How to Plant a Seed – Visual Sequence
Similar to a recipe card, this visual sequence provides the steps with pictures to follow when planting seeds. Provide these cards to children to support independence in exploration along with literacy awareness.
STE Connections Making a Salad
After making our own salad, the RISE participants reflected on all of the STE learning opportunities that occurred. See the examples they discovered in relation to the Cross-Cutting Concepts and Science & Engineering Practices.
Home→School Sheets and Question of the Day (QOTD)
A variety of Home→School sheets and QOTDs were developed by the RISE team during this unit. Each focuses on a specific idea that then generates information from the families to use in a relatable way in your curriculum. Parents can complete them at home with their child or during drop off or pick up.
Discover the array of plants children are familiar with and the ways in which they care for these plants.
Fruits and Vegetables in My Home
Learn about the fruits and vegetables that families typically eat. These can then become examples to use during a unit.
Similar to sheet above focusing on individual children’s favorite fruits in a QOTD format.
Name a Fruit that Your Family Enjoys
Similar to sheet above with a slightly different format.
Discover various ways families enjoy a particular food item to support exploring a fruit as well as expanding upon cause and effect and structure and function while cooking.
My Family’s Favorite Food Dish
Whether this activity sheet is used during a plant unit or another time of year to learn more about families, the information gathered can support the cause and effect relation of how foods change when cooked.
Home→School Activity Sheets and QOTDs that extend experiences during units on plants:
What does your family use to clean up spilled water? (QOTD)
Spills happen. Knowing what is familiar to children in regard to how they clean up spills at home can support exploring the concept of absorption.
Where does water come from in our house and where do we find it in general? This sheet can support exploring the many uses water has in our everyday lives through the format of a scavenger hunt.
Similar to the sheet above in a slightly different format.
Exploring how water moves throughout our homes is an opportunity to explore systems and system models in a relatable way.
When it is raining outside, I use this to stay dry
Connecting to the idea of water absorption, this sheet can demonstrate absorption using familiar materials.
Teachers provided children with a variety of living plants, and encouraged children to compare the characteristics of various plants. Using magnifying glasses, children observed the changes in the growth of seedlings, the different parts in a flower. During this unit, children learned to water the seedlings and find out what living things need to survive.
During this unit, teachers also introduced to children the living things related to plants, such as worms and caterpillars. They would explore the neighborhood to find leaves for their classroom caterpillars and worm habitats.
Teachers connected children’s knowledge about plants to their everyday experiences. Some created models of bamboo as it was salient in the children’s neighborhood; some noted the various vegetables at the local market during a walk; some read stories to learn about various foods families eat.