The Parts of a Plant that We Eat

Designed by: Emily Herbig     School: Meadowfield Elementary

Grade Level: First      Subject: Science

Core Curriculum Objective(s):
Classify edible plant parts as seeds, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits (South Carolina Standard: II.A.2b.).

Overview: 
By using the book The Carrot Seed, the Internet, real food, and magnetic food pictures, the teacher and students will classify certain foods as seeds, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, or fruits. As additional practice in classifying certain foods as specific parts of a plant, the students will work in groups of two to create a mobile. As a culminating assessment, students will use color pictures of certain types of food and paste the pictures in a chart with the following labels: seeds, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits.

Focus/Essential Question(s): 
What plant part name do we give and in what plant part group do we place the different kinds of foods that we eat?

Time Frame: Three 1 hour periods

Resources/Materials:

Period 1

For the teacher:

Averkey Television Computer Destination Computer (optional) Dry Erase/magnetic board Dry erase marker The Carrot Seed (big book if possible) 1 real carrot 1 real radish 1 real onion 1 real beet 1 real tomato 1 real apple 1 real peach 1 real orange 1 real pea pod opened (revealing the peas) 1 pack of sunflower seeds 1 pack of pumpkin seeds 2-3 lima beans 1 head of lettuce Cabbage Spinach 1 celery stalk Broccoli Cauliflower 1 asparagus

Food Pictures: In advance, the teacher will need to make food pictures of a carrot, radish, onion, beet, tomato, apple, peach, orange, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, celery stalk, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, peas in a pod, and lima beans. The teacher can make the pictures by drawing the foods, finding large pictures of the foods in magazines, cutting out the outline of the foods from construction paper, or copying from blackline masters of the foods from other teacher resources. The teacher should make sure that all pictures are laminated and that all pictures have a magnet strip on them.

Period 2

For the teacher:

Dry erase/magnetic board Dry erase marker Magnetic food pictures used in period 1 lesson Hat or container Teacher created mobile for students to use as a model: should be made of a large rectangular piece of white poster board entitled "Plant Parts We Eat" (at the top of the mobile) with six holes punched out at the bottom of the piece (on one of the longer sides). From each of the six holes, there should be a different colored piece of yarn tied: one yellow piece, one red piece, one blue piece, one pink piece, one green piece, and one orange piece. Attached to the yellow piece of yarn, there should be a smaller yellow rectangular piece labeled "seeds" on both sides in black marker. Attached to the red piece of yarn, there should be a smaller red rectangular piece labeled "roots" on both sides in black marker. Attached to the blue piece of yarn, there should be a smaller blue rectangular piece labeled "stems" on both sides in black marker. Attached to the pink piece of yarn, there should be a smaller pink rectangular piece labeled "leaves" on both sides in black marker. Attached to the green piece of yarn, there should be a smaller green rectangular piece labeled "flowers" on both sides in black marker. Attached to the orange piece of yarn, there should be a smaller orange rectangular piece labeled "fruit" on both sides in black marker.

For each group:

1 long rectangular piece of white poster board with six holes punched out and evenly spaced at the bottom (on one of the longer sides) 

1 black fine tip marker 

1 set of markers 

1 smaller yellow rectangular piece of poster board 

1 smaller red rectangular piece of poster board 

1 smaller blue rectangular piece of poster board 

1 smaller pink rectangular piece of poster board 

1 smaller green rectangular piece of poster board 

1 smaller orange rectangular piece of poster board (all small pieces should have 1-2 holes punched out at the bottom of one of the longer sides) 

3 yellow pieces of construction paper 3 red pieces of construction paper 

3 blue pieces of construction paper 

3 pink pieces of construction paper 

3 green pieces of construction paper 

3 orange pieces of construction paper 

2-3 magazines (preferably gardening or food oriented magazines) 

1 bottle of glue 

2 pair of scissors

Period 3

For the teacher:

Averkey Television Computer Destination computer (optional)

For each student:

1 color copy of food pictures printed from the Internet site (make sure to white out all of the plant part headings)

1 pair of scissors 

1 bottle of glue 

1 piece of paper with a chart on it with the labels seeds, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits 

1 pencil 1 piece of typing paper or manila or white colored construction paper

Culminating Assessment: 
The following rubric will be used to assess classifying the edible parts of a plant as seeds, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits:

1. The student correctly classifies the picture of the radish as a root in the chart = 1 point

2. The student correctly classifies the picture of the peas as seeds in the chart = 1 point

3. The student correctly classifies the picture of the lettuce as leaves in the chart = 1 point

4. The student correctly classifies the picture of an apple as a fruit in the chart = 1 point

5. The student correctly classifies the picture of the broccoli as a flower in the chart = 1 point

6. The student correctly classifies the picture of the asparagus as a stem in the chart = 1 point

TOTAL = 6 points so that

6/6 points = +

5/6 points = a check

4/6 points and below = a dot

Instructional Activities:

Period 1

1. The teacher will tell the students that today they will be learning that some of the foods they eat actually are parts of a plant. They also will be learning which foods can be called or categorized as seeds, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits.

2. The teacher will tell the students that first they will need to review the parts of a plant before learning which foods are the different parts of plants.

3. Using an averkey or destination computer, the teacher will go to http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case1/case1.html , and he/she will click onto "What are the Parts of Plants" under the Section Mystery #1.

4. The teacher will call on students to identify plant parts #1-6. As each child correctly identifies a plant part on the diagram, he/she can click onto the plant part name at the bottom of the screen.

5. After all six plant parts have been correctly identified, the teacher can return to the main menu by clicking on "The Great Plant Escape," clicking on Case #1, and then clicking on "Plant Parts" under "Facts of the Case."

6. Then, the teacher will quickly review plant parts by showing children each photograph and asking children to identify the part.

7. After reviewing the plant parts, the teacher will tell the students that he/she will read the book The Carrot Seed and that their job is to pay close attention to the pictures in the book to determine if a carrot is a seed, root, stem, leaf, flower, or fruit.

8. The teacher will read aloud to the children from the book The Carrot Seed (recommendation: use the big book version).

9. After reading the story, the teacher will ask the students what part of a plant they think a carrot is and why. The teacher can ask the question "Where was the carrot growing the whole time?"

10. After discussing several students' comments, the teacher will tell the students that the carrot is a root because it grows underground.

11. The teacher will tell the students that now they will learn about other foods that they eat that are parts of a plant and what plant parts these foods are considered.

12. Then, the teacher will use the averkey or a destination computer and go to http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case1/case1.html and click on "What Parts of the Plant Do We Eat?" under the section "Food Connection."

13. The teacher will read the top paragraph aloud to the children. The teacher will use the remote control to move the arrow to each food picture on the screen, and then he/she will read aloud the name of each picture and tell them if the food is classified as a seed, root, stem, leaf, flower, or fruit.

14. The teacher will tell the students that he/she is going to show the students several types of food and that their job is to help the teacher decide if the food should be classified as or put into the group of seeds, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, or fruits.

15. The teacher will draw a chart on the board with the following labels: seeds, roots, stems, leaves, fruits, and flowers.

16. Then, the teacher will hold up a real carrot and ask the students what part of the plant a carrot is.

17. With the response of "a root," the teacher will call on the student who provided the correct response to place a picture of a carrot on the magnetic board under the label "roots."

18. The teacher will hold up a real radish and ask the students what part of the plant they think a radish is (The teacher can remind the students that a radish grows underground).

19. With the response of "a root," the teacher will call on the student who provided the correct response to place a picture of a radish on the magnetic board under the label "roots."

20. The teacher will hold up a real onion and ask the students what part of the plant they think an onion is (The teacher can remind the students that an onion grows underground).

21. With the response of "a root," the teacher will call on the student who provided the correct response to place a picture of an onion on the magnetic board under the label "roots."

22. The teacher will hold up a real beet and ask the students what part of the plant they think a beet is (the teacher can remind the students that a beet grows underground).

23. With the response of "a root," the teacher will call on the student who provided the correct response to place a picture of a beet on the magnetic board under the label "roots."

24. The teacher will hold up real peas in a pod and ask what part of a plant they think peas are (The teacher can remind the students that the peas are inside something else).

25. With the response of "seeds," the teacher will call on the student who provided the correct response to place a picture of peas in a pod on the magnetic board under the label "seeds."

26. The teacher will hold up real sunflower seeds and ask students what part of a plant they think sunflower seeds are (teacher hints to students: they come from the sunflower, and they have a plant part in their name- seeds).

27. With the response of "seeds," the teacher will call on the student who provided the correct response to place a picture of sunflower seeds on the magnetic board under the label "seeds."

28. The teacher will hold up pumpkin seeds and ask the students what part of the plant they think pumpkin seeds are (teacher hints to students: they are inside the pumpkin, they have a plant part in their name- seeds, they can be planted to produce new pumpkin plants).

29. With the response of "seeds," the teacher will call on the student who provided the correct response to place a picture of pumpkin seeds on the magnetic board under the label "seeds."

30. The teacher will hold up real lima beans, tell the students that lima beans can be planted underground to grow new lima bean plants, and then ask the students what plant part they think lima beans are.

31. With the response of "seeds," the teacher will call on the student who provided the correct response to place a picture of lima beans on the magnetic board under the label "seeds."

32. The teacher will hold up real lettuce and ask students what part of the plant they think lettuce is (teacher hint to students: tell them to decide what plant part it looks like).

33. With the response of "a leaf," the teacher will call on the student who provided the correct response to place a picture of lettuce on the magnetic board under the label "leaves."

34. The teacher will hold up real spinach and cabbage and ask the students what part of the plant they think spinach and cabbage are (teacher hint to students: What plant part do spinach and cabbage look like?)

35. With the response of "a leaf," the teacher will call on two students to place a picture of spinach and a picture of cabbage on the magnetic board under the label "leaves."

36. The teacher will hold up a tomato and ask the students what part of a plant they think a tomato is (teacher hint to students: It has seeds in it).

37. With the response of "a fruit," the teacher will call on the student who provided the correct response to place a picture of a tomato on the magnetic board under the label "fruit."

38. The teacher will hold up an apple, a peach, and an orange and ask the students what part of the plant they think an apple, peach, and orange are (teacher hint to students: all three items have a seed or seeds in them).

39. With the response of "a fruit," the teacher will call on three different students to place a picture of an apple, a peach, and an orange on the magnetic board under the label "fruits."

40. The teacher will hold up a real broccoli and cauliflower and ask the students what part of the plant they think the broccoli and cauliflower are (teacher hint to students: Point out the top part of the two vegetables and ask the students what part it reminds them of- a "blooming flower" or tell them to think of the vegetables as a bouquet or bunch of flowers).

41. With the response of "a flower," the teacher will call on two students to place a picture of broccoli and a picture of cauliflower on the magnetic board under the label "flowers."

42. The teacher will hold up an asparagus and ask the students what part of the plant they think an asparagus is (teacher hint to students: Point to the asparagus and move your finger up and down, reminding students that there is a part of the plant that is long and grows out of the ground and looks a great deal like the asparagus).

43. With the response of "the stem," the teacher will call on the student who provided the correct response to place a picture of an asparagus on the magnetic board under the label "stems."

44. The teacher will hold up a celery stalk and ask the students what part of the plant they think celery is (teacher hint to students: Point out again how most of a celery stalk is long and that leaves are coming out of it. Ask students what plant part is long and has leaves growing out of it).

45. With the response of "a stem," the teacher will call on the student who provided the correct response to place a picture of celery on the magnetic board under the label "stems."

46. Then, the teacher will review the chart by saying the name of each plant part and the kinds of foods that were classified under each plant part name in the chart.

47. The teacher will tell the children that tomorrow they will continue to learn about the different kinds of foods they eat that are parts of a plant and what parts of a plant each food is.

Period 2

1. The teacher will tell the students that today they will continue to put the foods they eat into different groups based on if the food is a seed, root, stem, leaf, flower, or fruit.

2. As a review, the teacher will draw a chart on the magnetic board with the following labels: seeds, roods, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits.

3. Then, the teacher will place all the food pictures used in the previous lesson in a hat or container.

4. The teacher will tell the students that they will be playing the game "What plant part am I?" Each student will choose a picture from the hat or container, the teacher will help the student identify the name of the food, and then he/she must decide what plant part the food is. If a child experiences any difficulty, the teacher can provide the student with the teacher hints given in period 1.

5. Once a child correctly classifies the food, he/she should place the picture under the correct label in the chart.

6. The teacher and students should repeat this procedure until all of the food pictures have been correctly classified.

7. After the game, the teacher will divide the students into groups of two and will tell the students that they will be working with a partner to create a mobile entitled "Plant Parts We Eat."

8. Each group will be given a long rectangular piece of white poster board with six holes punched out and evenly spaced at the bottom (on one of the longer sides), 1 black fine tip marker, a set of markers, smaller rectangular pieces of poster board (1 yellow, 1 red, 1 blue, 1 pink, 1 green, and 1 orange) with one-two holes punched out at the bottom of one of the longer sides, 3 pieces of different colored construction paper (3 yellow pieces, 3 red pieces, 3 blue pieces, 3 pink pieces, 3 green pieces and 3 orange pieces), two-three magazines (preferably gardening or food oriented magazines), glue, and scissors.

9. The teacher will instruct the students to write in marker on the big rectangular piece of white poster board the title "Plant Parts We Eat" on both sides (the teacher should already have a model mobile to show the children and to display so that the children can refer to it as they create their mobiles). Also, the teacher should tell the children to make sure the holes are at the bottom of the poster board before they begin to write their title.

10. Then, the students will take the smaller yellow rectangular piece and, using the fine tip black marker, write the name "seeds" on both sides (making sure the holes are at the bottom of the rectangular piece. The teacher should again hold up his/her mobile to show the students.)

11. The students will take the smaller red rectangular piece and, using the black marker, write the name "roots" on both sides (making sure the holes are at the bottom of the rectangular piece. The teacher should again hold up his/her mobile to show the students.)

12. The students will take the smaller blue rectangular piece and, using the black marker, write the word "stems" on both sides (with the holes at the bottom- teacher should show model mobile).

13. The students will take the smaller pink rectangular piece and, using the black marker, write the word "leaves" on both sides (with holes at the bottom- teacher shows model mobile).

14. The students will take the smaller green rectangular piece and, using the black marker, write the word "flowers" on both sides (with holes at the bottom- teacher shows model mobile).

15. The students will take the smaller orange rectangular piece and, using the black marker, write the word "fruit" on both sides.

16. The students will look through their magazines trying to find one-two pictures of food that are seeds, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Once the group finds a picture, they should cut it out, decide if it is a seed, root, stem, leaf, flower, or fruit, and paste it onto the piece of colored construction paper that matches the color of the plant part label (ex: a picture of an apple should be pasted onto an orange piece of construction paper since the "fruit" label is orange).

17. Each group should continue until they find 1-2 food pictures for each plant part. During the activity, the teacher will circulate to provide assistance.

18. If a group finishes early, the two students can help their peers with the assignment.

19. At the end of the period, the students will stack all their pieces on top of each other, place them on a designated table, clear their desks, and clean up any mess.

**** The teacher should take the pictures from each group, cut around the picture so that only a little bit of colored construction paper shows, punch a hole through the top of the picture, cut a piece of yarn the same color as the construction paper mat and plant part label, and run the yarn through the label and the picture to attach the two pieces. Also, the teacher should attach the same colored yarn from the plant part label to the main title. The teacher should do this for every group's mobile and then hang the mobiles in the classroom after the next day's assessment.

Period 3

1. The teacher will tell the students that they will review examples of foods that they eat that are parts of plants and that they will be given a chance to show the teacher if they can classify certain foods as seeds, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits.

2. Using the averkey or a destination computer, the teacher will go to http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/vegquiz/veggie.htm.

3. The teacher will read the information on the left-hand side of the screen and then read the directions to the children.

4. The teacher will call on a student to pick a plant part. Then the teacher will call on another student to click onto one of the plant part names (leaf, stem, fruit, root, or flower).

5. The teacher/students will continue until they "Build the Salad."

6. Then, the teacher should go to http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/vegquiz/partlist.html. The teacher should read the chart to the class.

7. Then, the teacher will ask if the children have any questions about different foods and what part of a plant they are.

8. After responding to any questions, the teacher will tell the students that now they will have a chance to show what they learned about the plant parts that they eat. The teacher should give each student a color copy of the pictures from http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case1/c1f.html (the radish, peas, lettuce, apple, broccoli, and asparagus). The teacher should white out all plant part names (ex: seeds, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits). Also, each child should be given scissors, glue, and a chart with the labels seeds, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits.

9. The teacher will instruct the students to cut out the pictures and paste them under the correct plant part name. Before the children begin, the teacher will review the names of the foods in the pictures. Also, the teacher will explain the rubric at this time.

10. If a child finishes early, he/she should use a separate piece of paper and write a couple of sentences saying which part of the plant he/she likes to eat the most and why and giving an example of that type of food that is that plant part.

11. After all students have finished, the teacher will review the quiz by going to http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case1/c1f.html and displaying the screen with the pictures correctly classified. Then, the teacher will read the answers from the screen.