Amber,
This week we have to make a lesson plan using Taskstream that involves having our student collect data in Excel. We also need to re-submit a revised version of our concept map using Kidspiration. My 30 day trial is expired, so this will be your turn.
We need to begin discussing what each of us is going to do our lesson plan on. Take a look back at our concept map and make suggestions for changes/something we want to add.
What gardening topic can we each use for our lesson plan that will allow students to collect data? Here are a few of my ideas:
In order to get the students thinking about what plants we will want in our garden, we could have them each interview a teacher in the school to determine what kinds of plants teachers have grown in their gardens.
We could set up a questionnaire that teachers just check off for the plants they grow. Some plants might include flowers, tomatoes, green beans, corn, etc. I think this might be too vague though because "flowers" is such a broad category. Perhaps we could have each students interview 10 neighbors at home, and ask which of the following they prefer to grow: Vegetables, flowers, ground cover, other, etc. Then together, we can bring the results to the class and students can make one big spreadsheet and graph.
Another idea might be to have students simply walk around the neighborhood and find 5 gardens, then have them check off on a data sheet what the majority of the plants they find in each garden are. For example, maybe their home garden has just vegetables, while the neighbor has a garden that is mostly flowers.
The problem with this is that maybe a neighbor has several different gardens.
These are just some ideas. Let me know what you are thinking.
maybe we could have the students tally the number of each category of plants they find in their own yard. (vegetables, flowers, trees, bushes, fruits, etc.) Then as a class, they can combine their findings.
ReplyDeleteWe can relate this exploration to our topic because we can help students see the variety of plants we can possibly grow in our garden. Maybe our next project will revolve around specifically identifying which plants to put in the garden.
I was thinking almost the same thing...they can pick a number of different plants they want to see and see how many they can find in their category.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea is how many veggie gardens they can find and how many flower gardens they can find. And then add the tallies to see what is more common in their neighborhood.
I can't think of anymore topics right now, but I will think of some more.
Some categories I was thinking of to add to the concept map is location (for different plant types), seasons (for different plants), and uses of plants.
what do you think?
I will add more to this tomorrow when I come up with more.
Oh yes....why plants are important. Did you see my youtube video? That's what I did it on. "The importance of plants."
ReplyDeleteI think those are great categories to add to our concept map.
We need to both do a different lesson plan. Maybe we can tie them to the videos or other lesson plans that we did. I did my first lesson plan on identifying plants and making maintenance plans for them. I did my video on the importance of plants. So maybe I could do this lesson on identifying the 5 most common plants in this area.
Maybe together, the class could brainstorm on what they think the most common plants grown are. Students could go home and ask their parents to identify one or two of the plants they grow. Then, as a class, they can determine which 5 plants are the most common among all of their students. THEN each student will have to interview 5 families, or neighbors, or people, and ask which of the five plants they grow more, or prefer to grow. Together, the class will discuss the results. If there are 20 students, then all together, they will have interviewed 100 people, which would give some pretty neat results.
I'm thinking the categories might end up being (or I will pretend they have ended up being): tomatoes, roses, corn, watermelon, green beans.
Then we will see where the results fall.
Do you have any more ideas?
I know your lesson was on plant parts, but I can't recall your movie topic. Maybe you could have the students count plant parts, or maybe count the number of seeds in a flower or fruit. Or maybe the number of flower petals on a flower. That would be neat. What do you think.
I will add those to the concept map. Would I have to start over with the concept map do you know, or can I just add on to yours?
ReplyDeleteI like the number of seeds in each flower or fruit. I can have a varied list and see the difference.
I like your idea for the categories too for how many different plants they can find.
Can you think of anymore ideas for the concept map?
I am nor sure if you have to start over. I'm sorry that I made it so complicated if you do :(
ReplyDeleteMaybe I can send it to you as a file or something and you can add to it. I don't know. I think we need to add the following concepts to our map:
Off of the "Parts of Plants" blip, add some or all of the parts you had students explore in your lesson plan (seeds, stem, petals, leaves, etc.)
Off of the Designing/Making bubble, add petals for: maintenance plan, and environmental needs.
Off of the "Plants" petal under components, you should add an arrow to connect it to the bubble that says "Parts of Plants".
And also, off of the "plants" petal, you should add "environments"
On the "types" bubble, you should add a petal that says "Chinampas" and then draw an arrow to another bubble that says "ePals Exploration."
I think those are some good changes that we should make. Let me know if you think of any more.
As for the lesson plans on data collection, I am beginning mine on the kinds of plants students find in neighbor gardens. I think you could have the students count up the number of seeds in an apple or something. And then make a group graph of the data. This can lead to a later lesson on what the seeds are for, etc.
Keep me posted, and let me know if you need ANY help. Also, I will try to find some way to send you our rough draft of the concept map. Have a good weekend! :)
I have the concept map all done. I had to start over, but it wasn't too much trouble...I just couldn't find out how to change the colors of the bubbles, so it's not as colorful as yours.
ReplyDeleteI add the bubbles that you listed, which I thought they were good ideas.
I will be doing my project on numbers of seeds, I think thats a good one.
Let me know if you need any help on yours.
Thanks Amber. I think the concept map looks great! And it still looks like flowers! :)
ReplyDeleteI am going to be able to download a free trial of Kidspiration onto my husband's computer for the final revision of the concept map.
I think we have a really need unit on gardening going, and I'm excited to see the final product at the end of the semester! :) Hope you had a Happy Halloween!