Time to Harvest the Plant Projects!

We started a plant project in late September with third grade. Because there are so many classes (eight this year!) it has taken us a little longer to finish, but they presented at the end of October. Each class was divided into partners and assigned a plant. They were to use the Big 6 process to research the plant, create a powerpoint, and present it to the class. Last year, we did the same sort of project with odd plants, but with a change in online encyclopedia options, we had to change them up this year and went with more plants that help people somehow - either as an herb, a fast growing food for animals, fire deterrent, or some other use. I was happy with what most of them came up with for their first big research project in the Big 6. (I use Super 3 with K-2.) Here are some of their powerpoint slides. They were asked to choose a color that represented their plant and to include their citation for their information. All of their pictures were from clip art.

 

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Everywhere

I have been working with Kindergarten and First Graders on the pumpkin life cycle this week using the Super 3 process. We talked about where we could find more information about pumpkins and several were thoughtful enough to include pumpkin farmers along with the usual books, computer, smart phone, etc. We looked at photos of different stages of the pumpkin life cycle and watched a short clip of a pumpkin growing. I like to also read the book Pumpkin Jack, but it was already checked out this year when I looked for it.

We talked about the steps and how a cycle repeats. It also helped to explain why the pumpkins are green for a while by comparing them with tomatoes and bananas that are green before they are ripe. 

I had the Kindergarteners shorten the cycle to 4 steps of the life cycle and their end products looked something like these.

For the first graders, we talked a little more about what cycle means and that it repeats. We added the step of the green pumpkin into the life cycle also. Here are some of their products.

Plant Big 6

We are working on a plant project in third grade. We did a similar project last year, but this year we are not doing unusual plants. I am trying to build in the Big 6 and Super 3 more often with my classes so the information will hopefully travel with them year to year as they get more used to hearing it and doing it. So, we are using the Big 6 process to research plants. They will be taking notes, compiling their information, and creating a powerpoint about their plants. We have just started working on note taking and discussing that notes should be important key words, not whole sentences. Here are some of the kids getting started.

Our state is kind enough to fund several resources through NC Wise Owl, so we are using the Britannica encyclopedia through that to read about their assigned plant. They are working with a partner. I can't wait to see what their finished products look like!

Become a Botanist?

Third and fourth graders have been learning about plants so we used this site for a web scavenger hunt. This site is sponsored by the Missouri Botanical Garden and includes information about several different biomes including the plants, animals, and more in each biome. The kids enjoyed it so much a few asked if they could get to it at home to look at the biomes they didn't have a chance to get to! This was a great way for them to practice following directions on the scavenger hunt, skimming for information, and paraphrasing the answers in addition to learning about plant adaptations. Check it out!

Harvesting Unusual Plants in 3rd Grade

A third grade class presented the powerpoints they made about unusual plants to parents today as part of their harvest festival for Thanksgiving. They followed it up with apple cider and dirt with worms (aka chocolate cookies and pudding with gummy worms). The students did a great job. Here are some pictures from their presentations.

Plants With A Cool Factor

3rd grade has been working on plants and reading about Venus Fly Traps, so we thought it was a perfect time for a plant research project to get the kids reacquainted with research since summer break. Working with partners, they each drew the name of an interesting plant, did the research, then created a powerpoint. A simple project, but they really got excited about designing the powerpoints, color schemes, and so forth. Main goals for the kids included paraphrasing and citing sources. Students really struggle with taking notes in short phrases, so I modeled it first. They did a pretty good job! Here are some of the notes they ended up with.

After the note taking, they used their notes to write out what they wanted the powerpoints to say. This way they were sure to use their own words and practice using notes.

Once they had their sentences, they created their powerpoints. Then, the fun started. After entering all their information and citations, they could get creative and play with fonts, colors, backgrounds, and pictures. We talked about representing their plants, so not using backgrounds of things like fireworks. I also showed the students using an example how certain colors won't show up very well and certain fonts work fine for titles, but not for large blocks of text. They did a good job and got creative. Here are a few slide sets that resulted. 

We are all so proud of all our students!

Voki about plants

Another way to present the same plant information without having to record student voices is to use Voki. You can record or type the text and create your own avatar figure as well. Here is an example using almost the same information as the Blabberize in the last post.

Plant Blabberizing

Blabberize is a super fun way to present information, if you can get it to work. It took me several tries today to get the record function to work for my sample, so I have to test it a bit more before we use it, but my goal is to use Blabberize with third grade research as a way to present some information we find out plants. It is so much fun to do and a quick way to present the information, when it works right! Here is a short example I made today with the dandelion. I tried to embed it below, but it seems to sometimes not be working!