- “Plants All Around” chart
- plant
- root
- sunlight
MA Standards:
Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners during daily routines and play.
Language/L.PK.MA.1: Demonstrate use of oral language in informal everyday activities.
Language/L.PK.MA.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, listening to books read aloud, activities, and play.
Head Start Outcomes
Language Development/Receptive Language: Attends to language during conversations, songs, stories, or other learning experiences.
Logic and Reasoning/Reasoning and Problem Solving: Classifies, compares, and contrasts objects, events, and experiences.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 2: Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and answer relevant questions.
Science and Technology/Life Sciences 10: Observe and identify the characteristics and needs of living things: humans, animals, and plants.
Talk Together: Plants and Roots
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: There are many different types of plants and seeds; Plants have different parts: roots, stems, leaves, and fruit; Plants need water and sunlight to grow; Plants grow in places where they get their needs met; Plants often grow in some type of dirt
ELA Focus Skills: Speaking and Listening, Vocabulary
Ask children if they saw any trees on their way home yesterday. Were they able to find the roots? Encourage them to describe the tree and its roots. Ask,
- What do you think trees need in order to live and grow?
- How do you think a tree gets those things?
- How do you think trees get the water they need to live and grow?
Ask children if they used their string to measure a tree. If children have brought in their strings, compare the trunk sizes. Then ask children if they have any ideas they want to dictate, draw, or write on the “Plants All Around” chart. Remind children that plants need time to grow (just like the carrot in “The Carrot Seed”) and they will have time each day to see if there is any change.