Foundations - Reidy

SIOP Lesson Plan #3 Grade 1 - STEMS

Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.1: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.4: Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of
words and phrases in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.3: Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces
of information in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.8: With guidance and support from adults, recall information from
experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about
grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.2: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or
information presented orally or through other media.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.3: Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather
additional information or clarify something that is not understood.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and
usage when writing or speaking.
ELD - Collaborative
1.Exchanging information and ideas with others through oral collaborative conversations on a range of
social and academic topics
ELD - Interpretive
5. Listening actively to spoken English in a range of social and academic contexts
6. Reading closely literary and informational texts and viewing multimedia to determine how meaning is
conveyed explicitly and implicitly through language
ELD - Expanding and Enriching Ideas
4. Using nouns and noun phrases
Theme: Plants
Lesson Topic: Stems
Overview: The students have been studying plants. They have had an overview of the different plant
parts (roots, stems, leaves, flowers) and their functions, and an in depth lesson about roots. They have
handled and observed live plants. In this lesson they will learn about and look at plant stems in depth.
Objectives:
Language:

1. The students will be able to use the words stem and stems to describe the stem part of a plant, and
tubes and nutrients when describing the functions of stems.
2. The students will understand that the word function means the job that a stem does.
Content:
1. The students will be able to identify the stem of a plant.
2. The students will explain the function of the plants stems.
Learning Strategies:
- singing our song about plants and performing the related movements
- acting out how a stem works
- listening to an informational book about stems

Foundations - Reidy

- sharing information in pairs

- examining celery stems with magnifying glasses
- drawing a diagram of a celery stem
- setting up a science experiment
- making predictions and recording information on a worksheet
- playing a vocabulary game
Key Vocabulary:
stem, stems, tubes, experiment, control
Materials:
- Parts of a Plant song chart.
- A stack of story books.
- Book: Stems, by Vaijaya Khisty Bodach
- Celery stalks with leaves
- White Carnation flowers (optional)
- Worksheet, Stem Study
- Magnifying glasses
- Glass jars for water
- Food coloring
- Plastic knives
- Pencils/Colored pencils
Motivation:
1. Play the Parts of a Plant music (the children have been learning the song and movements) to get
everyones attention. Students will sing the song and do the related movements. A chart with the song
words is posted.
2. Without saying why, have each child pick two books from the stack and stand straight and tall, arms
extended upwards in a V, a light book in each hand. When they get tired, they may let their arms drop
down and put the books back in the stack. Ask them to discuss with a buddy which part of the plant they
think they were pretending to be (a stem). What did the books represent? (leaves and/or flowers). What
do they think one job of the stem is? (to hold up the leaves and flowers), etc.
3. Gather the children and show them a stalk of celery. Have them guess which part of the plant it is.
Some will be surprised to learn that it is the stem. Some other stems that we eat are asparagus, rhubarb,
broccoli and sugar cane! Explain to the students that they will be learning more information about the
stems of a plant.
Presentation:
1. Introduce the book Stems, by Vaijaya Khisty Bodach, by looking at the cover and taking a picture
walk through the pages.
2. Show the students the celery stalks that were already introduced and explain that they will be learning
about how these and other stems help the plant. They will set up a science experiment that will help them
see how the stems work.
3. Hand out the Stem Study sheets, magnifying glasses and pencils. Ask the children to write their
names and the date in the spaces on the top of the sheet. Point out the date on the whiteboard and direct
children where to write it on their paper.

Foundations - Reidy

Practice/Application:
1. Read the Stems book, and have the students pair-share something new they learned about stems.
They may use the book to point at pictures. Listen for examples of learning: water travels through the
stems to the rest of the plant, stems are made up of tiny tubes, like straws, nutrients/food travels
through the stems to the leaves/flowers, and from the leaves/flowers through the stems to the roots.
2. Pass around the stalks of celery for the students to hold and look at. Have the children look very
carefully with the magnifying glass so they are able to see the tubes in the celerys stem.
3. Each child will look closely at the celery with a magnifying glass and draw a picture of it on their
Stem Study recording sheet.
4. Tell the students they will now be like scientists and do an experiment to test if stems work like we
have read about. We will put some celery stalks* into jars of colored water and some into plain water.
The plain water jar is called the control. The control is for comparing the normal item with one we
are experimenting with so we can compare. Discuss what they think might happen, just like scientists do.
To do the experiment:

Send some children in pairs to fill up the jars half-way with water.
Have other children squeeze the drops of food color into the water. Keep one jar clear for the
control.
Have other children slice a sliver of celery off the end of the stalks so that the stem will be open.
And have other children place the celery into the jars of colored water

5. The students will write what they predict will happen on their Stem Study sheet. Collect the sheets
to be used later to record what happened. Add their work to their Plants Journal.
6. Put the celery jars in a safe place overnight.
7. Review the vocabulary used for the lesson. Play Give One, Get One. Walk around the classroom
and stop to use a word from the lesson in a sentence. Then hear the classmate use one.
*If available, its fun to put some white carnations in the jars, too.
Review/Assessment:
Watch for participation in Whats it Like to Be a Stem activity.
Review Stem Study sheet.
Observe experiment preparation and predictions.
Listen to pair-share discussion.
Watch vocabulary review Give One, Get One activity

Foundations - Reidy
STEM STUDY worksheet: