Gwynedd Mercy University

School of Education
Seeking Truth, Mercy, and Justice
Your Name: Jennifer Lundy

Date: November 12, 2015

School: Gwynedd Mercy Academy

Grade/Topic: Kindergarten / Plant Life Cycle

STANDARD: PDE 3.1a: Biological Sciences: Living and Non-Living Organisms

PERFORMANCE EXPECTATION(s)/STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVE(s):
Students will identify the stages of the life cycle for a green bean plant by recognizing
and sequencing life cycle stage pieces as a group, as well as working individually to
sequence the illustrations of the life cycle stages of the green bean plant using a skill
sheet.
I.

PLANNING AND PREPARATION:

1.

Briefly describe the students in your class, including those with special
needs, explain how you will meet the needs of all learners.
This is a Kindergarten class of 20 students, one of whom has an auditory
processing disorder and is included in the class for a majority of the day.
There are 12 boys and eight girls in the class. A variety of strategies will
help to meet the needs of all learners.

2.

Many of the students have a difficult time following directions;

therefore, I will repeat the directions several times throughout the
activity while checking for understanding as I move around the
classroom.

For the student with APD, I will repeat the directions to the student,
then have the student repeat the directions back to me to be sure the
student heard them clearly.

I will wear a frequency modulation system in the form of a microphone

and transmitter while the student with APD will wear an assistive
listening device to help the student hear me more clearly.

What are your expectations for this lesson? What do you want students to
learn and be able to do with the knowledge?

Students will be able to identify the stages of the life cycle for a green
bean plant by recognizing and sequencing life cycle pieces and
illustrations of the green bean plant. The students will gain an
understanding that all types of plants go through the stages of the life
cycle.

3.

4.

Why are these expectations suitable for this group of students?

These expectations are suitable for this group of students because

many of the students in the class are unable to read at this point;
therefore, using illustrations on a skill sheet to help the students
sequence the stages of the life cycle for a green bean plant is
appropriate.

Sequencing is an integral part of learning and helps to build skills in

pre-reading, comprehension, and writing. It also helps students to
understand events in their lives by understanding the order in which
they occur; similar to: the life cycle of plants, animals, or bugs.

How do these expectations support the school districts curriculum, state

standards, and content standards?
These expectations are consistent with the PA Early Childhood Education
Standards for Science. PDE 3.1a: Biological Sciences: Living and NonLiving Organisms performance expectation 3.1a.3 is to identify stages of
life cycles for plants and animals. This is part of the benchmarks for
grades Pre K- 3.

5.

Explain the psychological principles/theories you used in constructing this

lesson.
This lesson is designed around the Constructivist Theory by Jean Piaget.
This theory suggests that learners construct knowledge out of their
experiences, and it promotes learning by doing. The students using life
cycle pieces and illustrations to sequence the stages of the life cycle for
the green bean plant allows them to physically see that the plant grows
and changes in a specific order. In this lesson there are also elements of
Cooperative Learning, which is an integral part of the learning process.
This is done with the grouping of the students and the KWL chart that is
completed as a class. This allows students to work together while learning
from one another.

II. CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT:

6.

7.

Describe the effective classroom routines and procedures resulting in little

or no loss of instructional time.

All materials will be prepared ahead of time and placed in the

teachers Science bin for quick and easy access.

While the students are putting away their Math materials, I will begin
to discuss the things that we have already learned the previous day in
Science, signaling to them that we are beginning our new or continued
Science activity/lesson.

The students desks will already be placed in five groups of four, which
will be changed around every two months, so students are already in
small groups needed for group work.

I will organize any skill sheets, lab sheets, or activity materials into
five groups of four to be quickly handed out in bags. Each group of
four will already have a designated group secretary for the group,
which will be the person in charge of distributing the skills sheets, lab
sheets, or materials to each person in the group for the activity. The
group secretary will also be the person that is in charge of
collecting the materials to be put away at the end of the activity.

While the activity is taking place, I will be walking around the

classroom to check for understanding, to keep students on task, and to
ask thinking questions to any group that may be struggling to
complete the green bean plant life cycle sequence.

Identify what you will do to set clear standards of conduct and behavior
management of student behavior.
Using the Assertive Discipline model from Lee Canter, classroom rules,
rewards, and consequences will have been developed earlier in the school
year. Each student and parent/guardian will have signed and received
their own copy. A copy of the classroom rules will also be posted at the
front of the room and referred to/ reviewed as needed.

8.

Identify what you will do to establish expectations for student

achievement.
I will always encourage the students each day to do their best. The
students will be reminded that they are working together in a group of
four, and that there are four stages of the green bean plants life cycle;
therefore, each person can have the chance to put one piece of the life
cycle in sequence order before we begin our individual activity.

III.

INSTRUCTION:
9.

10.

What will you do to motivate students?

I will have a green bean plant sitting at the front of the classroom
along with a jar of green bean seeds, which will spark the students
curiosity.

I will hold up the jar of green bean seeds and ask the question, Does
anyone know what is in this jar? I will listen to the students guesses,
then make sure that they know there are seeds in the jar. Following
this, I will point to the green bean plant and ask, Does anyone know
what this is? After listening to a students response, I will make sure
they know that the plant is a green bean plant.

After showing both the seeds and the plant to the students, and
explaining that the plant is a green bean plant, I will ask, If this is a
green bean plant, what kind of seeds do you think I have in this jar? I
will listen to the students response and make sure that they know the
jar contains the seeds of green beans.

Following this, I will explain that we will be learning about the life
cycle of a green bean plant, and that each of these things I have shown
them has something to do with it.

What will you do to activate prior knowledge?

I will conduct a KWL chart with the students to find out what they
know about plants, what they want to know, and finally, what they
have learned. We will fill out the K and W portion of the chart as
a class with me writing the students responses on the board before we
listen to the story and begin our activity.

11.

The level of Blooms used is: Level 1- Remembering. The students will
have to recall information that they already know about plants, as well
as information that they are interested in knowing.

How do you plan to engage students in the content? What will you do?
What will students do?
The materials that will be needed for this activity will be:
o The jar of beans and the green bean plant (used during
motivation)
o

five bags (one for each group) filled with the following materials:
a) numbered green bean plant life cycle pieces (one set per
group)
b) one laminated sheet numbered one through four, which is
labeled with each stage of the plant life cycle
c) four plant life cycle sequencing skill sheets (one for each
group member)
o glue sticks and crayons (located in each students desk)
o scissors for cutting the life cycle skill sheets (one per child)
o the book From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

Following Math:

Teacher will present jar of seeds and green bean plant to begin
discussion.

Students will participate in discussion about seeds and green bean

plant.

Teacher will hand out bags filled with materials to each group and
instruct the students not to open the bags just yet.

This is where we will process the KWL chart as a class, which will lead
into the reading of our story.

Teacher will ask students What do you know about plants? What do
you want to know about plants?

Students will help teacher fill in the KWL chart by participating in

class discussion.

Teacher will write student responses on the board for the K and
W section as they are said.

Teacher will read book From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons to the
class.

Teacher will ask comprehension and prediction questions during story

to get the students thinking, and pause to address and answer anything
that might have been in the W section of the KWL chart as it is
read.

Students will participate by answering questions and making

predictions as the teacher asks.

Teacher will ask students what they learned from the story to begin
class discussion and to gain answers to fill in the L section on the
KWL chart.

Students will participate in discussion about what they learned about

plants by listening to the story.

Teacher will fill in the L portion of the KWL chart writing the
students responses on the board as they are said.

Following the story:

Teacher will say, write, and number each of the stages of the green
bean plant life cycle on the board.

Teacher will instruct the group secretary to remove the contents of

the groups bag and hand out any skill sheets located in the bag.

Teacher will hold up pieces of the plant life cycle and explain that
there are numbers on the bottom of each one, which indicates the
piece of the life cycle that each student will be placing on the labeled
life cycle stage sheet in sequence order during their group work.

Teacher will model how and where to place the first stage on the
labeled life cycle stage sheet for students, then will explain that they
will think back to the story to put the remaining pieces in order as a
group.

Students will work in small groups of four to place the life cycle pieces
onto the labeled life cycle stage sheet in sequence order. Each group
member will place one piece on the sheet.

Teacher will walk around the room to assist any group in sequencing
the life cycle correctly and to ask thinking questions.

Once the groups have arranged their numbered life cycle pieces for the
the green bean plant life cycle in the correct sequence order on the
labeled life cycle stage sheet:

The teacher will say the names of each of the stages of the life cycle as
he/she points to it and have the students repeat after him/her.

The teacher will instruct the students to get their crayons out of their
desk and get their illustrated green bean plant life cycle skill sheet,
and use their crayons to color each of the different stages.

The students will get their crayons out of their desks and color the
different stages on the life cycle skill sheet.

The teacher will instruct the group secretary to come up to the

scissors bin and collect one pair of scissors for each person in the
group.

The teacher will instruct the students to use their scissors to cut out
each of the different stages of the life cycle of the green bean plant that
they just colored, then to arrange the illustrated stages in sequence
order before gluing them on to the rectangles on the other half of the
paper they just cut the pieces out from.

The students will use their scissors to cut out each of the different
stages, then will arrange the illustrations in sequence order.

The teacher will walk around to make sure that each of the students
has their illustrated life cycle stages in the correct sequence order
before instructing them to glue the stages on.

The teacher will instruct the students to get out their glue sticks from
their desks and glue each of the stages onto the rectangles found on
the other half of the paper that they just cut.

The students will glue each of the stages of the life cycle for the green
bean plant in sequence order onto the rectangles.

Once the students have completed the activity:

12.

The teacher will instruct the students to put away their crayons and
glue sticks and the group secretary to collect and put away any
materials that were used such as; scissors as well as the bags with the
numbered plant life cycle pieces.

Describe the use of questioning and discussion strategies that will

encourage students to participate in class.

During the motivation portion of the lesson, questions will be asked

to the students regarding the seeds and the green bean plant that I
hold up to get them thinking about what we are doing, and to get them
interested in doing the lesson.

A KWL chart will be used to activate prior knowledge, which asks the
students what they know, what they want to know, and what they
learned.

During the reading of the book From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons, I
will ask comprehension and prediction questions to keep the students
focused and engaged in the story. If a question is answered from the
W portion of our KWL chart, I will be sure to point that out and
discuss it with the students so they can participate in answering the
L portion of our KWL chart at the end of the story.

Students will work in cooperative learning groups to sequence the life

cycle stages of the green bean plant using the life cycle pieces and the
labeled life cycle stages sheet, which allows the students to discuss
what order they think the life cycle stages should go in based on what
they remember from the story.

The levels of Blooms Taxonomies that are used are:

Level 1- Remembering. The students will have to recall

information that they already know about the plants, as well as
information that they are interested in knowing.

Level 2- Understanding. The students will have to understand the

stages of the life cycle in order to put them in sequence order using
both the life cycle pieces and the labeled illustrations.

13.

14.

What difficulties do students typically experience in this area, and how do

you plan to adapt/modify to meet their needs?

The difficulties that students could experience might be fighting over

who will hand out materials and who will put materials away in each
group. To avoid this, each group of four students will have a group
secretary that will be chosen weekly. The group secretary will be
in charge of handing out materials as well as putting the materials
away for their group. Each of the students in the group will have the
chance to be the group secretary There will be a number from onefour on their name tags at their desks and I will write the number on
the board next to a space labeled group secretary to indicate whos
turn it is for the week.

Another difficulty could be fighting over who will put the life cycle
pieces in sequence order. To avoid this, the students will be instructed
to look at the bottom of the pieces, which will contain a number from
one four. Since there are four life cycle pieces and four students in
each group with a number written on their name tags, the students will
be instructed to take the piece that matches their number, which will
be the piece that they put into the sequence order.

The students may also choose to talk to one another instead of

working together or when it is time to work individually. I will walk
around the class as the groups are doing the group work and
individual work to ensure that students stay on task.

Identify what informal and/or formal assessments you will use to monitor
student learning.
Informal assessments:

15.

Student responses during class discussions

Student responses during the L portion of our KWL chart

Teacher observations during the group work of sequencing the life

cycle pieces using the stages of the green bean plant.

Completed skill sheet sequencing the identified illustrations of the

stages of the life cycle of the green bean plant.

What will you do to bring closure to the lesson?

9

I will review what we learned in class today through listening to the story,
sequencing and identifying the life cycle pieces as a group, and
sequencing the illustrations individually by having the students repeat the
name of each stage of the green bean plant life cycle aloud with me. After
this, I will explain that tomorrow, we will be planting our own green bean
seed to see how long they will take to grow into a plant.

10