Unit 7: Watch It Grow

Sing the greeting song and hold up a name card. Have children clap the syllables in the name. Repeat until every child is included.

Have children describe plants around his or her home. Then examine a plant from last week’s exploration that has sprouted.

Explore the seeds and bulbs children planted last week. Have them record changes they see in the growing plants.

Discuss different types of gardens and begin to read the book Jack’s Garden.

Play the video Between the Lions “You Never Hear the Garden Grow.” Focus children on plant parts and how plants grow.

Sing the song about things plants need to grow.

Use the Target Letter and Word Routine to introduce children to the letter “Gg” and the word garden.

Help children understand how some words can be used in different ways by completing sentences.

Send a Family Connection letter home with children. Sing "Good-bye To You" as children depart.

Sing the song and have a child clap his or her name alone and then have all children join in. Repeat until every child is included.

Talk about plant parts and how each part helps the plant grow.

Measure plants using nonstandard measurement tools and have children record their measurements.

Help children measure the parts of a plant using a measuring object. Have them draw each plant part.

Have children draw a picture in their science notebooks and dictate an entry to go with the picture.

Play the video PEEP and the Big Wide World “Peep Plants a Seed.” Discuss what plants need to grow.

Read the book and talk about the tools and flowers in the story.

Discuss patience and how long it takes for plants to grow. Sing the song and act out the motions.

Play the Between the Lions video “Words Beginning with ‘g’.” Have children listen for /g/ words.

Have children hop for each part of a flower name.

Repeat the sentence “Goldie giggled at the garlic.” Challenge children to say the sentence faster and faster. 

Have a child jump up for each part of his or her name. Repeat until every child is included.

Review the parts of a plant. Emphasize the roles of roots and stems.

Plan a visit to a fruit and vegetable farm. Allow children to freely explore the plants.

Play the video PEEP and the Big Wide World “Exploring Small Spaces.” Have children compare things they found to what the children in the video found.

Reread the story and compare the girl’s garden to the garden in Jack’s Garden.

Recite the poem and substitute children’s names for the name “Mary.”

Open to the page in Flower Garden with the flower names. Have children clap the syllables in each flower name.

Children take turns picking up an object, naming it, and saying whether it begins with the /g/ sound and belongs in the /g/ bag or not.

Sing the greeting song and have children clap the parts in their names. Repeat until every child is included.

Review the farm visit. Reinforce that a seed will grow into the parent plant it came from.

Examine the seeds in three different fruits. Encourage children to draw, write, or dictate their observations to compare the seeds.  

Help children plant sunflower seeds.

Play the video PEEP and the Big Wide World “Peep Plants a Seed” again. Compare how Peep plants his seed to how children planted their seeds.

Have children try three different kinds of apples. Make a graph of which apple they liked the best.

Count the number of fingers on one hand. Recite the poem with the finger motions.

Ask children to move their letter “Gg” in and out of the circle when prompted by the song.

Recite the chant and have children listen for the words that end with the sound /g/.

Play the video Between The Lions “Word Morph: gold-goose-gourd.” Then challenge children to repeat the sentence, “Gus gets gourds from the garden.”

Send a Family Connection letter home with children.

Sing the chant and let each child choose whether to clap or hop the syllables in his or her name.

Review what children learned about plants. Have children share a page in their science notebooks.

Have children observe, record, and discuss the changes in the seeds and bulbs they planted.

Choose a book about plants to read. Have children discuss what they learned from the book.

Reinforce recognition of the letter “Gg” and the word garden by having children hunt for them in the room.

Say some words and have children repeat back the /g/ sound at the beginning of the words.

Say some words and have children repeat back the /g/ sound at the beginning of the words.