ALEX Learning Activity

  

What Do Plants Need to Survive?

A Learning Activity is a strategy a teacher chooses to actively engage students in learning a concept or skill using a digital tool/resource.

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  This learning activity provided by:  
Author: Casaundra Taylor
System:Huntsville City
School:Academy For Academics & Arts
  General Activity Information  
Activity ID: 1738
Title:
What Do Plants Need to Survive?
Digital Tool/Resource:
 
Web Address – URL:
Not Applicable
Overview:

Students will use their knowledge of the parts of a plant to discuss what a plant needs to survive. Students will manipulate their three-dimensional plant to show the importance of all the parts of a plant. Students will use a variety of materials to create their 3D model. Examples of materials include pipe cleaners, paper towel rolls, paper, tissue paper, play dough, clay, etc. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.
  Associated Standards and Objectives  
Content Standard(s):
Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: K
3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
E4.5: Natural materials have different properties that sustain plant and animal life.

NAEP Statement::
E4.7: The Sun warms the land, air, and water and helps plants grow.

NAEP Statement::
L4.1: Organisms need food, water, and air; a way to dispose of waste; and an environment in which they can live.*

NAEP Statement::
L4.2: Organisms have basic needs. Animals require air, water, and a source of energy and building material for growth and repair. Plants also require light.

NAEP Statement::
L4.3: Organisms interact and are interdependent in various ways, including providing food and shelter to one another. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their needs are met. Some interactions are beneficial; others are detrimental to the organism and other organisms.

NAEP Statement::
L4.4: When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce; others die or move to new locations.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns
Disciplinary Core Idea: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Distinguish between living and nonliving things.
  • Verify what living things need to survive
  • Use observations to distinguish between living and nonliving things and describe patterns of what plants and animals need to survive.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Distinguish
  • Living
  • Nonliving
  • Verify
  • Need
  • Survive
  • Animals
  • Plants
  • Nutrients
  • Water
  • Sunlight
  • Air
  • Food
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • All animals need food, water, and air in order to survive.
  • Animals obtain their food from plants and other animals.
  • Plants need water, light and air to survive.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Distinguish between living (including humans) and nonliving things.
  • Verify what living things, including plants and animals, need to survive.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Patterns in the natural world can be observed and used as evidence when distinguishing between living and nonliving things and determining the needs of living things.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Plants and Animals
*Exploring Plants and Animals, STC
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.K.3- Sort a group of items based on whether the items are living or nonliving.
Arts Education
ARTS (2017)
Grade: K
Visual Arts
1) Engage in self-directed exploration and imaginative play with art materials.

a. Use motor skills to create two-dimensional art.

Examples: Finger painting, watercolors, paper collage, and rubbings.

b. Use motor skills to create three-dimensional art.

Examples: Rolling, folding, cutting, molding, pinching and pulling clay.

Unpacked Content
Artistic Process: Creating
Anchor Standards:
Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Process Components: Investigate, Plan, Make
Essential Questions:
EU: Creativity and innovative thinking are essential life skills that can be developed.
EQ: What conditions, attitudes, and behaviors support creativity and innovative thinking? What factors prevent or encourage people to take creative risks? How does collaboration expand the creative process?
Concepts & Vocabulary:
  • Art
  • Artwork
  • Collaboratively
  • Collage
  • Cool colors
  • Warm colors
  • Elements of Art
    • Color
    • Line
    • Shape
  • Imaginative play
  • Play
  • Portfolio
  • Primary colors
  • Principles of design
    • Pattern
  • Printmaking
Skill Examples:
  • Create two-dimensional artworks using finger painting, watercolors, paper collage, and rubbings.
  • Create three-dimensional artworks using techniques such as rolling, folding, cutting, molding, pinching, and pulling clay.
  • Work with a partner to create works of art.
  • Working in small groups, use recycled materials to create artworks.
  • Explore the books Why is Blue Dog Blue? by G. Rodrigue and My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss to understand color meanings and moods.
  • Read the book Lines that Wiggle by Candace Whitman to explore different styles of line.
  • Safely use and share scissors, pencils, crayons, markers, glue, paints, paintbrushes, and clay.
  • Use symbols to help tell a personal or make-believe story.
  • Manipulate art media to create textures and patterns.
  • Identify and use organic and geometric shapes to create works of art.
  • Show respect for self and others while making and viewing art.
  • Use the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) to create a free-style painting while singing the names of the colors.
  • Use patterns in designing colored stripes on the shirt of a person you know.
  • Collect found objects such as paper tubes, forks, and pieces of cardboard. Press them in shallow tempera paint, and stamp them on paper to show printmaking.
  • Create a T-chart that separates cool (blue, green, and purple) and warm (red, yellow, and orange) colors in different columns. Use the symbols of water waves for the cool column header and the sun for the warm column header.
  • Work with a partner to find colors, lines, and shapes in art and tell each other what you see.
Learning Objectives:

Learning Targets

I can:

identify what a plant needs to survive.

explain why the parts of the plant are essential to survival. 

create a three-dimensional model of a plant.
  Strategies, Preparations and Variations  
Phase:
After/Explain/Elaborate
Activity:

 

  • Discuss as a class what a plant needs to grow.

  • Emphasize that the parts of a plant are essential in growth and survival.

  • Brainstorm why a plant needs roots, stem, leaves, and a flower.

  • Engage students to think about a plant in absence of one part.

  • For instance, think about a plant without roots.

  • Discuss in isolation the importance of each part of the plant for survival.

  • Students will work independently to create a three-dimensional model of a plant with given materials.

  • Student plants should include stem, roots, leaves, petals, and a flower.

  • After creating their model, students will share with their elbow partner what plants need to survive.

  • The teacher will monitor as students work.

  • Students will present their three-dimensional model and share what plants need to survive as their summative assessment.   
Assessment Strategies:

Students will present their three-dimensional model and the teacher will check for understanding using a rubric. 

 
Advanced Preparation:

To provide students with background information, you can find a book on what plants need to survive. Gather materials for students to use to create their three-dimensional model such as pipe cleaners, clay, tissue paper, playdough, paper towel rolls, etc. 
Variation Tips (optional):
 
Notes or Recommendations (optional):
 
  Keywords and Search Tags  
Keywords and Search Tags: