Garden Lessons: Plant Parts- Part 2: ROOTS! (3rd Grade)

 
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Grade(s): 3rd

Lesson Objective(s): Students learn an overview of the plant parts

Ohio Curriculum Standard: Individuals of the same kind differ in their traits and sometimes the differences give individuals an advantage in surviving and reproducing; Organisms have different structures and behaviors that serve different functions.

Supplies Needed

  • “Plant Parts” Workbooks

  • Plants coloring pages

  • scissors

  • glue

  • Pencils

  • plates

  • Carrots, one whole and the rest pre-sliced

  • Radishes, one whole and the rest pre-sliced

  • Salt & lime (or lime juice)

  • hand sanitizer

  • Harmonica


Introduction (5 mins):

  • Get out Plant Parts workbooks. Give students some time to browse through it- what do you think we’re learning about with these booklets?

  • explain that the first part of the plant we’ll be learning about is the ROOT of a plant

Activity (20 mins):

  • Students read paragraph about roots along with teacher

    • Give students a few minutes to do the fill-in-the-blank part of the booklet

    • ask after: what would happen if we cut off the roots of the plant? What happens if we ONLY water the leaves?

  • Everyone gets slices of carrot & radish, and the teacher shows what whole carrots and whole radishes look like, too

  • In the venn diagram section of their workbooks, label one side “Radish” and the other side “Carrot”

    • if students are unfamiliar with a venn diagram, do an example first. What are some differences and similarities between the garden teacher and their classroom teacher? Give a couple examples first (both are teachers, one has a tattoo, both have blond hair, both read with us, etc)

    • Have students work in their table groups on making a venn diagram for carrots and radishes.

      • some ideas for compare/contrast: size, texture, shape, color, taste, type of vegetable, etc.

  • Once their venn Diagram has at least 2 things in each of the three categories, they are welcome to try the snack: radish & carrot slices with lime juice & salt sprinkled on!

  • Finally, what other root vegetables do we eat or use?

    • Students can cut out examples from their coloring pages & color them (maybe go through the items as a class first, circling the items we need to cut out for the “roots” section)

    • encourage them to think of other roots we eat- draw them in the workbook!

Classroom EXTENSIONS

  • Before or After: Read “What Do Roots Do” by Kathleen Kudlinski

Garden LessonsTeresa Woodard