Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring

Name of Teacher Candidate: Amelia Ritch Date: April 19, 2022

Grade Level:
Pre-K
Lesson Title:
Beans in a Bag
Curriculum Areas Addressed:
Science
Time Required: Instructional Groupings: Are you using whole group,
45 Minutes small group, partners, quads, homogeneous,
Large Group Time heterogeneous?
Whole group at their tables
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.

CD-SC3.4a Observes, explores and describes a variety of animals and plants. Describes their basic needs and life
cycles.

As a result of this lesson students will…

Essential Question: (Essential questions should be used to guide instruction.)

What do plants need to survive?

How can I give a seed what it needs to sprout?

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.)

As a result of this lesson, students will:

 Be able to identify the basic needs of plants
 Be able to sort things that plants need and do not need
 Give a bean what it needs to grow

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.)

Seed: the small part of a flowering plant that grows into a plant
Bean: the seed or seed pod of different plants
Plant needs: air, sunlight, water, nutrients

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.)

The students will listen to The Dandelion Seed by Joseph Anthony and verbally answer the questions that I ask
about plants. They will gain the vocabulary about plants by understanding the book and listening as we discuss
the plant needs. They will demonstrate their understanding of the material by organizing their thoughts on the
graphic organizer and applying their knowledge to the bean planting experiment.
Early Childhood Program – Lesson Plan Format – Junior Spring John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Georgia College
Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring

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.)

The students will organize what plants need and do not need in a graphic organizer on the interactive panel. The
sorting items will be pictures of different materials that plants either do or do not need, and there will be words
under the pictures to label them.

Assessment (Each learning objective must be assessed. How will students demonstrate their understanding or
the 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.)

The students’ understanding of the basic needs of a plant will be assessed as the students sort items that a plant
needs and does not need. I will use a matrix of the class and check off which students correctly identify plant
needs. The students’ ability to give a bean what it needs to grow will be assessed by their bean planting
experiment. I will also walk around and observe and ask probing questions about the experiment design of each
student.

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.)

I will assess their understanding of a plant’s need for water by looking to see if they put water in the bag with
the bean. If they decide to put water in the bag, then they know that plants need water to grow. I will assess
their understanding of a plant’s need for sunlight by seeing if they hang their bean near the window or not. If
they hang it on or near the window, they have shown that they know that plants need sunlight to grow.

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.)

I will bring in some dandelions for the students to look at. The dandelions will be at different points in their life
cycle- some will be new yellow flowers, and some will be the flowers made up of white seeds. Next, I will show
them a time lapse of a dandelion flower turning from yellow to white. Then, I will tell them that the seeds live
in the inside of the flower, and I will explain that for the dandelion to grow, a seed had to be planted. Seed need
certain things in order to grow into a big flower.

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.)

After the students are introduced to the dandelion, I will tell them that they will be learning all about plants.
They will get to learn where plants come from, what plants need to grow, and how to plant a seed.

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
Early Childhood Program – Lesson Plan Format – Junior Spring John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Georgia College
Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring

with their cultural backgrounds should be evident.)

1. Read The Dandelion Seed by Joseph Anthony about a seed that grows into a plant
 Ask, “What do seeds need to grow?”
 Ask, “What do seeds turn into?”
 When the book is finished, point back to the dandelion, and explain that the flower came from a
little seed just like the one in the book
2. Give the students a brain break
 Play this movement song and dance
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCKEdDEr82k
3. Display the interactive graphic organizer on the board
 Explain that plants need water, nutrients, sunlight, and air
 Call one student up to the board at a time to sort the pictures into the plant needs and not plant
needs side of the chart
4. Ask the students to go to their tables
 Have the plastic baggies, paper towels, water, beans, and tape laid out at each desk
5. Tell the students to use the materials to make a place for the bean to sprout
 Have one teacher at each table to demonstrate how to wet the paper towel and put the bean in it
 Once they have put their bean in the bag, write their name on their bag
 Have the students hang the bean somewhere in the room to let it grow

Closure/Wrap up: (Describe how the CONTENT of the lesson will be summarized.)

After the students have finished hanging up their bean, I will call on four different students to tell me the
different needs of plants. I will then ask students to share their idea for giving their bean what it needs to sprout
and grow. Finally, I will play the movement song one more time.

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.)

The Dandelion Seed by Eric Carle

Interactive panel with graphic organizer

Materials for the bean planting experiment

 Water
 Paper towels
 Staples
 Plastic Ziploc bags
 Beans

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.)

http://www.differencebetween.net/science/nature/difference-between-seeds-and-beans/
 On this website, I learned the differences between seeds and beans. I used this information to help me
decide to use lima beans for the planting portion of this lesson.
Early Childhood Program – Lesson Plan Format – Junior Spring John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Georgia College
Early Childhood Program Lesson Plan Format Junior Spring

https://kids.wordsmyth.net/we/?level=2&rid=32495
 I used this website to define the vocabulary words in terms that kids will better understand.

https://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/Slide-Shows/Bean-Sprouts
 I used this website to come up with the experiment design and materials for this lesson.

Other Relevant Information

Clear Links to Learning Theories, Educational Research, and Principles of Development:

Maria Montessori believed in competence and responsibility in the classroom. She believed that teachers
should make opportunities for students to learn by doing. This lesson promotes competence and responsibility
as the students will be allowed to come up with a plan to grow their bean and test their plan through
experimentation. This lesson also promotes cognitive development as the students will be given the
opportunity to reason through what plants might need to grow and put their understanding into practice. They
will also be able to explore the need for sunlight as they can place their bean anywhere in the classroom. In
addition, fine motor skills will be developed as the students manipulate and put together their materials for a
bean plant. . The multiple intelligences that are catered to in this lesson are naturalist intelligence, bodily-
kinesthetic intelligence, and logical intelligence.

Connections to Technology and/or the Arts:

The students will be using the interactive white board to sort items into the categories of “plant needs” and
“not plant needs.” They will be given the opportunity to come up to the board and interact with it themselves.

Description of Collaboration with Others: (These might include the inclusion teacher, media specialist,
counselor, guest speaker, grade level coordinator, community experts, families, etc.)

I coordinated with my partner teacher, and we came up with the idea to let the students choose where to tape
their beans. By doing that, the students can see the effect that sunlight has on the seed sprouting. Also, I
collaborated with her about the theme and standard of this lesson because they will be learning plants during
the week that I will teach.

Early Childhood Program – Lesson Plan Format – Junior Spring John H. Lounsbury College of Education, Georgia College