Plant Explorations
Grade: 1 (limit 30 students)
Time: 45 minutes
Only available during the spring semester.
Requests can be submitted in 2026, but will not be filled and confirmed until early 2027.
REQUEST A LESSON HERE
Students will review the parts of the plant and the role they play in the survival of the plant through a hands-on small group activity. The class will break into small groups and listen to the book, "A Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds" to learn more about seeds and review plant life cycles. Then the small groups will dissect a seed and learn about how they become plants. Finally, each group will plant different colored bean seeds in pots to start an observational experiment to answer the question if the different seeds will grow into plants that look alike or different. This lesson is presented by Sedgwick County Master Gardener volunteers.
Availability: 3 week advance notice is required to schedule this lesson. Requests for this lesson are scheduled on a first come, first served basis and depend on the availability of Master Gardener volunteers.
Teacher Provides:
- Divide students into small groups.
- Paper/plastic lined tables for each small group.
Standards
- 1-LS1-2 - Read texts and use media to determine patterns in the behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive
- LS1.A - Plants have different parts (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits) that help them survive and grow
- LS1.B - Adults plants can have young. Then engage in activities that help the offspring to survive
- 1-LS3-1 - Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants are like but not exactly like their parents
- LS3.A - Plants are very much, but not exactly like their parents
- LS3.B - Individuals of the same kind of plant are recognizable as similar but can also vary in many ways
Other Standards:
- Social Studies - Families
- English/Language Arts Themes: As we grow, we change and things around us change