Learning Activity

Planting Vocabulary Knowledge Part 1

Subject Area

English Language Arts
Science

Grade(s)

3

Overview

This activity serves as an introduction to the life cycle of a plant. The video will provide a visual to engage students in expanding their background knowledge and building vocabulary acquisition. After the video, the teacher will utilize a Jamboard to lead a discussion of the following words: germinate, photosynthesis, and pollinate. The students will create a definition based on the context of the word in the video, their background knowledge, and the word's structure including prefixes, root words, and suffixes.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 3

ELA21.3.13

Utilize new academic, content-specific, grade-level vocabulary to make connections to previously learned words and relate new words to background knowledge.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.3.13

Vocabulary

  • Utilize
  • Academic vocabulary
  • Content-specific vocabulary
  • Grade-level vocabulary
  • Connections
  • Relating
  • Background knowledge

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Academic, content-specific, grade-level vocabulary words.
  • Content-specific vocabulary refers to words used in different subjects learned in school such as reading, math, social studies, science.
  • New vocabulary words can be learned by relating them to previously learned words and background knowledge.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Use new academic, content-specific vocabulary by making connections to previously learned words.
  • Use new academic, content-specific vocabulary by relating new words to background knowledge.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Academic, content-specific vocabulary words are used in different school subjects, like reading, math, social studies, and science.
  • They can learn new vocabulary words by making connections to previously learned words or their background knowledge.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 3

ELA21.3.13a

Make connections to a word’s structure using knowledge of phonology, morphology, and orthography of the word to aid learning.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.3.13a

Vocabulary

  • Word structure
  • Phonology
  • Morphology
  • Orthography

Knowledge

  • Phonology (speech sounds within words).
  • Morphology (meaningful units of words).
  • Orthography (the written representation of language).

Skills

  • Make connections to a word's structure using speech sounds, meaningful word parts, and spelling of the word to aid learning.

Understanding

  • Identifying a word's phonological, morphological, and orthographic structure can help them determine the meaning of a word, as well as the word's origin.
Science (2015) Grade(s): 3

SC15.3.6

Create representations to explain the unique and diverse life cycles of organisms other than humans (e.g., flowering plants, frogs, butterflies), including commonalities such as birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

Unpacked Content

UP:SC15.3.6

Vocabulary

  • Create
  • Explain
  • Representations
  • Unique
  • Diverse
  • Commonalities
  • Life cycles
  • Organisms
  • Birth
  • Growth
  • Reproduction
  • Death

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Organisms are born, grow, reproduce and die in a pattern known as a life cycle.
  • Organisms have unique and diverse life cycles.
  • An organism can be classified as either a plant or an animal.
  • There is a causal direction of the cycle (e.g., without birth, there is no growth; without reproduction, there are no births).

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Create representations to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
  • Explain the unique and diverse life cycles of organisms other than humans.
  • Explain commonalities of organisms such as birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Patterns of change can be used to make predictions about the unique life cycles of organisms.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Developing and Using Models

Crosscutting Concepts

Patterns

Phase

Before/Engage
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to accurately define new, academic, content-specific, grade-level vocabulary relating to the life cycle of a plant by utilizing the context of the word, using their background knowledge, and making connections to a word's structure. 

Activity Details

  1. The teacher will draw a picture of a circle on the board. The teacher will ask students to explain a cycle in their own words. The teacher may guide the discussion to help students make the connection to the water cycle, day-to-night cycles, seasons, etc. 
  2. The teacher will explain that a cycle has a beginning and an end and it repeats, like a circle. 
  3. The teacher will show the video in Gale in Context: Elementary: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CWCOOZ291044441/ITKE?u=avlr&sid=bookmark-ITKE&xid=85e762b3
  4. The teacher will lead a class discussion about keywords in the life cycle of a plant. The students will use information from the video and their background knowledge and make connections to a word's structure to provide a definition in their words. The keywords include germinate, photosynthesis, and pollinate. The teacher will use a Jamboard during the class discussion for each word.
  5. The teacher will start with the word germinate. The video explains, "Following a resting period, a seed will germinate if it receives water, the correct temperature, and oxygen. In the process of germination, a seed sprouts or in other words, it begins to grow." The teacher will guide students to make connections to the word's structure by explaining the root word "germ" means the first stage of a seed. The suffix "-nate" indicates the word is a verb, showing an action for the seed. The teacher will ask students to explain the meaning of germinate in their own words. The teacher may take verbal answers and write the responses on the Jamboard or the students may add to the Jamboard. The teacher will continue the same process on the next two slides of the Jamboard for students to define photosynthesis and pollination. 
Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies

The teacher will use the Planting Vocabulary Knowledge Part 1 Jamboard to formatively assess the following:

  • Students' ability to accurately define new, academic, content-specific, grade-level vocabulary by using the context of the word in the video and their background knowledge.
  • Students' ability to accurately make connections to a word's structure by utilizing prefixes, root words, and suffixes to define germinate, photosynthesis, and pollination.

 

Acceleration

The students may draw a picture to go with the definitions on the Planting Vocabulary Knowledge Part 1 Jamboard.

Intervention

The teacher will pull students into a small group based on teacher observations by formatively assessing students during the whole group lesson. The teacher will provide additional instruction by utilizing a supplemental video to build student understanding of words relating to the life cycle of a plant. The teacher will review the prefixes, root words, and suffixes to guide students to create a definition for germinate, photosynthesis, and pollinate. 

Variation Tips

This activity should be used in conjunction with Planting Vocabulary Knowledge Part 2 (during activity) and Planting Vocabulary Knowledge Part 3 (after activity).

Approximate Duration

Total Duration

0 to 15 Minutes

Related Learning Activities

Learning Activity (Before)

Planting Vocabulary Knowledge Part 1

Learning Activity (During)

Planting Vocabulary Knowledge Part 2

Learning Activity (After)

Planting Vocabulary Knowledge Part 3

Background and Preparation

Background / Preparation

Students should have a basic understanding of word structure (prefixes are located at the beginning of the word, root words can be at the beginning or middle of a word and can stand alone, and suffixes are located at the end of the word). The definition of prefixes, root words, and suffixes are provided in the Jamboard to assist students in building their definitions of the words. 

The teacher should review the video and Jamboard before the lesson to become familiar with the keywords and the context of the keywords used in the video. 

Materials and Resources

Materials and Resources

Teacher Materials and Resources

Student Materials and Resources

Pencil/crayons to draw a picture of the vocabulary words in the acceleration activity.

Digital Tools / Resources

Life Cycle of Flowering Plants from Gale in Context: Elementary
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CWCOOZ291044441/ITKE?u=avlr&sid=bookmark-ITKE&xi…

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

Adrianne McKinney
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