This document discusses how to teach students about plants and weather. It provides learning objectives, vocabulary words, and interactive activities to help students understand plant parts and life cycles, as well as daily weather patterns, seasons, and weather safety. Some suggested activities include using seed planting demonstrations and a "see-through" planter to observe roots growing, weather diaries to track local conditions, and interactive tools to identify plant parts and take temperature measurements. The goal is for students to understand what plants need to live and how weather can impact plants and animals.

1. How can we use the
weather to help plants and
animals?
Kristen Magyar
Instructional Technology Coach
Highland Falls Fort Montgomery Central School District
@mrsmagyar
http://www.hffmcsd.org/webpages/kmagyar/

2. Welcome to the session
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4. Plants- What do they need to know?
Big Idea: Plants are living things that use light to make their own food.
Core Content Objectives:
• Understand that there are many different kinds and sizes of plants
• Understand that different kinds of plants grow in different environments
• Understand that plants are living things
• Describe what plants need to live and grow: food, water, air, and sunlight
• Identify the root, stem, branch, leaf, flower, fruit, and seed of a plant
• Explain that roots anchor the plant and take in water and nutrients
• Explain that stems support the plant and carry water and nutrients to the various parts of the plant • Explain that the
plant makes its food in the leaves
• Explain that seeds are the beginning of new plants
• Describe how bees collect nectar and pollen
• Understand how bees make and use honey
• Describe the important role bees play in plant pollination

5. So many ideas to cover...
• Understand that some plants produce fruit to hold seeds
• Demonstrate familiarity with the tall tale “Johnny Appleseed”
• Compare and contrast fruits and seeds of different plants
• Understand the basic life cycle of plants
• Identify the part of specific plants that are eaten by people
• Compare and contrast deciduous and evergreen plants
• Identify things that plants provide us: oxygen, food, and important products
• Understand the life and scientific achievements of George Washington Carver

6. Academic Vocabulary
root
stem
leaf
flower
fruit
seeds
germinate
life cycle
seedlings
mature
pollination
nutrients
produce
botanist

7. From Seed to Fruit (Interactive)
Planting a seed in a cup and watching it grow over time is a wonderful way to introduce the life cycle to young children. Seed to Fruit
takes children through the different stages of growth in the life of a cherry tomato plant. (Includes video, activities, and teacher
background knowledge and instructions.)
Plant Parts
Bring in different plants and ask students to identify the parts. After talking about plants, have students design and illustrate their
own plant on a piece of paper, instructing them to include all parts of a plant (root, stem, branch, and leaf). Instruct students to share
their drawings and identify the parts of their plant while sharing. Their classmates may also want to guess where the parts of that
particular plant are located on the drawing. You may also wish to create picture of plant parts and have students assemble them to
make a whole plant. (Interactive plant parts identification and needs.)
“See-Through” Planter
Using a sealed package of bean seeds and paper towels, create a “see-through” planter. Wet the paper towels and “plant” beans in them.
Place the paper towels and bean seeds in sealed, clear plastic bags. Observe the roots as they form during the next few days.The link
supports this activity and provides a video on how to set up the experiment, discussion questions, and teacher background knowledge
and instructions. Another video link to use with students is Curious George Paper Towel Plants.

8. Literacy Connection to the Common Core Learning Standards
RL.K.1.With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
RL.K.2. With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.
RL.K.3. With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
RL.K.4. Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
RL.K.7. With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an
illustration depicts).
RL.K.9. With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories.
RL.K.10. Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
RI.K.1. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
RI.K.2. With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
RI.K.3. With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
RI.K.4. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
RI.K.7. With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea
in the text an illustration depicts).
RI.K.9. With prompting and support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or
procedures).
RI.K.10. Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

9. W.K.1. Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are
writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g. My favorite book is...).
W.K.5. With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
W.K.6. With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
W.K.7. Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them.)
SL.K.1. Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
SL.K.1.a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion).
SL.K.1.b. Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges
SL.K.2. Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key
details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.
SL.K.5. Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.
L.K.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on kindergarten reading and content.
L.K.4.a. Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately (e.g., knowing duck is a bird and learning the verb to duck).
L.K.4.b. Use the most frequently occurring inflections and affixes (e.g., -ed, -s, re-, un-, pre-, -ful, -less) as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word.
L.K.5. With guidance and support from adults, explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
L.K.5.b. Demonstrate understanding of frequently occurring verbs and adjectives by relating them to their opposites (antonyms).
L.K.5.c. Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at school that are colorful).
L.K.5.d. Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing the same general action (e.g., walk, march, strut, prance) by acting out the meanings.
L.K.6. Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.

10. How to introduce Plants?
Time lapse video iMotion for iPads
Great Radish Video on YouTube
Seed Video on YouTube
If YouTube is blocked
● Teachertube
● Watch Know Learn
● What video sites do you use? Please list...

11. Students showing their
understanding
Plants
need...

12. parts of a plant….
roots
petals
leaves
stem

13. Big Ideas: Weather describes the condition of Earth’s
atmosphere. Characteristic weather patterns can be
described for various regions on Earth.
○ Describe daily weather conditions of their own locality in terms of
temperature (hot, warm, cool, cold); cloud
○ cover (sunny, cloudy); and precipitation (rain, snow, or sleet)
○ Draw pictures that show an understanding of each season
○ Describe safe and unsafe behaviors during severe weather
○ Identify and describe different types of severe weather
○ Identify a thermometer as an instrument used to measure temperature
and describe how it works, i.e., when the liquid in the thermometer rises,
it is hotter outside; when the liquid descends, it is cooler

14. Weather Interactives
Taking Temperatures: Water
Place cups of warm, cool, and ice-cold water on a table. Take the temperature of each cup of water and show students the readings on
the thermometer. Have students feel the water. Record the temperature of each cup on a chart. Ask students what they think will
happen to the temperature of the water throughout the day. Later in the day, take the temperature of the water again. Have
students feel the water again. Record the temperature of each cup on the chart. Ask students if their predictions were correct.
Weather Diary
Discuss with students what the current season is and what the weather has been like in your area the last few days. Tell students
that you would like for them to keep a weather diary over the course of the next week to track the weather on a daily basis. Provide
each student with three pieces of paper in order to make a small weather diary, starting with today’s date. Take the class outdoors
at the same time each day to discuss the day’s weather and to make recordings onto the weather diary. Have students draw a simple
picture of a sun, a sun with clouds, clouds, or clouds and rain depending on the weather each day. If you have an outside thermometer,
you may also wish to have students write down the outside temperature, and/or have them draw a simple thermometer and color in
how high or low the liquid in the thermometer is. Reinforce the concept of yesterday, today, and tomorrow by asking questions like:
How is the weather today different from the weather yesterday? After four days, discuss the characteristics of the current season
in your locality as well as the weather changes and temperature changes that occurred.

15. Academic Vocabulary
Lesson 1
characteristics
cycle
patterns
seasons
weather
Lesson 2
blizzards
cautiously
freezing point
frigid
halt
thermometer
Lesson 3
blossoms
floods
gradually
seedlings
thaw
Lesson 4
distinct
indoors
sunscreen
Lesson 5
bare
chill
shed
progresses
Lesson 6
future
grasshopper
last
personification
shivering
Lesson 7
gear
severe
shelter
strike
Lesson 8
meteorologist
meteorology
record

16. How to introduce weather to students?
Weather Report from the internet
Daily Weather in the classroom
Create weather forecast for the school
Science Kids
One of my students making a weather
forecast. (SMART Board, puppets, excited
student

17. It is now time to put it together

18. Working in groups please attempt to
create some sort of rain collection
system you will have ten minutes to
work… then we will be sharing.
When you are finished please answer
the question found at http://goo.
gl/K0QhJD

19. Lets see what we are taking away

20. Thanks for coming
Feel free to contact me
Kristen Magyar
Instructional Technology Coach
Highland Falls Fort Montgomery Central School District
@mrsmagyar
http://www.hffmcsd.
org/webpages/kmagyar/
kristen.magyar@hffmcsd.org