- garden
- grow
MA Standards:
Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.2: Recall information for short periods of time and retell, act out, or represent information from a text read aloud, a recording, or a video (e.g., watch a video about birds and their habitats and make drawings or constructions of birds and their nests).
Head Start Outcomes:
Language Development/Receptive Language: Attends to language during conversations, songs, stories, or other learning experiences.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 12: Listen to, recite, sing, and dramatize a variety of age-appropriate literature.
EEC Infant and Toddler Guidelines
PW50.: The older toddler engages in a variety of physical activities.
Watch Together: “You Never Hear the Garden Grow” (BTL clip) #2
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care. All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: Plants grow in many places; Plants often grow in some type of dirt; Plants exhibit diversity and variation
ELA Focus Skills: Active Viewing, Motor Skills, Follow Directions, Listening and Speaking, Vocabulary
Before You Watch
Tell children they will watch the Between the Lions video of the poem “You Never Hear the Garden Grow.” Set a viewing focus by asking children to watch what happens as the garden grows.
Play the video for children. Act out the movements of the poem with children: roots “shove” and “reach” down, stems “shoot up,” leaves “unfurl,” etc.
After You Watch
Recite the poem again with children. Invite children to act out the movements again. Ask children,
- Why do you think the author says you never hear a garden grow?
- Do you think you might hear any sounds as a garden grows? (weeding, watering)
- Encourage children to use any sound words they know to describe the actions of a garden growing.
You Never Hear the Garden Grow by Lilian Moore
Row on row, (scrunch up in a ball on ground)
You never hear the garden grow.
Seeds split. (uncurl body a little bit)
Roots shove and reach. (stick out legs)
Earth heaves. (get on knees, straighten back)
Leaves unfurl. (reach out arms)
Stems pierce the ground. (arms push upward)
Pea pods fatten. (slowly stand)
Vines stretch and curl. (stretch body and twist arms as if curling around a pole)
Such growing going on without a sound. (sway as if a breeze)
“You Never Hear the Garden Grow” by Lilian Moore, used with permission. Text © by Lilian Moore. All Rights Reserved.
Adaptation: Display a “You Never Hear the Garden Grow” poem chart. Ask children to find this week’s target letter “Vv” in the words. (never, shove, heaves, leaves, vines) Ask what other letters or words children recognize.
