Are you starting to think about spring? I know we haven’t even had St. Patrick’s Day yet, but maybe we can hurry it along by talking about plant life cycle activities!
First graders are so curious about everything! It makes it really fun to teach them about the world around them.
One thing that most first graders love is learning about plants! Luckily there are a lot of interesting lessons and activities that you can do. The approaching Spring season makes it a perfect time to teach a unit on plant life cycles.
The activities for teaching about plants use easily obtained materials. And the best part is you can incorporate most other subjects into your lessons. Read my earlier post for more ideas.
teach science with Plant life cycle activities
Capture their interest from the start by showing them how seeds turn into flowers. Nova has wonderful short videos that are perfect for an introduction to plant life cycles. Your students can watch time-lapse videos showing plants going through all of the growth stages.
Have your students dissect seeds! Kidney beans work really well for this. If you soak the seeds for 5 minutes or so, the seed coat will come off easier. Then your kids can gently pull apart the 2 sections. Or you can do it under your document camera and project it. Point out the embryo and cotyledons. You can also usually see the first root starting to grow.
Bring in some different fruits. Discuss how they all might have something in common. Then cut open each one to show that they all have seeds.
Let your students sprout their own seeds and watch them grow. Radish and sprout seeds will grow very quickly by simply placing them on a wet paper towel and putting that in a plastic sandwich bag. Once the seeds germinate and grow a bit, have your students plant them in dixie cups filled with soil.
focus on plants in your reading and writing lessons
If you’re having students grow their own seeds, use this as a science/writing topic. Have them check the seeds every day and write down their observations.
Another option is to focus on one or two specific plant life cycles and use those as the basis for your lessons.
Use Bright Sunflowers as Your Focus Plant
I have a complete unit on sunflowers! It has everything you need to teach about their life cycle, with student readers, discussion/sequencing cards, a reference poster, and writing and drawing activities. I’ve also included detailed teacher notes to help with your planning.
There are 3 other plant life cycle mini-units, including apples, pumpkins, and watermelon. It would be fantastic to bring in some samples to eat!
You can also get all 4 life cycles in a bundle and save 20%.
What’s your favorite way to teach about plants? Comment below!
