Learning about life cycles and most science in general, lends itself well to identifying causes and effects. One year I had students make watercolor paintings of sunflowers and we displayed them with the sunflower booklets at our Spring open house.įoldable flower booklet Incorporate Reading Skills: Identify Plant Causes and Effects Painted in Arles, France in 1889-1899, these 5 paintings can provide a wonderful art extension or Art Masterpiece lesson and students can turn their flower booklets into sunflowers. Introduce your students to the sunflower paintings of Vincent Van Gogh. Read more about our chlorophyll paintings. After learning about photosynthesis my students were wowed by the fact that they could press chlorophyll from a leaf! We turned leaf rubbings into small works of art by painting with chlorophyll. Integrate art as students learn the importance of chlorophyll and its role in how a plant makes its own food. Inside their flower booklets students write to explain how a plant makes its own food, the job of the roots and leaves, and to illustrate and label the stages of the life cycle and the parts of a plant. They make a beautiful hallway display too!Īfter each lesson students write short responses by defining plant vocabulary, explaining a process of the life cycle, labeling a diagram, or researching interesting facts about the plant life cycle. These foldable flower booklets make wonderful learning portfolios and provide opportunities for students to make diagrams and write about pollination, photosynthesis, and the functions of the parts of a plant. I’m always looking for ways to have my students write more about science. Lab experiment worksheet Create a Life Cycle Learning Portfolio Once outdoors, students can use their hands as leaves to test their predictions and record their observations. “Can we tell how much light a plant needs by the type and shape of its leaf?”. Have students look at leaves from a variety of habitats to compare their shape, size, and outer coverings before making predictions about which leaf types would help a plant get the most sunlight. Explore a variety of leaf types and how their shapes regulate the amount of light they capture for the plant. Take your class outdoors to explore how leaves help a plant get sunlight. Head Outdoors to Explore How Leaves Help a Plant Get Light We did this a slightly different (and even more fun!) way while learning about the butterfly life cycle.
This simple pollination experiment using juice boxes and cheese puffs simulates pollination and demonstrates how insects transfer pollen from one plant to another. In order to do that they must first be pollinated. In order to continue their life cycle plants must produce seeds. Plant observation journal Demonstrate the Power of PollinationĪs your students learn about the stages of the plant life cycle, one important question to explore is “How do insects help plants grow?”.
Ask them to draw and label simple diagrams to illustrate the changes they observe.
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Teach students how to look for and record changes, make predictions, and measure growth as their seeds sprout.
Germinate lima or pinto beans and make observation journals. Inside, students can easily see the plant embryo, shoot, seed coat, and the cotyledon. Soak them for 5-10 minutes to soften the seed coat before having students gently pull them apart. Show your students where the life cycle starts by dissecting a seed and labeling its parts. These must-try experiments and plant life cycle activities will excite your students, get them writing about science, and most importantly, having fun while they learn about plants. I want to share with you my favorite plant life cycle activities and how I use them to teach about plants-the FUN way! Hands-On Plant Life Cycle Activities As a teacher, I love being able to create experiences for my students that capture their imaginations, nurture their curiosity, and develop their critical thinking as they make new discoveries and learn about their world.