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How much water should you give a plant?

Plant Adventures Unit | Lesson 4 of 4

Back

How much water should you give a plant?

Plant Adventures Unit | Lesson 4 of 4

Lesson narration:

English Spanish

Scroll for prep

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DISCUSS:
Why do you think this plant wilted?
Can you think of anything I could have done differently to keep the plant healthy?

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DISCUSS:
What’s DIFFERENT about these two places?

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DISCUSS:
How could you figure out whether these mystery plants would grow better in the
Desert Dome or in the Tropical Dome?

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Step
01/18

You’ll work with a partner.

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Step
02/18

Get your supplies.

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Step
03/18

Get your Build-Your-Own Experiment sheet.
First, cut along the thick gray line. Then, cut along all the dotted lines.
Separate the pieces into 3 piles.

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Step
04/18

Get your Water Experiment worksheet and two Mystery Plant
pieces. Turn the pieces over. Lay them on the scrap paper. Add glue.
Then, place one Mystery Plant in Box A and the other in Box B.

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Step
05a/18

Water Experiment. We want to figure out how much WATER the
Mystery Plants need to stay healthy. So, which idea do you think
would help us figure it out? Why do you think that?

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Step
05b/18

Here’s what we noticed.

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Step
06/18

Get two Sun pieces, add glue, and place one in box A and one in box B
on your Water Experiment worksheet. Add color using crayons.

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Step
07/18

Get two water container pieces, add glue, and place them on your
experiment worksheet. Then, use your blue crayon to color in the
different amounts of water that will be given to each plant.

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Step
08/18

Bianca gave the plant in Box A lots of water. She gave the plant in
Box B just a little water. Here’s what the plants looked like after the
end of the experiment. Discuss:

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Step
09/18

Here’s what we noticed.
Draw the new leaves and color your plants with crayon to show what
the Mystery Plants looked like after the Water Experiment.

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Step
10/18

Discuss.
Then, circle the answer on your Water Experiment worksheet.

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Step
11/18

Get your Sunlight Experiment worksheet and two Mystery Plant
pieces. Turn the pieces over and add glue to the back.
Then, place one Mystery Plant in Box A and the other in Box B.

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Step
12a/18

Sunlight Experiment. Which idea do you think would work best to
find out how much SUNLIGHT the Mystery Plants need to stay
healthy? Why do you think that?

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Step
12b/18

Here’s what we noticed.

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Step
13/18

Find two water container pieces. Turn them over and add glue to the
back. Then, place one in Box A and the other in Box B. Use your
crayon to color in the amount of water that you’ll give to each plant.

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Step
14/18

Find two Sun pieces. Turn them over and add glue to the back.
Then, place one in Box A and the other in Box B.
Add shade to Box B.

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Step
15/18

Here’s what Ahmed observed after running his experiment for
several weeks.
Discuss:

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Step
16/18

Here’s what we noticed.
Draw the new leaves and color your plants with crayon to show what
the Mystery Plants looked like after the Sunlight Experiment.

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Step
17/18

Discuss.
Then, circle the answer on your Sunlight Experiment worksheet.

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Step
18/18

Discuss.

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DISCUSS:

Imagine you tried to set up these experiments in REAL LIFE.

Can you think of any new challenges you might face if you tried these experiments in the real world?

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Anchor Connection Discuss. Look at the "Wonder" column of your class See-Think-Wonder chart. Have any questions been answered by the past lesson?

Step
01/13

In the past lesson, you saw plants like this in the desert dome. Discuss. Do these plants need a little water, or a lot? And do these plants need shade, or bright sunlight?

Step
02/13

Different plants need different amounts of light and water. Most plants in the desert need lots of sunlight, but very little water.

Step
03/13

A cactus can grow well in Death Valley because it is very, very dry here. This cactus gets just the right amount of water.

Step
04/13

A cactus needs very little water, but a lot of light. That makes Death Valley a good place for a cactus!

Step
05/13

Death Valley is not always a good place for the superbloom flowers. These flowers need the right amount of light and water, but Death Valley usually has too much of one and not enough of the other.

Step
06/13

A few weeks after the flowers bloom, they dry up, like this. Discuss. Why do you think the flowers dry up in Death Valley? (Hint: think about the right amounts of water and light.)

Step
07/13

Death Valley has too much light for the flowers. All of the light makes it very hot. And there is too little water for the flowers. Too much light and heat and too little water are just wrong for the flowers.

Step
08/13

But seeds are waiting in the sand. The superbloom cycle will happen again the next time the water, light, and warmth are just right!

Step
09/13

Discuss. We know that not enough water and too much light and heat make superbloom flowers dry up and disappear. What should these students add to their sheets? How should they do it?

Step
10/13

Get your Superbloom Cycle worksheet.

Step
11/13

If you didn’t write or draw about light and heat yet, do so now. You can write words or draw pictures.

Step
12/13

If you didn’t write or draw about there not being enough water, do so now. You can write words or draw pictures.

Step
13/13

This is the last update you will make to the Superbloom Cycle worksheet! Discuss. What changes did you make to your sheet as you learned new things?

soil

1 of 8

tiny pieces of rock and other materials that cover the ground

sunlight

2 of 8

light from the Sun

cactus

3 of 8

a type of plant that usually has spikes and is found in the desert

habitat

4 of 8

the place where an animal or plant lives

desert

5 of 8

a habitat that is usually hot and that gets very little rain

rainforest

6 of 8

a habitat that is usually warm and gets lots of rain

investigate

7 of 8

to figure out the answer to a question or to understand how something works

experiment

8 of 8

a test used to discover new information about a question

Extend this lesson

Vocabulary

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Unit Reading

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Lesson narration:

English Spanish

Grade 2

Plant Adaptations

Plant Needs & Habitats

2-LS2-1

570 reviews

Activity Prep

Print Prep

In this lesson, students investigate how different plants grow best under very different conditions, ranging from deserts to tropical rainforests. In the activity, Puzzling Plants, students plan and conduct virtual experiments in order to determine how much water and sunlight a set of mystery plants need to grow and stay healthy.

Preview activity

Number of students:

I have a Mystery Pack

OPTIONAL SUPPLIES
Build-Your-Own Experiment printout	Print 30 copies
Sunlight Experiment worksheet	30 copies
Water Experiment worksheet	30 copies
Crayons We suggest providing green, yellow, blue, red, and brown.	Details 120 crayons
Glue Sticks	30 glue sticks
Scissors	30 pairs
Experiment Ideas worksheet Experiment Ideas will be shown on-screen for the activity, but you can print them out for students if helpful.	15 copies

Prep Instructions

We suggest students work in pairs to share ideas. Homeschool students can work on their own.

Experiment with Real Plants

This activity walks students through virtual experiments to help reinforce the concept that an experiment should only change one part (variable), but keep all the other parts the same (controls).

We think it’s best to follow-up these learnings with a hands-on experiment that uses real plants! If you have radish plants leftover from the lesson “Could a plant survive without light?”, you can guide your students to plan and conduct a few classroom experiments.

Exploration

15 mins

Hands-On Activity

30 mins

Grade 2

Plant Adaptations

Plant Needs & Habitats

2-LS2-1

570 reviews

Credits

How much water should you give a plant?

soil

sunlight

cactus

habitat

desert

rainforest

investigate

experiment

Vocabulary

Assessments

Unit Reading

OPTIONAL SUPPLIES

15 mins

30 mins

Share this lesson

Student link

Google Classroom

Email parents

Extend this lesson

Vocabulary

Unit Reading

Assessments

Activity

Mini-lessons

Transcripts

How much water should you give a plant?

soil

sunlight

cactus

habitat

desert

rainforest

investigate

experiment

Vocabulary

Assessments

Unit Reading

Activity Prep

OPTIONAL SUPPLIES

Experiment with Real Plants

15 mins

30 mins

Share this lesson

Student link

Google Classroom

Email parents

Extend this lesson

Vocabulary

Unit Reading

Assessments

Activity

Mini-lessons

Transcripts

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