Teacher's Pages
ACTIVITY 13 - Visit With A Plant
ACTIVITY 13 - STUDENT'S PAGE
Purpose:
This activity provides a context for students to
practice using the idea of photosynthesis to explain how a plant gets its food at different stages of growth. They use
their knowledge to explain to a strawberry plant how to make her own food after her cotyledon is used up.
Teacher Role: Assessment--try to fade and not do any coaching.
Materials:
To make this assignment more real, you might want to
dress up as a strawberry plant (Or talk one of your colleagues into doing it -- the principal,
maybe????!!!
Materials for the costume (use your imagination!)
Fake leaves pinned onto a green shirt
Green tights
Brown yarn dangling from feet to represent roots (attach with
Velcro?)
Green visor covered with fake leaves
FRAME
Read about or (MUCH BETTER OPTION) come into the classroom
dressed as a plant and with much drama and sense of doom, present the class with your problem.
Tell them that you were told they had some knowledge about plants that might help you solve your
problem.
ACTIVITY
Alternative 1: Ask them to write you a letter to send to help to
help you solve your problem.
Alternative 2: Have a conversation with the class. Let them tell
you how to solve your problem. Exaggerate the complexity of it all: "Whoa, wait a minute, how many
things do I have to do ??? First I have to take in water and I do that how? And then..... Wow, this is hard
work!"
REFLECT AND CONNECT
Alternative 1: Have some students read their letters out loud and
get feedback about how to improve them.
Alternative 2: Have students write a follow-up note to the plant:
"I was worried that you might forget all the directions so I am sending you this letter to make sure you
understand...."