Lesson 3 Plant Research

Materials:

Garden books, commercial seed packets and the Internet.
 

Background:

Knowing who around campus has knowledge about the names of plants is helpful in the case of not being able to identify a certain plant. You can use people around campus as a last resource when stuck on identifying a plant.

It helps if have some good sites bookmarked for the children to search.

I teach the procedures to my students as a whole class. The actual activity (individual practice) is done is pairs or small groups.
 

Objectives:

To find informaton on a specific plant. Plant identification.
To use resources for locating information. General botanical/gardening knowledge.
 

Estimated Time:

It takes approximately 20 minutes to teach the procedure to the whole class. Teacher needs to be available for help when the individual students or small groups are researching their plant. It takes the students from 15 to 30 minutes to finish their work.
 

Vocabulary:

Seed packet, commercial, research, identification, genus, climate, zone, depth, sow, spacing, row, harvest, germinate, seedlings, diameter, variety, bloom, heigth, common name, scientific name, annual, perenial.

Procedure:

1. Show the students the different resources for identifying plants. I have several books such as Sunset's Western Garden Book, seed packets and the Internet.
2. Model identifying a plant by searching through the books and seed packets.
3. Model identifying a plant by searching on the Internet.

• Demo to the entire class how to do a search. I start by going to  http://smbsd.k12.ca.us/studentlinks.htm  and start from there. (below are some good sites for finding the information.

4. Once you find the name of your plant write down all the relevant information that you think you made need later for making plant trading cards, seed packets or other projects.
5. After modeling for the students how to identify a plant have them work in pairs on identifing their chosen plant.

Assessment:

Rubric:

4 points   Completed independently
3 points   Completed with the help of a peer expert
2 points   Completed with the help of the teacher
1 point     Completed partially
0 points    Did not participate

Sites for researching plants:

Links to Plant Information http://geocities.com/graciesgifts/plant.htm

Botany Encyclopedia  http://botany.com/

Etera's plant Search http://etera.com/school/plants/default.asp?sp=186&Srx=1

Plant Encyclopedia  http://wildaboutgardening.org/en/growing/section4/

Plant Encyclopedia http://expertree.net/plantorder.html

Common Name Index  http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/comindx.html

Plant Search http://planetplants.co.uk/Products.htm
 Go to:   http://planetplants.co.uk/Products.htm#Online Plant Encyclopedia

Kid Info - Plants  http://kidinfo.com/Science/plants.html

Plant Tips and Facts  http://edelsoft.net/garden/plants.htm

Digital Librarian http://digital-librarian.com/gardening.html

NeoFlora Plant Database http://neoflora.com/