- a few fresh vegetables from a local grocery, such as a small bunch of carrots or radishes or a potato or turnip, with mud and roots still visible on them
- “Plants All Around” chart
- dirt
- root
- soil
- vegetable
MA Standards:
English Language Arts/Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners during daily routines and play.
English Language Arts/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.
Language Development/Expressive Language: Uses language to express ideas and needs.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 2: Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and answer relevant questions.
Talk Together: Garden Soil
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: Plants grow in many places; Plants get their needs met from the environment (their habitat); Some plant parts are below the ground and some above
ELA Focus Skills: Listening and Speaking, Vocabulary
Have children share what they know about how plants grow. Include new information on the “Plants All Around” chart as they dictate.
Display a few vegetables, such as a small bunch of carrots or radishes or a potato or turnip that still has dirt and roots visible. Ask children to identify the vegetables. Pass them around so every child has a chance to feel, smell, and observe them. Ask,
- Why do you think these vegetables have dirt on them?
- Why do you think they still have roots attached to them?
Elicit that the vegetable have been picked fresh from the soil of the garden or farm that they were grown in.