By Barbara P. Lorde
| PURPOSE: | To introduce the various plants we eat every day such as, seeds, roots, leaves, and stems. |
| LEVELS: K-3 | **Suggestions- Levels K-1 this lesson can be done by introducing the colors using plants we eat. |
| MATERIALS: | Vegetables, lettuce, spinach, carrots, cucumbers, peas, corn, tomatoes, red/green peppers, broccoli, red onions, and your favorite salad dressing. (Italian robusto dressing) |
| PROCEDURE: | Visit a market or grocery store near the school with the students to learn the foods we eat which are plants. Buy various plants and display the plants on a table in the classroom. Below is only a suggestion. Discuss with the students the difference in roots, leaves, seeds, and stems plants. Make a salad using the plants you bought at the grocery store. Have students assist you in making the salad. Students can wash the plants, teacher will cut up all plants using a knife, students can mix all the plants in a large bowl and mix their favorite salad dressing. (enjoy) |
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case1/c1m1app1.html
| Roots | Leaves | Seeds | Stems |
| carrots | lettuce | beans | onions |
| radishes | spinach | corn | celery |
| sweet potatoes | cabbage | peas | potatoes |
| turnips | kale | rice | sugar cane |
SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES: (K3)
Use riddles (examples)
- It is a root. It is red. We cook it. What is it? (beet)
- It is a seed. It is green. It is almost round. What is it? (pea)
- It is a root. It is orange. Rabbits love to eat it. What is it? (carrot)
LEVELS (3-5) Plants provide man with products other than food.
- Direct the students in looking about the classroom to locate items derived from plants (paper, string, cork, rubber, and linen). Ask students to bring in pictures of plants and materials derived from them for a bulletin board display.
- Discuss that trees come from plants and their material gives us furniture, heat, paper, clothing, toys, shelter, nuts, fruits, and medicine.
- Make a chart showing fruit. We get our fruit from trees, shrubs, and vines. The Fruit is the part of the plant containing the seeds.
- Grow corn, lemon, avocado plants from seeds and display them in the classroom.
| Trees | Shrubs |
Vines |
| cherries | raspberries | strawberries |
| peaches | blackberries | watermelons |
| apple | grapes |
Suggestions for Assessment
1. Rearrange the letters so that the words spell fruits we eat.
| p l p e a | ________________________________ |
| r p e a | ________________________________ |
| g e n a r o | ________________________________ |
| u l p m | ________________________________ |
| r y c e h r | ________________________________ |
2. Rearrange the letters so that the words spell roots of plants that we eat.
| r o t r a c | ______________________________ |
| d a r s h i | ______________________________ |
| e t e b | ______________________________ |
| n u t p i r | ______________________________ |
3. Complete the missing words.
|
C ________ |
is a fruit that grows on trees. |
|
A _______ |
also grow on trees. |
|
R _______ |
is that part of the plant that is under the ground. |
|
R _______ |
is a root that we eat. |
|
O _______ |
is a fruit that grows on trees. |
|
T _______ |
are the largest plants of all. |
|
S _______ |
are the parts of a plant that produce new plants |
Answer to assessment
| 1. | 2. |
3. |
| apple | carrot | cherry |
| pear | radish | apple |
| orange | beet | root |
| plum | turnip | radish |
|
cherry |
orange | |
| turnip | ||
| seeds |
| Math Skills Learned: | Count the various vegetables in the salad Count the various colors in the salad Make a pictograph Make a bar graph-showing how many roots, seeds, leaves, and stems are in the salad Estimate how many serving of salad in an ex-large bowl
|
| Science Skills Learned: | List the vegetables that grow under the
ground Discuss the three things plants need to grow
|
References: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case1/c1fprint.html