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Other Resources:
A Criss Cross Puzzle all about plants!

Jog the Web - "What kind of seed do I have?" unit on plants

**Unit Description**
I don't have my own classroom so it's hard for me to say I know any curriculum really well. A unit that I have seen over and over through different observations is a plant unit in either first or second grade. The unit is built around learning how to observe and life cycles. Students that I have observed love planting their seeds and taking care of their plants. This is what I imagine my unit would look like.


 * Day 1:** Talk about familiar life cycles with students. Introduce the plant life cycle.


 * Day 2:** Bring in flowering plants for students to write observations about. Discuss the names of the parts of the plants. Have students rotate through different activities that reinforce what students learned about plant parts including, the criss cross puzzle, computer interactives from the Jog the Web, magnet boards, and writing the plant observations in their science notebooks.


 * Day 3**:Discuss plant needs with students. Tell students that the next day, they will be planting seeds so they need to know what their seed needs to grow. Use one of the Jog the Web Interactives with the whole class to demonstrate what plants need.


 * Day 4:** Show the Mystery Seeds to the students. Tell students that they will get one of two types of seeds. They need to draw and write observations about their seeds in their science notebooks. They will plant the seeds this day (lesson plan from Jog the Web has good instructions for this) and continue recording observations to determine whether they have planted cucumber seed or a sunflower seed. Let students hypothesize what type of seed they have.


 * Next few weeks**: Read picture books showing either cucumbers or sunflowers growing to give students clues as to what their seed might be. Record what students consider "clues" on either a Smart Notebook file or on big poster paper to hang in the classroom. Have students continue to collect data through observations in their science notebooks, and take care of their plants.

Have students decorate pots for Mother's Day. Replant the seedlings and send them home as a Mother's Day gift.