3rd Grade Life Science: Plants Unit

1 Developed for Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Northside Elementary School Outdoor Wonder & Learning (OWL) Initiative Unless otherwise noted, activities written by: Lauren Greene, Sarah Yelton, Dana Haine, & Toni Stadelman Center for Public Engagement with Science UNC Institute for the Environment In collaboration with 3rd Grade teachers at Northside Elementary School: Whitney Dunlap, Brian Mason, & Tequila Powell 3rd Grade Life Science: Plants Unit ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks to Dan Schnitzer, Coretta Sharpless, Kirtisha Jones and the many wonderful teachers and support staff at Northside Elementary for their participation in and support of the Northside OWL Initiative.

2 Thanks to Steve Stadelman for sharing hands-on activities and boundless enthusiasm for all things soil and geology during the creation of this unit. Thanks also to Shelby Brown for her invaluable assistance compiling, editing, and proofreading the curriculum. Instructional materials and supplies to promote STEM-based outdoor learning were instrumental to the successful implementation of this curriculum. The purchase of these materials was made possible with funding provided by the Duke Energy Foundation to Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

3 Curriculum developed June 2018 July 2019 For more information, contact: Sarah Yelton, Environmental Education & Citizen Science Program Manager UNC Institute for the Environment Center for Public Engagement with Science 3rd Grade Plants UnitNorthside Outdoor Wonder & Learning InitiativeOverarching Unit QuestionHow do Plants survive in different environments?Essential Questions Arc 1: Why is soil important? Arc 2: How do the systems and structures of Plants function to support life? Arc 3: How do environmental conditions affect plant growth?

4 Transfer Goals oUse scientific approaches and methodologies to investigate phenomenon, claims, results and scientific thinking to understand the relationships and complexities of the world around Understandings (Science) We can learn about the world around us by observing its features, patterns, and changes. Living organisms have systems and structures that function to support life. Living organisms experience cycles that vary over the span of their Science Essential Standards Understand how Plants survive in their Remember the function of the following structures as it relates to the survival of Plants in theirenvironments.

5 Roots absorb nutrients Stems provide support Leaves synthesize food Flowers attract pollinators and produce seeds for Explain how environmental conditions determine how well Plants survive and Summarize the distinct stages of the life cycle of seed Explain how the basic properties (texture and capacity to hold water) and components (sand, clay andhumus) of soil determine the ability of soil to support the growth and survival of many Plants . Secondary Target Standards (ELA, Math, Social Studies) ELA Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, identifying words that impact the meaning in a text.

6 3rd Grade Plants 3rd Grade Plants Unit1 Northside Outdoor Wonder & Learning Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. Use text features and search tools to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently. Write informative /explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

7 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on Grade 3 topics and texts, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly. Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail. Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly in complete sentences at an understandable pace.

8 Math Represent, interpret, and solve one-step problems involving multiplication and division. Solve problems involving customary measurement. Represent and interpret scaled picture and bar graphs. Unit Overview In this unit, students will learn all about Plants starting with the soil in which they grow. Throughout the unit, students will be going outside to make connections between the content and the Plants around school. In Arc 1, students will begin to identify the importance of soil and how soil relates to Plants .

9 Students will design experiments involving growing Plants from seeds. Exploring the parts of Plants and the life cycle of Plants is the focus of Arc 2. Each plant part deservingly receives its own learning activity. Two learning activities study the life cycle of Plants , one focusing on trees. In Arc 3, students will then investigate how environmental conditions affect Plants . The culminating activity examines how the environmental conditions students imposed affected the growth of their seeds planted during their experiment at the end of Arc 1.

10 Note: You may want to ask students at the beginning of the unit to bring in materials, such as empty paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes, or granola bar boxes, to share with the class for Learning Activity 15: Design & Build a Plant. Duration 21 days of 30 minute learning activities Vocabulary* Soil, sand, silt, clay, topsoil, humus, nutrients, plant, leaf, root, stem, seed, seedling, flower, fruit, function, photosynthesis, pollination, germinate, environment, drought, botanist * Definitions of vocabulary words can be found on the Arc overview pages.