PRIMARY GRADES 1 & 2
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From Exploring Our Urban Forest by SD Children and Nature. Unit of lessons exploring schoolyard trees and interdependence of organisms. (1-LS1-1 and 1-LS1-2)
From Life Lab. This examines the jobs of three different plant parts – roots, stems, and leaves – and helps students to understand that all plants need the same fundamental resources: sun, soil, water, and air.
From Exploring Our Urban Forest by SD Children and Nature. Unit of lessons on the importance of trees for animal habitats and how animals help trees and plants disperse their seeds. (2-LS4-1, 2-LS2-2, 2-ETS1-2, and 2-LS2-1)
From Life Lab. Students dig into dirt and discover the secrets of the intricate ecosystem living beneath their feet. After discovering soil’s components, students take the next steps to become stewards of the soil. (NGSS ESS2.C)
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INTRO TO GARDEN
The Basics
From Berkeley USD. Students create garden community agreements to help clarify expectations. (CCSS ELA SL.1 HEALTH 7.4.N)
From Berkeley USD. In addition to compiling garden rules, this activity has students observing different colors found in the garden. (CCSS ELA SL.1 HEALTH 7.4.N)
From Berkeley USD. Students will identify the tops and bottoms of plants as those that are underground and above ground and review how plants need sun, soil, water and air to live.
From Berkeley USD. A simple lesson on observing and describing items found in the garden.
Science and Math Skills
From Berkeley USD. Students will use their observation skills to look, draw, and then share their findings.
PLANT NEEDS
Air and Light
From Berkeley USD. This lesson introduces the need for sunlight for the growth of plants from seed over a month. (2-LS2-1, 2-LS4-1)
Water
From Berkeley USD. Students model water’s role in maintaining a healthy body and mind. (CA 1.1N, 1.5N,7.1S)
From Berkeley USD. There are 2 experiments to demonstrate properties of water. Capillary action is how water goes up the roots and stems. The water tension experiment introduces the concept and how organisms living on the surface are affected by pollution.
Soil
Life Lab Unit of Lessons. Students dig into dirt and discover the secrets of the intricate ecosystem living beneath their feet. After discovering soil’s components, students take the next steps to become stewards of the soil. (NGSS ESS2.C)
From The Growing Classroom. Students observe components and compare topsoil and subsoil, then try to make soil. (2-LS2-1)
From Berkeley USD. In these lessons students experience soil, identifying living and non-living components.
PLANT STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
All
From Shoots to Roots Unit by Life Lab. This lesson investigates plant structures. (Using all aspects of NGSS or 1-LS1-1)
From Berkeley USD. Students identify the six parts of a plant and their functions, then plant a seed. (LS1.A)
From Project Phenomena Resource by SDCOE, UCSD, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Succulents are used to learn about plant parts that help them survive, addressing NGSS (CC Structure and Function and DCI 1-LS1-1)
Flowers
From Berkeley USD. Students will review the anatomy of a flower and create a flower to which a pollinator would be attracted. (2-LS2-1 and LS1.B)
Seeds
From Primarily Plants by AIMS. Students observe and record the growth of seeds.
From Life Lab and Mighty Migrations Unit (Previously from The Growing Classroom) this is an updated version investigating how seeds and pollen travel (using all aspects of NGSS for 2-LS2-2).
From Berkeley USD. Students can act out a seed growing, older students will use sorting and observation skills. (NGSS Disciplinary Core Idea LS1.A | Structure & Function)
From Berkeley USD. Students explore seeds by using their observation and classification skills by using their 5 senses. (NGSS LS1.A | Structure and Function)
From Berkeley USD. Students dissect a seed and identify its anatomy. They also "plant" bean seeds in wet paper towels and baggies to watch them germinate. (NGSS LS1.A)
OTHER
Seasons and Weather
From Berkeley USD. This lesson teaches students how to measure weather, focusing on different temperatures in the garden using thermometers. (ESS2.D)
From Berkeley USD. This activity is great to repeat throughout the year to allow students to observe and compare many different patterns in weather and seasons. (ESS2.D)
Interdependence
From Berkeley USD. Students find plants and animals in the garden and place them in a Venn diagram based on the plant and animal needs.
From Berkeley USD. In this lesson, students will use their senses to observe and explore living things in compost. (CCSS-M K.CC.A3,B5)
From Berkeley USD. Introduction to worm anatomy and what a worm's function is in the garden. (NGSS LS1, A,C,D)
From Berkeley USD. These activities reinforce the worm's utility in supporting a healthy garden environment through decomposition. Students reflect on the worm's habitat and life cycle, which produce rich nutrients for plants. (LS1.C, LS1.A, LS1.D)
From Berkeley USD. Students recognize worms as important decomposers and build a worm compost bin. (LS1.C, LS1.A, LS1.D)
From Berkeley USD. Students go on scavenger hunt for signs of Spring.
From Berkeley USD. This lesson introduces insect anatomy, vocabulary, and identification. (NGSS Disciplinary Core Idea LS1.A | Structure & Function)
From Berkeley USD. This lesson reviews flower anatomy and adaptations and discusses how pollinators help our ecosystem. (NGSS Disciplinary Core Idea LS1.A | Structure & Function)
From Berkeley USD. This lesson introduces the concept that insects adapt to their environment over time. Working in groups, students discuss and then create an insect that would survive in a habitat using various adaptations. (NGSS K-LS1-1, LS1.C, LS1.D)
From Berkeley USD. This lesson builds practices students can use to conserve resources. Students practice taking care of our Earth by reducing, reusing, recycling, and rot/composting. (ESS.3.C)
Nutrition
From Berkeley USD. This focuses on the role fiber plays in digestion, and processed refined grains compared to whole grains. (NGSS: LS1.A, LS1.C. CAHS: 1.6.N, 7.3.N)
From Berkeley USD. This lesson teaches the importance of eating seasonally, focusing on specific nutrients found in power fruits and veggies. (NGSS: LS1.C, CAHS: 5.1.P, 1.6.N, 7.2.N)
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PLANT STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
From Dr. Keiko Bott-Suzuki. Students learn from screen visuals what animals and plants need and what we have in common on a Venn diagram. Then each plant part is introduced through their function. (NGSS:1-LS1-1, CCCSS:W.17 & W.1.8)