UNIT: PLANT GROWTH AND CHANGES

INTRODUCTION:
Plants are their own distinct living things. They have their own needs for survival
and as diverse as animals are to one another, plants are all different; a tree is not
the same as a flower which is different from a potato. These living things also
contribute to our lives in multiple ways. Our basic needs are met through plants one
way or another. Our environment is always made up of plants. Students will learn
about and define the contributions of plants to their lives and the world they live in
while learning about the way in which plants grow and reproduce.

OBJECTIVES:

Students will perform hands-on activities to follow a plant through its life
cycles.
Students will identify the various parts of plants and the purpose of each part.
Students will reflect upon the role plants play in the environment.
Students will identify what plants occur naturally in their community.
Students will classify plants according to criteria made by the class.
Students will describe step-by-step how they would nurture a plant through
its whole cycle.
Students will identify seeds and describe they ways those seeds would be
distributed.

CONTENT:
INTEGRATION ACROSS CURRICULUM
Fibonacci Sequence Math
Patterns
Addition
Poppy by Avi Language Arts
Character names
Plants in the setting
Social Studies
Plants that are in different geographical regions
Alberta flower connection
FSL
Plants in French
Needs of plants
Health
Sexual Education curriculum

STUDENT ACTIVITIES/PROCESSES
STUDENT PRODUCTS

Pre-Assessment group activity

Field trip to Mrs. Dixons farm
Flower pounding
Leaf print patterns
Pollinating sunflowers
Bean experiment
Avocado experiment

MATERIALS

AND RESOURCES
iPads in the classroom
Art journals
Writing journals
Paint
Flowers and hammers
Beans
Avocados
http://letsdoscience.com/content_pdf/Grade4PlantGrowth.pdf
http://www.2learn.ca/kids/listSciG4.aspx?Type=50
http://www.barrheadelementary.ca/Grade%204%20Science.php

TENTATIVE TIMELINE
Week Activities
1:
Pre-Assessment/Gather prior knowledge
Sept. Field trip to farm
14-18 Basic Classroom Activities
Leaf observations
2:
Flower Pounding
Sept. Leaf print patterns
21-25 Needs and Characteristics of plants
3:
Bean Experiment
Sept. Exploring Alberta
28 Connections to wild rose and tundra plants
Field Trip to farm
Oct.
2
4:
Pollinating Sunflowers
Oct.
Plant life cycles
5-8
Reproduction Cycle.
5:
Project Write a childrens book that tells a
Oct.
whole plant life cycle
13-16
6:
Project Write a childrens book that tells a
Oct.
whole plant life cycle
19-23
7:
Spare time if neededMay start different unit

Outcomes
4.10.1
4.10.3

4.10.2
4.10.4
4.10.5
4.10.6

4.10.8
4.10.10
4.10.9

4.10.11
4.10.7

Oct.
26-30

or focus more heavily on Social Studies

EVALUATION
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Student checklist of outcomes

Checklist of KWL questions answered
Experiments
Classroom participation

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Final plant project