Foundations - Reidy

SIOP Lesson Plan #4 Grade 1 - LEAVES

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
3. Using verbs and verb phrases
4. Using nouns and noun phrases
Theme: Plants
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 and stems.
They have handled, observed and experimented with live plants. In this lesson they will learn about and
look at plant leaves in depth.
Lesson Topic: Leaves
Objectives:
Language:

1. The students will be able to use the words leaf and leaves to describe the leaves on a plant, and
photosynthesis when describing the functions of leaves.
2. The students will understand that the word function means the job that a leaf does.
Content:

1. The students will be able to identify the leaves on a plant.

2. The students will explain the function of the plants leaves.

Foundations - Reidy

Learning Strategies:
- singing our song about plants and performing the related movements
- listening to an informational book about leaves
- sharing information in pairs
- going outside on a leaf safari to collect leaves
- examining leaves with magnifying glasses
- drawing and measuring leaves
- practicing vocabulary with a picture diagram
- making leaf rubbings
- teach study skills
Key Vocabulary:
leaf, leaves, safari, photosynthesis, chlorophyll, carbon dioxide, oxygen
Materials:
Book: Leaves, by Vaijaya Khisty Bodach
Several leaves on display
Bag to collect leaves
Magnifying glasses
Small whiteboard for blank paper for writing descriptive words
Worksheet, Observe a Leaf
Rulers
Crayons/pencils
Paper for leaf rubbings
Motivation:
1. Play the Parts of a Plant music (the children have learned 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. When everyone has settled after the song/dance, ask if anyone has been on a safari before, or if they
know what one is. Have them turn-and-talk to the person next to them, and then have some students
share out, guiding the discussion towards a definition of a safari (the peaceful, observing kind). Later,
they will go outside on a safari for leaves.
3. Ask them to think about leaves on a plant. Have they ever thought about why plants have leaves, and
what they are for? Tell the students that leaves have a very important job to do, not just for the plant, but
also for the world, that they will learn about today. Let them know that the new vocabulary is
challenging, but they will get lots of practice using it.
Presentation:
1. Introduce the book Leaves, by Vaijaya Khisty Bodach, by looking at the cover and taking a picture
walk through the pages.
2. Pass around the display leaves for the students to touch and observe. Tell them they will be learning
about an amazing natural process called photosynthesis that happens inside the leaf. Ask everyone to
try saying photosynthesis.
3. Explain that the class will be going on a leaf safari to search for as many different kinds of leaves as
they can find. Then we will study and compare them.

Foundations - Reidy

Practice/Application:
1. Read the Leaves book, and have the students pair-share something new they learned about leaves.
They may use the book to point at pictures. Listen for examples of learning: green plants make their own
food, green leaves contain chlorophyll, chlorophyll turns light energy into food for the plant, leaves take
carbon dioxide out of the air, and put oxygen in the air.
2. Tell the class it is time to go outside on the leaf safari. Explain that you are the leader of the safari,
and that no child may run in front of you. Also explain that they may not pick leaves off plants without
first asking your permission. Only allow them to pick leaves from plants that look healthy and only allow
1 leaf to be picked per plant. You will carry the bag, and they will deposit their leaves in it.
- Explore the campus, the field and the bushes in search of leaves. Have children find as many
different varieties as possible (i.e. discourage them from handing you 10 of the same leaf).
- When you have a good-sized collection, bring the children back to class.
3. Spread the leaves out on the table and ask the children to observe similarities and differences. Write
some descriptive words on a whiteboard that the children may use on their worksheets. (examples: broad,
flat, smooth, bumpy, sharp, jagged, shiny, dull). When they sort the leaves, have them share what their
rule is for sorting (which attributes they are using to make their decisions).
4. Identify the veins in the leaves and notice their shapes and sizes. Discuss the idea that veins carry food,
water and minerals to the stems of the plant. Compare the idea to the veins in their own hands and arms
and their similar function of carrying blood to parts of the body.
5. Talk about photosynthesis again, as described in the book. Ask the children to practice using the
word in a sentence.
6. Hand out the Observe a Leaf worksheet, and ask them to write their name and the date on top. Point
out the date on the whiteboard for those who need help with it. Children then choose a leaf to draw,
describe and measure. Add their work to their Plants Journal.
Follow up activities/art:
1. Make a salad together with some leaves we eat: kale, spinach, lettuce, parsley, brussel sprouts,
mustard greens, collard greens. Tell the students the names of each kind of leaf used in the salad.
2. Do a leaf rubbing by placing their leaf under a piece of paper, and lightly rubbing over it with the side
of a crayon. Make a collage of leaves this way.
Review/Assessment:
1. Review their Observe a Leaf worksheets, checking for understanding.
2. Show a picture of the photosynthesis process and review the process using the new vocabulary.
Allow the students to use the picture to practice telling about the process to each other in pairs.

Foundations - Reidy

Observe a Leaf worksheet:

Foundations - Reidy