Lesson Plan 3: The Life Cycle of Plants

Student Name: Shawna Shipe

I. General Information:
Grade Level: Kindergarten
Discipline: Science
Unit Topic: Life Cycles
Time Frame: 45 minutes during literacy, center time
Texts: From Seed to Fruit Life Cycle Video, Plant Secrets by Emily Goodman (picture
book)
Other Materials: cup of dirt, tomato plant seeds, plant life cycle sequencing, technology
equipment ready to access the short online video
II. Standards/Indicators
Life Science
3.C.1. Genetics: Observe, describe and compare the life cycles of different kinds of animals and plants.
3.C.1.a. Identify and draw pictures that show what an animal (egg to frog) and a plant (seed to tree)
looks like at each stage of its life cycle.
Reading Informational Text
RI1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. With prompting and
support, demonstrate understanding orally or in developmentally appropriate writing after reading, viewing, or
listening to a text:
confirm predictions using details from the text
RI2 With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
With prompting and support, listen to a wide variety of complex informational texts.
RI3 With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of
information in a text.
With prompting and support, demonstrate an understanding of sequential order
Writing
W2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/ explanatory texts in which
they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.
W2 With prompting and support, express orally or via developmentally appropriate writing several
sentences using the facts that are all related to the topic.

III. Lesson Objectives

1. Students will listen to a variety of complex informational texts throughout the unit. This
lesson includes the third text. (RI2)
2. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the sequence of a plant life cycle. (3.C.1.a, RI3,
W2)

3. Students will make predictions before reading and confirm predictions after reading by
drawing the life cycle of a tomato plant. (RI1)
IV. Procedures:
IntroductionThe teacher will engage students and introduce the lesson by showing a small cup of dirt
and a pack of tomato seeds. Students will be asked to think about what will happen if the
seeds are planted in the dirt.
Teaching/Activities1. Introduce the book Plant Secrets by Emily Goodman. Explain that we will read
about four life cycle stages of plants.
2. Students will begin a Talking Drawings (Altieri, 2011) activity by drawing a
prediction of how they think a tomato grows. Students will share and discuss their
drawings with group members at their table. The teacher will lead a disussion
about how and why we use visuals such as drawings, pictures, and photos.
3. Read the story aloud. During and after reading, the teacher will ask the following
text-dependent questions. The teacher will model how to look back in the story to
find information if necessary.
Do all seeds look the same?
What is needed in order for seeds, plants, flowers, and fruits to grow?
Describe the similarities and diffrerences between the rose and oak plants.
How can flowers be different from one another? How can they be the same?
What do you think the word "unfold" means?
Use sentence (context) clues to discuss what "nectar" might be.
What happens after the butterflies lay their eggs?
5. The teacher will review the stages of the life cycle (seed, plant, flower, fruit) using
the last four pages the book. Next, the teacher will play the short video From Seed to
Fruit Life Cycle about the life cycle of a tomato plant.
6. After hearing the story and watching the video, students will be asked to look at the
drawings they created before the story and analyze their accuracy. Students may then
modify or recreate their drawings of a how a tomato grows using content vocabulary
they learned (seed, plant, flower, fruit).
Closure- The teacher will remind students that they read Plant Secrets and learned about
the life cycle of plants. Students will share completed plant life cycle drawings in small
groups.
VI. Evaluation/Assessment:
Assessment of Objectives- The teacher will observe and record students' ability to demonstrate
listening skills during the story and video on an anecdotal note page or checklist. Students will
be assessed on their ability to make and confirm predictions and demonstrate knowledge of the
sequence of a plant life cycle during the Talking Drawings activity before and after reading.

Sources:
Goodman, E. (2009). Plant secrets. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
From Seed to Fruit | Everyday Science. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2015, from
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/evscps.sci.life.seed/from-seed-to-fruit/
Altieri, J. (2011). Meeting the Reading Comprehension Demands of Each Content Area. In S. Fortner (Ed.),
Content counts!: Developing disciplinary literacy skills, K-6 (pp. 115). Newark, DE: International Reading
Association.
Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2014). Addressing CCSS Anchor Standard 10: Text Complexity, 91 (4). Retrieved from
http://www.literacyinlearningexchange.org/sites/default/files/la0914addressing.pdf