My students, like almost every grade level, are moving into life science. We started off with setting up and LTI so that they can really experience a plant as it goes through its life cycle throughout the unit. We are supposed to jump right into the parts of a flower and discuss how a flower goes through reproduction. However I wanted to see what they retained from third grade where they learned about the parts of a plant. In my pre-assessment I found that only one student knew what the flower purpose was, and they all seemed to be even more confused with how the other parts functioned. They saw them as all separate parts and not as one cohesive unit, not seeing that the parts of the plant work together to keep it living. Because of what I found in my pre-assessment I felt that we needed to go over a brief over view of the parts of the plant and their functions. In order to demonstrate that the stem carries water up the plant we started another investigation with celery and food coloring. This is an experiment that many of the students have done but I feel as though it will serve as an important refresher. As we continue in the unit and start to learn about how plants reproduce I will have to make sure to keep referring them to the things that they learned last year in order to provide them with the refreshers.
plant_preassesment.docx |