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Technology Infused Lesson

Title: Kindergarten Plant Unit

Unit Details:

Kindergartners learn about plants by planting nasturtium seeds, taking digital pictures of the plant as it grows and writing in their plant journal each day. The final project is a PowerPoint slide show of their plant's growth.

Subjects: Science and Writing

Learning Level: Kindergarten

Abstract:

In this science unit, students learn how a plant grows and what plants need to survive. Students grow a plant of their own, and create a journal about their plant's growth. They take digital pictures of the plant as it grows, and develop a slide show demonstrating the growth of their plant.

Objectives/Outcomes:

Students will:

• Identify parts of a seed
• Identify parts of a plant
• Identify the needs of a plant
• Grow a plant in the classroom
• Document growth of the plant with a digital camera
• Measure and record the height of the plant as it grows
• Create a slide show demonstrating the plant's growth
• Engage in independent writing and shared writing
• Create a journal using pictures and words to communicate ideas
• Participate in group discussions
• Participate in shared reading

Invitation:

The teacher reads The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle.

Students are told they will each plant a flower seed and watch it grow, and that they will be able to take the plant home for Mothers' Day.

Tasks:

1. Students learn the parts of a plant (roots, stem, leaves, seeds, flower, fruit).
2. Students soak a seed in water overnight and open up the seed to see the parts (seed coat, food storage, embryo).
3. Students put dirt in a small plastic cup, plant a nasturtium seed, and water the seed.
4. They keep a plant journal, using words and pictures to show how their plant changed each day.

   a. Page 1 - Planting my seed
   b. Page 2 - What does my plant need?
   c. Page 3 - How tall is my plant?
   d. Page 4 - How tall is my plant?

5. Students take a picture of the plant every other day with a digital camera, over a two-week period.
6. Once the plant begins to grow, they measure their plant each day and write the result in their journal.
7. Each child makes a PowerPoint slide show, with adult assistance. They make a title slide with their name: " _____'s Plant Movie," using their own kindergarten-invented spelling (e.g., Erica’s Plat Move). Then 5-6 slides are made, by inserting each of their plant pictures, to show growth over time.

Situations:

The plant unit is taught over approximately three weeks in a kindergarten classroom. The setting is a half-day kindergarten program. About 20 minutes a day are devoted to the plant unit, especially for writing in their plant journal. The children planted their nasturtium seeds on Monday of the first week of the three-week unit. They started taking pictures of their plant on Monday of the second week, and took pictures every other day for two weeks. As the children arrived, they were reminded to take their plant pictures, which took about 20 minutes every other day.

For the development of the PowerPoint slide show, the children went to the school's computer lab. Additional adults were there to assist, since this was their first experience with PowerPoint. It took approximately 15 minutes for each child to make his/her slide show.

The seeds should be planted about three weeks before Mothers' Day, in order to be ready to send home as Mothers' Day gifts.

Interactions:

Since this is a kindergarten unit, the teacher is responsible for almost all parts of the unit. The teacher reads the book, leads the discussion to find out what students already know about plants and seeds, brings the supplies, supervises the planting of the seeds, etc. She teaches the children how to use the digital camera and how to measure the height of their plant. As the children arrive, she reminds them to find the disk with their name on it, put it in the camera, put their plant on the "X" marked on the table, and take the pictures.

The children provided peer assistance to each other as they wrote in their plant journals and as they took their plant pictures with the digital camera.

Additional adults are needed to help the children learn how to make their first PowerPoint slide show.

Tools and Supplies:

• Clear plastic cups
• Dirt
• Nasturtium seeds
• Ruler or measuring stick
• Floppy disk for each child
• Digital camera
• Tripod
• Computers so children can make a PowerPoint slide show

Technology Tools:

Digital camera (a Sony Mavica camera is recommended, because each child can have their own disk). Then a PowerPoint slide show can be made by each child, by inserting each of their pictures in the order in which they were taken, to show the growth of the plant over time. A tripod is very helpful, so the camera is level, and the distance from the camera to the plant remains the same from day to day.

Projects:

Hints for Teachers:

Nasturtium seeds work well because they sprout and grow quickly. The teacher should plant a few extra cups with seeds, in case some of the children’s seeds do not sprout. Each child’s name can be printed on a flower cut from construction paper and glued to a popsickle stick and inserted into the dirt in the cup.

When the children make their PowerPoint slide shows, plan to have one adult assistant for every one to two children. If some children have had more experience using computers, they can be grouped by ability, and the more experienced children may not need as much adult assistance. Five to six slides seem to be a good number. It gives the children enough practice to learn the technology skills of inserting new slides and inserting pictures from a disk, but doesn't take too much class time. If the slide show is set up to run automatically, allowing about two seconds per slide works well.

The setting where the digital pictures are taken needs to be arranged so that the position of the plant in relation to the camera is the same from day to day. It works well to use masking tape to make an "X" on the table where the plant should be placed, and also to mark the floor where the tripod should be placed. The plant pictures show up best against a plain white background.

Assessment:

At the beginning of the unit, the teacher develops a web showing the students' prior knowledge about plants, based on a discussion with the children about how plants start and what they need in order to grow.

Students keep a journal throughout the unit, showing their understanding of how to start a plant, and what a plant needs to grow.

Students document their plant's growth over time by making a slide show of the changes.

Literacy skills (writing, spelling, vocabulary, speaking) can also be observed throughout this unit. Since this is a kindergarten class, the tasks were not "graded," but children's progress could be noted.

Classroom observers remarked that the children were very proud of the plants they grew and of their plant movies.

Standards: (Minnesota Graduation Standards and ISTE)

Minnesota Standards for Primary Level: Scientific Concepts and Applications: Direct Science Experience (concepts related to everyday life through characteristic properties of objects, patterns and how they repeat, and cycles).

Since the students keep a journal about their plant's growth, the Write and Speak standard is also addressed.

The Read, View and Listen standard is involved by reading the book, The Tiny Seed. The students are also learning vocabulary words related to the parts of a plant and the parts of a seed.

In the Mathematical Concepts and Applications standard, the students gain experience with the math concept of measurement by measuring their plant's height.

The Kinderbytes Collaboratory

Author(s): Barbie Westerberg (fourth from left).

Submitted by: The Kinderbytes Collaboratory, Arrowhead "Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology" Project, Dept. of Education, University of Minnesota Duluth.

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