Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETSSTemplate I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name
Suzanne Martin
Position

Technology Lab Teacher

School/District

Riverside Primary/Cobb County School District

E-mail

Smarti65@students.kennesaw.edu

Phone

404-375-7446

Grade Level(s)

1st

Content Area

Science, English/Language Arts, & Math

Time line

2 weeks

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you
expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks?)
Science
Content Standards
S1L1 Students will investigate the characteristics and basic needs of plants and animals.
a. Identify the basic needs of a plant: 1) Air, 2) Water, 3) Light, 4)Nutrients
b. Identify the parts of a plantroot, stem, leaf, and flower.
S1CS7 Students will understand important features of the process of scientific inquiry.
Students will apply the following to inquiry learning practices:
a. Tools such as thermometers, rulers and balances often give more information
about things than can be obtained by just observing things without help.
b. Much can be learned about plants and animals by observing them closely, but care
must be taken to know the needs of living things and how to provide for them.
English/Language Arts (ELA)
ELAGSE1L2d,e Begins to use common rules of spelling.
ELAGSE1W6 With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of tools to produce and
publish writing, including digital tools and collaboration with peers.
ELAGSE1W7 Participate in shared research and writing projects.
ELAGSE1W8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences
or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
Math
MGSE1.OA.6 Add and subtract within 20 using 2 or more of the following:
Counting on, Making a Ten (8+6=8+2+4), Decomposing a number leading to a 10 (134=13-3-1=10-1=9), Apply properties of operations how many more or less are in one
category than in another.

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NETS*S Standards:

1. Creativity and innovation

Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative
products and processes using technology.
b. Create original works as a means of personal or group expression
2. Communication and collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively,
including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of
others.
a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety
of digital environments and media
d. Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems
3. Research and information fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
d. Process data and report results
4. Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve
problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
c. Collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions
5. Digital citizenship
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and
practice legal and ethical behavior.
a. Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and
technology
b. Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration,
learning, and productivity
6. Technology operations and concepts
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and
operations.
a. Understand and use technology systems
b. Select and use applications effectively and productively

Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)
Students will investigate plants and how they grow with observation and experiments. We will consult with a
botanist and florist by video chat regarding being a botanist and/or florist. They will monitor real-life seeds that
they plant with daily observation and pictures that they will take during the process. They will take on the role of
botanist during their experiments. The students will record their data and write a blog post using the information
that they collect. Once the students gather all information needed they will create a blog post sharing what they
learned.
Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or
want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate
interest about the topic? Additionally, what questions can you ask students to help them focus on important
aspects of the topic? (Guiding questions) What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring
to this topic and build on?) Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry.
They should not be answered with a simple yes or no and should have many acceptable answers.
What do plants need to grow and Why?
Why do plants have different parts?
Why do we need plants?
Why are plants important to me?
Assessment (What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning? What can students do to generate new
knowledge? How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)? How will you assess
what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?) You must attach copies of your assessment and/or
rubrics. Include these in your presentation as well.

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Students will keep a Daily Plant Journal where they will record their observations of their seed through the
experiment process. (performance assessment)
Students will be placed into collaborative groups to work on two group assignments. The first group assignment
will be a plant labeling assessment where students will label the plant parts and tell the purpose of each part.
The second group assignment will include listing the needs of plants and telling what need each item fulfills for
the plant to grow. (Google Docs)
Teacher observation/conferencing and questioning during student work sessions.
a. What do you know about plants?
b. What do plants need to grow? Why?
c. What are the main parts of a plant?
d. What do the roots of a plant do?
e. What does the stem of a plant do?
f. What is the purpose of the leaves on a plant?
g. What is the purpose of the flower on a plant?
h. Why do we need plants?
i. How do we use plants?
j. What do you need to grow? Why?
k. Why is food important to you?
l. What do people do if they need food?
m. What does air allow us to do?
n. Do you need water? Why?
Essential Questions will be posted to the class blog and students will reply to the posting giving their
understanding of the topic covered. (Weebly)
Students will complete an online evaluation of their work and the work of their group members. (Weebly)

Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resourcesonline student
tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etchelp elucidate or
explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students
have to complete this project?)
Facetime- Students will use the iPads, computers and Smartboard to collaborate with each other within the
classrooms, students at a neighboring school, and with a florist and a botanist working in the field. They will
discuss the growing of plants and different types of plants that people need to live.
Youtube- Students will watch videos from YouTube that gives them information about plant parts and what
they do. The Parts of a Plant (song for kids about flower/stem/leaves/roots) by Harry Kindergarten Music
Students will also watch a video that gives them information about the things that plants need to grow. The
Needs of a Plant (song for kids about 5 things plants need to live) by Harry Kindergarten Music
https://youtu.be/ql6OL7_qFgU https://youtu.be/dUBIQ1fTRzI
Google Docs- Students will be placed into collaborative groups to work on two group assignments. The first
group assignment will be a plant labeling assessment where students will label the plant parts and tell the
purpose of each part. The second group assignment will include listing the needs of plants and telling what
need each item fulfills for the plant to grow.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xUB2YyQDL6t46VuQPyksBZDHOyUq08omVym_ASyrsk/edit?usp=sharing
Weebly Blog- Essential Questions will be posted to the class blog and students will reply to the posting giving
their understanding of the topic covered. Parents will be given the link to read and respond to the entries
posted by the students in the class.
Weebly Survey- Students will rate their own work during the lesson. They will also rate the work and
participation of the members of their group.
http://snicolemartin1989.Weebly.org/

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Instructional Plan
Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this lesson? How can
you find out if students have this foundation? What difficulties might students have?)
Since this lesson is always done in the spring time the students have had the beginning of the year to become
familiar with the technology and online resources that they will be using during the lesson. The students will
need to have had lessons on blogging, facetime, and entering information into documents (word, excel, etc.).
Working with students on writing lessons using online documents and posting those writing samples to blog
posts before conducting the plant lesson to gain an understanding of students background knowledge using
these resources. Some students may have a little difficulty posting their response on the class blog or entering
their information into the online documents.
Management Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the use
of digital tools and resources. How and where will your students work? (Small groups, whole group, individuals,
classroom, lab, etc.) What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this
lesson? Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson and explain how you will resolve or
trouble-shoot them? Please note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as
throughout the process. Be sure to indicate how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that
occurred as you implemented and even after the lesson was completed.
The lesson will start in a whole group setting where the content will be introduced and the students will be
made aware of the information and expectations. The whole group setting will be used for introduction, viewing
of Youtube videos, and Facetime sessions with florist and botanist. They will work in small groups and
individually to complete the tasks with Google Docs, Weebly Blog, and Weebly Survey. The class sessions will
take place during the students computer enrichment time. If the students are not scheduled for computer
enrichment they will be allowed time during the day to come and check their plant, take pictures, and record the
necessary data in their daily plant journal.
The students are from a range of socio-economic backgrounds and of all academic levels in the classroom,
ranging from extremely low to gifted/talented. The students are a mixture of native English speaking and ELL.
The students will have access to 5 computers and 6 iPads for their everyday use in the classroom (one of each
for every group). The students will be able to use each other as resources along with the technology and the
teacher in the classroom.
Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will
use with this lesson. How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the
students' roles in the lesson? How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or
creativity levels of Blooms Taxonomy? How can the technology support your teaching? What authentic,
relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete? How will they build knowledge
and skills? How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and collaborate with each other
and others? How will you facilitate the collaboration?
Day 1:
We will begin by reviewing the standards and vocabulary from the needs of plants. After the goals and
objectives are discussed students will watch video from YouTube that gives them information about the things
that plants need to grow. The Needs of a Plant (song for kids about 5 things plants need to live) by Harry
Kindergarten Music. Next we will discuss what plants need to grow. Students will brainstorm about what seeds
will need in order to survive and grow into a plant.
Students will be provided with a plant journal to record their observations. The information in the journal can
be recorded as pictures, words, or both, depending on the childs abilities. They will be collecting and
recording data in their journal over a period of time (at least two weeks). While the students are providing the
necessary requirements for their plants to grow they will also observe class plants that are missing one of the
items needed for growth.

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Day 2
Begin class experiment:
Materials: bean seeds, clear cup, and soil.
1. Have students work with a partner and help prepare the plants for the class experiments. Each group will be
assigned a particular way to take care of the plant.
2. The teacher will cut out the squares from the Ways to Take Care of Your Seed attachment. The strips will be
folded and placed in a box. One student from each group will pick out one strip and follow the directions for
taking care of their seed.
3. Students will follow the directions for planting their seed and preparing the plant for observation.
4. At the beginning of each class period the class will observe the results, chart data on a poster, and talk about
the daily observations in small groups. This observation should last at least two weeks. Observations should
include:

Day 3
Begin planting individual seeds for students to take care of and observe for the next two weeks.
Each student will individually plant their flower in a pot or box. On the first page of their journal they should be
drawing the box or pot, with just soil in it, no plants growing. A sun and some water (since they now know that
they need it). When they are done with their first page in their book they are to store it near their plant for easy
access and safe keeping. When they are done planting the flowers make sure that they are watered and put by
a window to get light.
Student will observe their plant and write/draw in their Plant Journal daily for 2 weeks.
Day 4
We will review the standards and vocabulary for the parts of plants. After the goals and objectives are
discussed students will watch a video from YouTube that gives them information about the parts of plants and
the role that each part plays. The Parts of a Plant (song for kids about flower/stem/leaves/roots) by Harry
Kindergarten Music. Next we will discuss the parts of the plant and what each part does. This information will
also be recorded in the Plant Journal.
Activity-Roots (20 minutes)
1. Begin by asking what they think the roots of a plant do? (Make sure they end up understanding that the
roots soak up the water and keep the plant stable.)
2. Have students to work in their groups. Place buckets (with water in them) on each table with sponges
inside.
3. Let the students know the sponges will be representing the roots of a plant. Have a volunteer take one
of the sponges out of the bucket and explain how it feels. Explain that it has soaked up all the water
from its surroundings (ground around the plant) now it needs to disperse it to the rest of the plant. Ask
the students where they think the water goes once the roots soak it up.
4. Have another student take the sponge and gently squeeze it on the representation of the stem. Keep
asking questions about what they notice thats happening. The water should start crawling up the paper
(stem) towards the leaves.
5. Have the students take turns being the roots.
Students will record what they learned, doing the experiment, in their plant journal.

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Day 6
Activity-Stem (20 minutes)

1. Build off of the students prior knowledge by asking what the function of the roots are and if they have
an idea what the stems function is.

2. Have the students move to their groups to conduct the experiment.

3. Let them each choose from one of the stems brought in, asking what they think they all have in
common, guiding them to say stems.

4. Provide each with a plastic cup and invite them to fill it half full with water.
5. Go to each table and add 4 drops of food coloring to each of their cups.
6. Ask them to predict with their friends what might happen when they place their stems into the cup with
food coloring.
Students will record what they learned, doing the experiment, in their plant journal.
Activity-Leaves (20 minutes)

1. Have a class discussion asking them, where do you get energy to grow, run, live? (food) Where do
plants get energy? (also from food) Where do plats get food? (They make it from air, water, sunlight.)
What would you do to get food if you were hungry? What might a plant do?
2. Next invite them to look at the class bean experiments focusing on the ones in a dark space, it would
be a perfect opportunity to talk about why the leaves and stem of the plant are so pale or white (the
plant is unable to make food because of the lack of sunlight).
Students will record what they learned, doing the experiment, in their plant journal.
Day 7
Todays lesson will begin with the students using the smartboard to collaborate with a florist and a botanist
working in the field. They will also collaborate, using the iPads, with students at a neighboring school. They will
use these collaboration times to discuss what they have learned about the growing of plants and different types
of plants that people need to live and grow.
Students will record what they learned, during their collaborations, in their plant journal.
Day 8
Students will work in their groups on their two group assignments.
1. The first group assignment will be a plant labeling assessment where students will label the plant parts
and tell the purpose of each part.
2. The second group assignment will include listing the needs of plants and telling what need each item
fulfills for the plant to grow.
3. They will also work together to compare their plant journals and work together to ensure that everyone
has the correct information recorded in their journals.
Day 9
The Essential Questions will be posted to the class blog and students will reply to the posting giving their
understanding of the topics covered. Parents will be given the link to read and respond to the entries posted by
the students in the class.
Day 10
Class will begin with a class discussion about the flowers that were planted by the class on day 2 of the unit.
The plants will be measured and students will discuss, in their groups, which plants are the tallest/shortest and
tell how much taller/shorter one is than the other. They will also measure the leaves on the plants and discuss
which are longer/shorter and tell how much longer/shorter one is than the other. The group will tell why they
think this happened.
The students will continue to work on their blog postings and complete the input sheet and surveys for
themselves, their group, and the lesson.

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Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and
abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with others? How will you provide extensions and
opportunities for enrichment? What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)
Students will be given a choice to write or draw their entries in their journals.
When it is time to blog the students will be in their work groups and will have the option of having other
students enter the information for them.
There will be a consultation with the special education teachers to get information regarding the students with
disabilities, to be sure of the accommodations needed.
There will also be a consultation with the ESOL teachers to get information regarding the students learning
English, to be sure of the accommodations needed.
Gifted students will be assigned to help plant and maintain the school garden as permitted.
The teacher, assistant teacher, and parent volunteers will be available during every session to help students
with questions or specific needs. Students will be encouraged to help each other but adults will be available for
monitoring and assistance.
Other resources for reinforcement will be available to those that need to see the information presented in a
different format, depending upon the needs of the child.
Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect upon their work? Will students be
asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself? What will be your process for answering the following
questions?
Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
In what ways was this lesson effective?
What went well and why?
What did not go well and why?
How would you teach this lesson differently?)
We will read through the blog postings as a whole group and discuss what we learned during the process.
Students will complete the 3 surveys for evaluating the different components involved in the process and report
any questions that they still have.
Students will review and discuss what they have learned and what they want they want more information on.
Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please
provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.
Preparing and walking through this lesson was a very enlightening experience for me. There were a few kinks
that I had to work through due to events going on in the school but the students were very eager to come back
and work on their assignments. They were very helpful to each other and enjoyed helping their classmates to
be successful. I work in the computer lab so implementing the lesson required that I only work with the students
once a week. This time schedule required that I extend the lessons out longer than necessary and caused us to
have to review often. When implementing the lesson I would suggest that teachers try to be sure that they have
time to do consecutive session.

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My Plant Journal

My Plant Journal

By:___________________

By:___________________

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What do plants need?

What do plants need?

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Observation
Day 1

Observation
Day 1

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Observation
Day 2

Observation
Day 2

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Observation
Day 3

Observation
Day 3

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Observation
Day 4

Observation
Day 4

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Observation
Day 5

Observation
Day 5

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Observation
Day 6

Observation
Day 6

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Observation
Day 7

Observation
Day 7

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Observation
Day 8

Observation
Day 8

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Observation
Day 9

Observation
Day 9

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Observation
Day 10

Observation
Day 10

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What I know about

seeds

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What I know about

seeds

What I know about

roots

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What I know about

roots

What I know about

stems

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What I know about

stems

What I know about

leaves

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What I know about

leaves

Student: _________________________________ Date: __________________________

Self-evaluation
Grading Rubric
3

YES

SOMETIMES

NOT REALLY

I did my job and helped

with the work in my
group.
I worked well with my
group members.
I helped my group finish
our activity on time.
I did my best work every
day with my group.
TOTALS
Teacher Comments

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Student: _________________________________ Date: __________________________

Group-evaluation
Grading Rubric
3

YES

SOMETIMES

NOT REALLY

Everyone in the group

worked together.
The group members all
helped with the work.
Our group finished our
activity on time.
My group turned in their
best work.
TOTALS
Teacher Comments

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Student: _________________________________ Date: __________________________

Lesson-evaluation
Grading Rubric
3

YES

SOMETIMES

NOT REALLY

I learned new things doing

this unit.
My questions about the
assignment were answered
in class.
The activities were helpful
to my learning.

I had fun with the lesson.

TOTALS
Teacher Comments

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Name:

Student Input on Plants Unit

Date:

1. New information that I learned

2. I still want to learn

3. The best thing about working with my group was

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Grading Rubric for Plants Unit

Student: ______________________
Standard
S1L1 Students will investigate the
characteristics and basic needs of
plants and animals.
c. Identify the basic needs of a
plant:
1) Air, 2) Water, 3) Light, 4)
Nutrients
d. Identify the parts of a plant
root, stem, leaf, and flower.
English/Language Arts (ELA)
ELAGSE1L2d,e Begins to use
common rules of spelling.
(Double points for this standard)

ELAGSE1W6 With guidance and

support from adults, use a variety of
tools to produce and publish writing,
including digital tools and
collaboration with peers.

ELAGSE1W7 Participate in shared

research and writing projects.

ELAGSE1W8 With guidance and

support from adults, recall
information from experiences or
gather information from provided
sources to answer a question.

Date: ________________________
3
(10 points)

2
(8 points)

1
(5 points)

Identifies all basic

needs of plants (air,
water, light, nutrients)

Identifies two or more

basic needs of plants

Identifies one or
less basic needs
of plants and
animals

Identifies all parts of a

plant (root, stem, leaf,
and flower)
Consistently &
independently
demonstrates the
following:
- Uses conventional
spelling for words
with common
spelling patterns and
for frequently
occurring irregular
words.
- Spells untaught
words phonetically,
drawing on
phonemic
awareness and
spelling conventions.
Consistently, with
guidance and support
from adults, use a
variety of tools to
produce and publish
writing, including digital
tools and collaboration
with peers.

Identifies two or three

parts of a plant

Identifies one or
less parts of a
plant
Limited Progress

Consistently and
independently
participate in shared
research and writing
projects
Consistently, with
guidance and support
from adults, recall
information from
experiences or gather
information from
provided sources to
answer a question.

Math

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Progressing toward
independently
demonstrating the
following:
- Uses conventional
spelling for words
with common
spelling patterns and
for frequently
occurring irregular
words.
- Spells untaught
words phonetically,
drawing on
phonemic
awareness and
spelling conventions.
Progressing toward,
with guidance and
support from adults,
use a variety of tools to
produce and publish
writing, including
digital tools and
collaboration with
peers.
Progressing toward
independently
participating in shared
research and writing
projects
Progressing toward,
with guidance and
support from adults,
recall information from
experiences or gather
information from
provided sources to
answer a question.

Limited Progress

Limited Progress

Limited Progress

MGSE1.MD.4 Organize, represent,

and interpret data with up to three
categories; ask and answer
questions about the total number of
data points, how many in each
category, and how many more or
less are in one category than in
another.

(Double points for this standard)

MGSE1.OA.6 Add and subtract

within 20 using 2 or more of the
following:
Counting on
Making a Ten (8+6=8+2+4)
Decomposing a number leading
to a 10 (13-4=13-3-1=10-1=9)
Apply properties of operations

Student consistently
and independently
demonstrates all of the
following:
- Compares the
lengths of two
objects indirectly by
using a third object.
- Organize, represent,
and interpret data
with up to three
categories;
- Ask and answer
questions about the
total number of data
points, how many in
each category and
how many more or
less are in one
category than in
another.
Student consistently
and independently
demonstrates multiple
strategies for adding
and subtracting

Student is progressing
toward demonstrating
the following:
- Compares the
lengths of two
objects indirectly by
using a third object.
- Organize, represent,
and interpret data
with up to three
categories;
- Ask and answer
questions about the
total number of data
points, how many in
each category and
how many more or
less are in one
category than in
another.

Limited Progress

Student is progressing
toward demonstrating
multiple strategies for
adding and subtracting

Limited Progress

Total points _________________

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