Hand Full of Seeds

1. Hand Full of Seeds Literature Focus Unit EDU 315

2. Literature Selection • The Curious Garden by Peter Brown • Jo MacDonald had a Garden by Mary Quattlebaum • Get Growing! By Lois Walker • The Loraxby Dr. Suess • The Plant Cycle by Sally Morgan • From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons • The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle • Oh Say Can You Seed: All About Flowering Plants by Bonnie Worth • Ride the Wind: Airborne Journeys of Animals and Plants by Seymour Simon • Plant (Eyewitness Book Series) by David Burnie • Powerful Plant Cells by Rebecca L. Johnson • Johnny Appleseed: The Legend and the Truth by Jane Yolen • Night Garden: Poems From the World of Dreams by Janet S. Wong • James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

3. Theme Study • Students will take part in a thematic unit on plant life. This unit will integrate reading and writing with social studies, science, mathematics, art, music, and physical education. • Students will develop an understanding of gardening different plants, plant cycles, seeds, and North Dakota crops.

4. Language Arts: Reading Activities • Students will read fiction and non-fiction books and poems about plants through silent reading, partner reading, guided reading, reading aloud, and reader’s theatre. • Students will read their plant stories and poems in the author chair. • Students will share their plant observation journals. • Teacher will read from James and the Giant Peach • Students will share their journal entries about their imaginary plant.

5. Language Arts: Writing Activities • Students will add plant words to the Plant Word Wall. • Students will write concrete poem and a limerick poem. • Students will write about the life cycle of plants and describe each stage. • Students will create a new plant and describe the plant and draw picture of new plant. Based on The Lorax. • Students will write in their journal abouttheir garden at home. • Students will write and illustrate a fictional story of what fruit they would want to live in and describe what insects they would meet. Based on James and the Giant Peach.

6. Language Arts: Speaking Activities • Students will participate in a reader’s theatre of The LoraxBy Dr. Suess. • Students will participate in grand conversations about The Lorax. • Students will present their poems and stories using the author’s chair. • Students will participate in small group discussion about The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. • Students will read the words aloud on the Word Wall. • Students will share what plants they grow at their own house.

7. Language Arts: Listening Activities • Students will listen to audio versions of plant literature and participate in read to partners. • Students will listen as the teacher discusses plant life cycles and different plants. They will listen as the teacher discusses different crops and their production rates in North Dakota. • Students will listen to their peers opinions during the grand conversations. • Students will listen respectfully as peers share their stories, poems, and journal entries.

8. Language Arts: Viewing Activities • Students will view painting from famous artists. (Georgia O’Keeffe) • Students will view videos • Students will view dried flowers made by peers. • Students will view the Plant Word Wall • Students will observe their plants. • Students will observe gardens at their home or neighborhood. • Students will view the following websites: http://phipps.conservatory.org/phipps-online-tour.aspx and http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/FieldGuide/fieldguide.html • Students will view the Readers Theater performance.

9. Language Arts: Visually Representing Activities • Students will take photographs of their plant at school and plants at their home or neighborhood. • Students will present their story and poems in an artistic presentation. • Students will create a Plant Word Wall. • Students will make seed art and other art work.

10. Science Activities: • Students will explainabout plant cells and how they are different from animal cells. • Students will plant flower and vegetable seeds. • Students will start avocado seeds in water then when seed starts to sprout plant in pots. • Students will studywhy plants are green. (photosynthesis) • Discuss the greenhouse effect. • Students will plant seeds in the shade and sun to see the importance of sunlight in plant growth. • Discussion on what plants need to grow. • Students will identifythe different parts of plants and make a plant model with labeled parts.

11. Mathematics Activities • Students will estimate a jar of various seeds. • Students will count and sort 100 seeds. • Students will measure the growth of their plants. • Students will graph the heights of their plants (line graph). • Students will vote for their favorite plant then graph the results (bar graph). • Students will count the flower buds on the flowers they grew.

12. Social Studies Activities • Students will studyabout the agriculture in ND. • Students will identifythe advantages and struggles of farming in ND (moisture, soil, whether, growing season). • Students will be shown different seeds, wheat, durum wheat, barley, corn, peas, flax, canola, oil sunflowers, confectionary sunflower, and oats then identify. • Students will list the uses for crops grown in ND. (Chart) • Students will learn how much of each crop is produced. • Discuss why crops are different in different states. Why can they grow oranges in FL and not ND?

13. Music and Art Activities • Students will make seed art. • Students will add poems and art work to their photographs. • Students will make plant decorations for the classroom. • Students will do a watercolor of plants that grow above and below the ground. • Students will sing songs about plants (My Wild Irish Rose). • Students will listen to recorded music. • Students will sing InMy Garden (Raffi).

14. Physical Education Activities • Students will plant gardens outside. • Students will take walks to photograph plant life. • Students will have a scavenger hunt outside to find certain plants. • Students will add actions to InMy Garden.

15. Technology • http://phipps.conservatory.org/phipps-online-tour.aspx • http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/FieldGuide/fieldguide.html • art.com • http://www.dakotagardener.com/ • http://urbanext.illinois.edu/trees2/ • Newspapers • Digital photography • The Lorax movie • Youtube.com

16. Language Arts Strategies • Activating background knowledge: students will think what they already know about plants and gardening. • Brainstorming: students will think of many ideas related to plants and gardening through writing activities. • Connecting: Students will relate topics to the world around them by journaling and creating a growth log by writing poems and stories. • Predicting and Monitoring: Students will predict the growth of their plants and keep track of the plant growth in growth log. • Playing with Language: Students will use language creatively through stories, poems, and journals. • Revising: Students will make changes to written activities. • Visualizing: Students will create pictures in their minds.

17. Language Arts Skills • Print: Students will recognize words on the Plant Word Wall. • Comprehension: Students will recognize literary genres of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Students will compare and contrast likes and dislikes of certain plants, and different plants. • Language: Students will apply various skills in their writing activities: stories, poems, and song lyrics. • Reference: Students will make graphs, venn diagrams, read articles. • Study: Take notes in Science and Social Studies

18. Grouping Patterns • Large Group: grand conversations, nature walk, harvest day, Venn diagram, word wall, readers theater, viewing videos, singing songs, authors chair. • Small Group: small group discussions, math surveys, comparing plants, book discussions, view dried flowers, titling photographs, and students will go on scavenger hunt. • Individual: Write stories, poems, journals entries, making plant decorations, art projects, planting seeds, and viewing plants.

19. Assessments • Journal entries : Rubric • Participation in grand conversations • Analytical Writing Traits Rubrics and peer conferencing for stories and poems • Informal observation of author’s chair, reader’s theatre, and small group plant observations • Math graphs, Venn diagram, seed identification: checklist • Spelling test with words from the Plant World Wall • Active participation in physical education and music performances. • Portfolio of art work: plant decorations, photography, seed art, story presentation, watercolors, dried flowers, and poems.