Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring
Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring
Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring
Lesson Title:
Introduction to Plants
Curriculum Areas Addressed:
Science, Langugage Arts
Time Required: Instructional Groupings: Are you using whole group,
30-45 Minutes small group, partners, quads, homogeneous,
heterogeneous?
Individual, Whole group
Standards: List the GPS/CCGPS that are the target of student learning and are key to this lesson. Include the
number and the text of each of the GPS/CCGPS that is being addressed. If only a portion of a standard is addressed,
include only the part or parts that are relevant.
S2L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the life cycles of different living organisms.
b. Plan and carry out an investigation of the life cycle of a plant by growing a plant from a seed and by recording
changes over a period of time.
ELAGSE2RL1: Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate
understanding of key details in a text.
As a result of this lesson students will…
Essential Question: (Essential questions should be used to guide instruction.)
What do plants rely on to live and grow?
Learning Objectives: (Objectives are stated in measurable/observable terms. These should reflect the thinking
skills, skills of the discipline. These represent the skills that will be assessed.)
1. As a result of this unit, the students will know the names and functions of plant parts: roots, stem, leaf,
flowers and seed. As well as plant needs; light, water, air, soil and food.
2. As a result of this lesson, students will understand and classify their previous knowledge about plants.
3. As a result of this lesson, students will be able to make observations, ask questions, describe, compare and
contrast.
Support for Academic Language
Vocabulary: (What Academic Language will be taught or developed? Identify the key vocabulary and/or symbols
specific to the content area. These may be derived from the standards.)
autumn, winter, spring, summer, plant, seed, life cycle, water, sun, air, garden, edible
Language Demands: (Language demands is defined as the specific ways that academic language (vocabulary,
functions, discourse, syntax) is used by students to participate in learning tasks through reading, writing, listening,
and/or speaking to demonstrate their disciplinary understanding. Identify the following way/ways that students will
participate in learning tasks to demonstrate disciplinary understanding: reading, writing, listening, or oral
language.)
Students will participate in a “Find Someone Who..” Bingo activity at the beginning of the lesson. Students will be
encouraged to ask questions about unfamiliar words. Students will also participate in a read aloud of The Tiny Seed
by Eric Carle in which they will develop their vocabulary through an activity prior to reading and answer think-
aloud comprehension questions to monitor the development of their language as it relates to the unit and the book.
Throughout the unit, students will be participating in a closing alphabet activity in which they will have to call on
their knowledge of language relating to plants to form sentences that begin with the letter of the alphabet that they
draw.
Syntax: (Syntax is defined as the set of conventions for organizing symbols, words, and phrases together into
structures, such as sentences, tables, or graphs. Identify the supports that will be provided for students to organize
the information – charts, graphs, diagrams. These must relate to the Language Function.)
Throughout the lesson and the unit, students will be using an anchor chart to organize their knowledge about plants,
their needs & parts, as they develop new understanding. Also, beginning in this lesson students will begin to record
their observations of the growth of a plant from seed to plant in an observation booklet, calling them to rely on prior
and developing understanding to analyze the slow growth of the plant. Based on the letter a student draws, they will
form a sentence and with the approval of their classmates for the accuracy of their statement. These sentences will
be recorded in the poewerpoint to model their growing understanding.
Assessment (Each learning objective must be assessed. How will students demonstrate their understanding or the
Early Childhood Program – Lesson Plan Format – Junior Spring John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Georgia College
Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring
lesson’s objectives? How will you provide feedback for the students? What type of assessment will be used? What
evidence will be collected to demonstrate students’ understanding/mastery of the lesson’s objective? What
constitutes success for the students?)
Assessment Strategy: (Identify the assessment strategy/strategies to be used for assessment of the learning
objectives listed above. Each learning objective should be assessed. DO NOT restate the learning objective.)
Pre- Assessment: Students will participate in a “Find Someone Who..” Bingo activity at the beginning of the lesson.
This will help students to understand and classify their previous knowledge about plants. The teacher will monitor
and make note of prior understanding through this activity.
Formative: Teacher will monitor understanding throughout the read aloud through modeling think-aloud
comprehension and posing thoughtful questions that engage the student in their own comprehension and
understanding. Teacher will make note of the student’s knowledge throughout the read aloud.
Summative: Have each table group complete the closing activity with the help of their peers. Have the student come
up with the sentence they believe to be true and then do a thumbs up/ thumbs down for whether that is correct.
Evaluation Criteria: (Indicate the qualities by which levels of performance can be differentiated and that anchor
judgments about the learner’s degree of success on an assessment.)
In the pre-assessment, if ½ of the class is able to make a BINGO, move on to the read aloud. If less than ½ the class
is able to make a BINGO, ask students to think aloud as a class about some of the squares that were not filled.
In the formative assessment, the teacher will be sure to review the vocabulary words at the end of the story again and
if the class gets 80% right, move along to the activity,
With guidance from the teacher and classmates, if students are able to produce 2-3 factual statements out of the
alphabet activity, students will have gained the understanding necessary to move along to the next lesson.
Steps in the Lesson (Include the attention getter or the hook for the lesson; the introduction; the lesson procedures
including strategies/planned supports for whole‐class, small group, and individual instructions; and differentiated
activities.)
Attention Getter or Hook: (State how the attention of the students will be piqued at the start of the lesson.)
Each student will be given a “Find Someone Who..” Bingo activity sheet. Students will be instructed to Walk around
the room and find a neighbor who completes the action in each box. Once they get 5 in a row, they will shout
BINGO! (see handout)
Introduction: (State how the lesson will be introduced. This should communicate the purpose of the lesson, be
directly related to the goals and objectives of the lesson, tap into prior knowledge/experiences, and develop student
interest.)
Interactive read aloud of The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
Provide students with vocabulary cards to introduce important vocabulary that will be discussed throughout the read
aloud (see vocabulary section for these words)
Begin the read aloud by asking students to form some questions about the cover. Get a question for each question
stem who, what, where, when, why, and how. Record these on the whiteboard.
Tell students with vocabulary cards to hold them up when they hear their word in the story.
Throughout the story, ask question such as “What do we know so far about where seeds will not grow?”, “What
things happen during this season where we live?”, “What plants do you see outside when you play?”, and so on.
At the end of the story, see if students can answer the questions they posed at the beginning of the story.
Collect and Review Vocabulary words by giving the definition and seeing if the students can produce the vocabulary
words.
Instructional Strategies: (Use a bulleted or numbered format to communicate the procedures for the lesson – what
the teacher will do as well as what the student will do. Describe the strategies which will be used to support
students’ learning. Knowledge of students’ cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development along with their
cultural backgrounds should be evident.)
Provide each student with a baggie, a bean, cotton balls, a green house print out, markers and an observation
booklet.
Explain that we are each going to plant our own seed today and watch it grow over time.
Ask students to make verbal observations of their ‘plant’ currently. What colors are there? What size is it?
Have them place their seed into the baggie with the watered cotton balls, decorate their greenhouse and tape onto the
classroom window facing the outdoor greenspace.
Have them each record their Day 0 observations in their observation log.
Closure/Wrap up: (Describe how the CONTENT of the lesson will be summarized.)
Each table group will be given the opportunity to draw from the alphabet bag to create a sentence about plants with
Early Childhood Program – Lesson Plan Format – Junior Spring John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Georgia College
Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring
the letter they draw. Students will be allowed to talk about this with their peers and will come to a decision about
their plant sentence. Once approved by teacher, and the other table groups through a thumbs up/ thumbs down
assessment they will be asked to add their sentence to the anchor chart.
Instructional Supports
Resources and Materials Used to Engage Students in Learning (Provide citations for all resources that you did
not create. Attach key instructional material needed to understand what you and the students will be doing.
Examples: class handouts, assignments, slides, and interactive white board images.)
Downloaded from Teachers Pay Teachers:
Greenhouse in a Bag Cutout by: Toledo Grows
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Greenhouse-in-a-Bag-Cutout-5088765
Plant Observation Log Primary by: Creative Classrom Solutions
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Plant-Observation-Log-Primary-774117
The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
Additional Resources and Materials Used to Increase Teacher’s Background Knowledge of the Content: (List
any websites and sources of materials and background information that you will need or use as the teacher to
engage the students.)
Developmentally Appropriate Practice. NAEYC (Editors: Carol Copple and Sue Bredekamp)
Description of Collaboration with Others: (These might include the inclusion teacher, media specialist, counselor,
guest speaker, grade level coordinator, community experts, families, etc.)
Collaboration with partner teacher to discuss appropriate sequence of learning throughout the mini-unit.
Early Childhood Program – Lesson Plan Format – Junior Spring John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Georgia College