construction paper, white glue.
Activity: Portion the class into different groups, one group for each distinct environmental portion of the world (this may have to be adjusted depending on the magazine content; flip through the magazines first to see which areas of the world are treated), such as “Middle East, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, South America mountain region, South America rainforest region, etc.”. Have students look through magazines to find pictures of their areas, and examine what the land and environment looks like. Have them guess what sort of plants can grow in that environment, and see if there are any pictures of eating or food in their particular area.
Let the students create collages with the pictures that they find. Ask the students why the plants look the way that they do, based on the environment (big, shiny green leaves = lots of water. Thin leaves = little water or tough conditions, etc).
Ask the students what type of plants could be grown in this sort of climate. What do they think is eaten? Be prepared to offer answers in case there are not appropriate pictures available. Have the students ever tried any of the foods? Prompt them with some common foods, like rice, potatoes, or beans.
Ask students how the plants that they found might fare in different environments.
Optional: Bring in samples of foods from different cultures for the students to try.
Optional: Ask how food animals might survive in different environments.
Results/Assessment: Expose students to different cultures through food. Students realize that different foods exist not because the other cultures are “weird”, but because these are the plants that their environment can support. Students can identify plants with an appropriate environment.


3rd Activity – Spreading seeds
Objectives: To engage students in identifying plants in their local environments. To display the many forms seeds can take, and many ways that plants multiply and spread.
Prior Knowledge: Plants spread and multiply through seeds. Seeds take many forms. Animals and insects can help in spreading seeds. Awareness of local flora.
Supplies: Plant guidebook. Construction paper and glue, crayons or colored pencils.
Activity: Take children outside and have them gather plant matter for ten minutes: fallen maple spinners, pine cones, acorns, leaves (make sure they stay away from poison ivy and oak!), burrs, flowers.
Ask the children to sort their supplies and see if they can find anything that might be a seed. Let them use the plant guidebooks for help. Explain how different seeds travel:
Burrs attach themselves to clothing or fur and fall off later
Spinners and floaters drift on breezes and land a distance away
Nuts are stored and forgotten about by squirrels
Fruit seeds pass through animals and are deposited elsewhere
Have the students each pick a seed and create a picture about how the seed spreads, using the materials they gathered.
Result/Assessment: Children accurately identify the plants from which their materials came from. Children logically think about how seeds can spread.