Guess what this is...

Introduction:

    Have you ever wonder what plants are? Or how they grow? What about, what their importance exactly is? Did you ever wonder what the point of having plants on earth was anyway? What about this...did you ever wonder how plants protect themselves? These are all very good thoughts to wonder about! Plants mean so much more to us than one might know. Did you know that they provide many things that you use everyday? Well get ready to learn and find out exactly what the big deal about plants is! With this activity you'll learn the answers to these questions and many more!!

Task:

    You will be learning about the parts of plants, such as where the roots are, what the stem is and where you can find the flower. You will also learn what a plant has to go through everyday in order to make its food. You will find out that people are not the only ones that have an immune system. You will watch a video on plants and also do some research in order to answer the questions below. You will choose from two projects and complete one of them. You will also complete a worksheet that includes the parts of the plant. You will also find pictures, using the internet and magazines, of certain flowers that can be seen everyday. You will have two weeks to complete this whole activity, so do not wait to begin on this fun assignment!!

Process:

    Introduction:

        For this project, I am allowing you to work in a group of four people only. As said before, you will have two weeks to complete this activity. At the end of this assignment you will have to do a presentation in front of the class and you may pick one person to speak, two people to do the research and one to write up the information that will be presented during the presentation. However, you do not have to use those set roles if you think that a different way will work better for your group. Keep in mind though, I expect all members of the group to do the same amount of work and if I feel that everyone is not doing the same amount, the grades received by each member of the group will show that.  

    Body:

• To begin with, I want you to watch the video below called "The Importance of Plants" video, as a way to introduce you to plants and all the good that they can do. I also want you to take notes on the information that you see in the video, meeting NYS ELA Learning Standard 1 and 2. These notes will be graded.
• Once you and your group has watched the video, I want you to look at the other sites to get an idea as to what project you and your group would like to do. For more information on the projects, see the "Assessment of Learning" part, right below this part.
• As you look at the different sites, I want you to start taking notes from the websites, which is also known as collecting data, which can be used for your research part of the project, which meets NYS ELA Learning Standard 1 and 2.
• I also want you to go to the Great Plant Escape Activity and do the activity as instructed on the site, meeting NYS ELA Learning Standard 1 and 2.
• Lastly, I want you to find pictures of the following things, using the site below called "Pictures of flowers and trees," which will be used at a later time, as a collage of many different flowers and trees, which meet NYS Technology Learning Standard 5. I am providing examples of what the flowers and trees look like that I expect you to find; however, I do not want you to use the pictures that I am using as examples. I have checked and I know that there are many other options besides the one that I used.

          I want you to find four of the following flowers and two of the following trees!

  Flower Carnation	Flower Morning Glory
  Flower Rose
  Flower Daisy	Maple Tree
  Flower Dandelion	Oak Tree
  Flower Lilly	Weeping Willow Tree

    Assessment of Learning:

            To make sure that you have really done all the research that I have asked you to do, I want you to answer the ten questions found on this page, meeting NYS ELA Learning Standard 1. For some of the question, it might seem like there is more than one good answer, however there is only one right answer for each question. Each answer provides feedback, whether the answer is right or wrong. In order to make sure that you have answered all of the questions, there will be a quiz in class with similar questions. I also want you to do a presentation. You have two options for the presentations. Once you decide on a project, let me know so that I can mark your group down for that topic. I am only allowing three groups to do each project choice.

1. Print out the following picture and then label the parts on the picture. After labeling all of the parts of the flower, I want you to describe what all the parts do in the flower, why they are important to the survival of a plant. I also want you to find a plant, live or fake, and then I want you to label the parts on that plant, meeting NYS Science Learning Standard 4.1.
2. Create a diagram of the process called photosynthesis, which meets NYS Science Learning Standard 4.3. I want to see pictures of everything that is involved in this process including the plants and anything else that might be needed for this process. I also want a short paper, between three paragraphs to a page, describing the process of photosynthesis, meeting NYS ELA Learning Standard 1.

    Follow Up:

            After all the work that you and your group are going to be doing in the next two weeks, there is no reason why you shouldn't show it off! That is why I want you and your group to present the information that you gather while doing your project. You will speak in front of the class, telling them what you found out about your topic for five minutes, meeting NYS ELA Learning Standard 2 - 4. The presentations will be done on Monday, June 21, 2010 and Tuesday, June 22, 2010.

            I also want you to do another activity. This activity is to be done by yourself and it will take place over the span of a month. I want you to plant a seed. (All of the products needed for this will be given to you) In order to plant the seed and care for it, see the provided information called "Directions on how to grow your plant indoors." For this part of the activity, you are allowed to use your parents help, if needed. I want you to take the provided dirt and bury the seed in the dirt. I want you to take care of this plant so that it will grow. While you are waiting for it to grow and caring for it everyday, I want you to keep a journal of the progress that your plant makes, meeting NYS ELA Learning Standard 1.  I also want you to, on the first journal entry you write after planting your seed, to make a guess as to what you think the seed will grow into. It could grow into anyone of the following: some kind of tree, a fruit/vegetable, or some kind of flower. The journal entries are due Thursday, June 24, 2010, and I expect to see thirty different entries that describe the plants progress.

Information Sources:

Evaluation:

    1. Which part of the soil do roots go to when they are looking for water?

    2. What is photosynthesis?

    3. What type of plants help to make our cloths?

    4. What type of plant is turned into lumber?

    5. Plants can provide us with which of the following?  

    6. Wood pulp is used to make _______________. (hint: we use this everyday)

    7. Most plants have ________ basic parts.

    8. Plants "immune" system is called "pr". What does "pr" stand for?

    9.  Which of the following is a type of leaf that we sometimes eat?

    10. Which of the following is a type of seed that we sometimes eat?

Conclusion:

       Now that you know all about plants, you should have no problem telling the whole class and your family about them. I bet that you might even know more about plants than your parents do! Remember to work hard on making those project presentations the very best you and your group can make them. Now that you have done all this work, the quiz later this week will be a breeze for you. You all did very well and worked very hard on this activity so give yourselves a pat on the back or even a round of applause!! 

Here is the NYS Information Systems Learning Standards that were used for this WebQuest. I used these standards 2.1 and 2.2. They were obtained on nysed.gov.

Created by: Ms. Hodlin for her 3rd grade class

Last Updated: 06/05/2010

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