Monroe-2 Orleans BOCES Elementary Science Program click anywhere to begin! Created by Sarah Misco, Brian Balash, & William Bean

Monroe-2 Orleans BOCES Elementary Science Program

click anywhere to

begin!

Created by Sarah Misco, Brian Balash, & William Bean

click on a link below to view that page!

click to view the Monroe2-Orleans BOCES website

Activity 1: Getting Started

Activity 3: Starting SeedsActivity 2: Living, Non-Living, and Dead

Activity 5: Germination BagsActivity 4: Parts of a Seed

Activity 7: FlowersActivity 6: See How They Grow

Activity 9: Mold GardenActivity 8: Fruits and Vegetables

Activity 11: Seed DispersalActivity 10: Plant Needs

Activity 14: Mealworm Life Cycle

Activity 12: Milkweed BugsActivity 13: Mealworm

Extension: Life Cycle WebQuest

Activity 15: Animal NeedsActivity 16: Comparing Plants and Animals

complete student activity book

http://www.monroe2boces.org/

http://www.monroe2boces.org/

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Young children are ready to experiment, to observe, to build temporary concepts about how things work and to revise these concepts as their experience broadens. They need to engage in exploration and to learn something about how scientists explore. They begin to build scientific literacy during these early experiences. This is the philosophy behind the Monroe 2–Orleans BOCES Elementary Science Program (ESP).

This teacher's guide models one way to explore some of the key ideas found in the NYS Science Core Curriculum appropriate to this grade level. They provide opportunities for students to build and revise conceptual understandings, and to engage in scientific inquiry. The accompanying kit of materials provides most of the equipment for students to actively engage in activities to facilitate their learning.

The Elementary Science Program is committed to helping you and your students as you engage in science. We provide a variety of forms of technical support to districts in the program. These include a Summer Institute, workshops and in service courses for staff development, a newsletter, a phone hotline and resources on the World Wide Web. Please contact us for further information on how we can help you.

OverviewThis unit is designed for second grade. Through the use of the skills of observing, recording data, and communicating, students will investigate the properties of living things. Students will raise plants, mealworms, and milkweed bugs, observe and record data about their stages of growth and development, and compare their needs and life cycles.

SchedulingThis unit is usually scheduled to be in the classroom for fifteen weeks. Consult your schedule for the return date. Please return unit promptly. If an extension is needed please call the ESP.

Materials to Obtain LocallySome activities require materials that are NOT supplied in the kit. These materials can be easily obtained by the teacher or the students. Materials that you will need to provide are listed in the complete instructions to the right.

complete instructions

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complete activity procedure

Overview: Students begin to think about properties of living things and how to learn more about them.

Objective: Students will begin planning how to study plants and animals.

Concept Words: animal, living, non-living, plant

Materials (for the class): chalkboard or chart paper or overhead projector

Materials (for each student): Student Activity Book (p. 3), paper & pencil

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student activity book pages

next activity


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Overview: Students consider what properties are shared by living things.

Objective: Students will classify pictures as being living or non-living things.

Concept Words: dead, living, non-living

Materials (for the class): pea seed, artificial plant, magazine pictures, plant, stuffed animal

Preparation: Bring in a variety of pictures from magazines of plants, animals, and inanimate objects

last activity next activity


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Overview: Students plant seeds to begin investigating plants.

Objective: Students will plant seeds in soil and water them to begin a plant’s life cycle.

Concept Words: diameter, soil, water

Materials (for the class): bean seeds, light source, pea seeds, planter cups, potting soil,

white trays

Materials (for each student): Student Activity Book (p. 5)

Preparation: Pre-moisten soil several hours before use.



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Overview: Students open up seeds to find out what is inside them.

Objective: Students will identify the seed coat, embryo and cotyledons in a seed and find out about their functions.

Concept Words: cotyledon, embryo, seed coat, sprout

Materials (for the class): lima beans, magnifiers, paper towels


Preparation: Begin soaking the lima beans in water 12 to 24 hours before this activity. Lima beans soaked for 36 hours or more develop an unpleasant odor. Soaking time can be reduced if hot water is used.


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Overview: Students set up germination bags to see the earliest growth of a plant.

Objective: Students will observe the initial growth of root and stem.

Concept Words: cotyledon, germination, leaf, root, seedling, stem

Materials (for each pair of students): bean, oat, pea, corn seeds, masking tape, medicine cup, paper towel, plastic bag, bleach, stapler, water

Materials (for each student): Student Activity Book (p. 7-8)

Preparation: Prepare dilute bleach solution

Safety: Read complete activity procedure for safely diluting bleach.




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Overview: Students observe the growth of stems and leaves as plants grow.

Objective: Students will record the growth of their plants and list the functions of the plant parts which develop.

Concept Words: function, leaf, root, stem

Materials (for the class): magnifiers, plants from activity #3, rulers, references





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Overview: Students will discuss the function of flowers.

Objective: Students will state that flowers are a way some plants produce

seeds for future generations of plants.

Concept Words: flower, fruit, generation

Materials (for the class): plants from activity #3





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Overview: Students see that people use the food stored in various parts of plants.

Objective: Students will list fruits and other plant parts eaten by people and identify a fruit as containing one or more seeds.

Concept Words: food, fruit, seed, vegetable

Materials (for the class): plants from activity #3, fruits, paring knife, vegetables

Preparation: Obtain fruits and vegetables to examine for seeds.



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Overview: Students observe fruits and vegetables to see what becomes of them.

Objective: Students will record observation of decaying plants.

Concept Words: dead, decompose, fungus, life span, mold

Materials (for the class): fruits and vegetables from previous activity, grease pencil, magnifiers, Petri dishes, transparent tape.

Materials (for each student): Student Activity Book (pp. 11-12)

Safety: Students should not open Petri dishes once mold begins to form.




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Overview: Students see what happens to plants that do not have normal growing conditions to see what plants need to survive.

Objective: Students will state that plants need sun, soil, water, and air to grow well.

Concept Words: control, experiment, life need

Materials (for the class): 4 growing plants, petroleum jelly


Preparation: Select four plants of the same size and overall health.




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Overview: Students collect seeds outdoors to see how they are adapted for dispersal.

Objective: Students will identify ways seeds and fruits are adapted for dispersal.

Concept Words: over crowding, seed dispersal

Materials (for the class): chart paper, glue, marking pen, old socks, paper or plastic collecting bags, seeds and fruits



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Overview: Students keep milkweed bugs to compare and contrast with mealworms.

Objective: Students will observe milkweed bugs and record similarities to and differences from mealworms.

Concept Words: adaptation, incomplete metamorphosis, life needs, nymph, properties

Materials (for the class): cover, culture jar, magnifier, plastic net, sunflower seeds, water source and wick





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Overview: Students keep mealworms to observe their properties as animals.

Objective: Students will observe mealworms & record how they meet their basic life needs.

Concept Words: adaptation, head, legs, life needs, properties, senses

Materials (for the class): bran, magnifiers, mealworms, paper towels, plastic cup, sifter, potatoes




interactive mealworm guide


http://www.sauquoitvalley.org/elementary/flash/mealworms.swf

http://www.sauquoitvalley.org/elementary/flash/mealworms.swf

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Overview: Students observe mealworms as they pupate, emerge as beetles, and lay eggs.

Objective: Students will serial order drawings of mealworm stages to show its life cycle.

Concept Words: adult, development, egg, growth, larva, life cycle, life span, metamorphosis, pupa, stages

Materials (for the class): class mealworm culture, individual mealworm culture, magnifiers





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Overview: Students discuss what would happen to animals that do not have normal living conditions to see what animals need to survive.

Objective: Students will state that animals need air, water, and food to survive.

Concept Words: air (oxygen), food, life needs, water



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Overview: Students compare and contrast the life cycles of plants and animals.

Objective: Students will complete a chart which compares plant and animal life cycles.

Concept Words: adult, development, egg, food, growth, larva, moves, nymph, pupa, seed





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Overview: Students will work as a team to answer questions about the life cycles of various organisms.

Objective: Students will be able to describe the stages of the life cycle for each organism.

Materials (for each group): worksheets (per organism), computer with internet access

Team Butterfly Team Fly Team Frog Team Ladybug Team Mosquito

OnlineWebQuest

last activity

click organisms to view team worksheets!

http://warrensburg.k12.mo.us/webquest/cycles/index.htm

*click on a word below to view its definition*

back to lesson Table of Contents

printable glossary

adaptation

adult

air

animal

control

cotyledon

dead

decompose

development

egg

embryo

experiment

food

function

fungus

germination

growth

head

incomplete metamorphosis

larva

leaf

legs

life cycle

life need

life span

living

metamorphosis

mold

non-living

nymph

plant

property

pupa

root

seed coat

seedling

senses

soil

sprout

stages

stem

water

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Heller, Ruth. Chickens Aren't the Only Ones. Rice Stern Sloan, 1993

Heller, Ruth. The Reason for a Flower. Rice Stern Sloan, 1983

Himmelman, John. A Dandelion's Life. Children's Book Press, 1999

Kalman, Bobbie. What is a Life Cycle? Crabtree, 1998

Ross, Michael. Life Cycle. Millbrook, 2001

Royston, Angela. Life Cycle of a Bean. Heineman Library, 1998

Royston, Angela. Life Cycle of an Oak Tree. Heineman Library, 2000

Stone, Lynn. Lives of Insects. Rourke, 2001

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Oh Say Can You Seed?by Bonnie Worth and Aristides Ruiz

How Do Apples Grow?by Betsy Maestro and Giulio Maestro

The Tiny Seedby Eric Carle

What’s Alive?by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld and

Nadine Bernard Westcott

cover – page 4

pages 5 - 10

pages 11 - 14

pages 15 - 18

pages 19 - 24

pages 25 - 30

cover - page 9

pages 10 - 15

pages 16 - 20

pages 21 - 29

pages 30 - end

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NYS Learning Standards for English Language Arts at Three Levels

Correlation to the NYS Learning Standards for Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Correlation to the NYS Elementary Science Core Curriculum, Grades K-4

Inquiry and Process Skills for All Standards

Documents

Monroe-2 Orleans BOCES Elementary Science Program click anywhere to begin! Created by Sarah Misco, Brian Balash, & William Bean