Hi all,
I've been thinking about the concept map that is due Sunday. Here are a few ideas of things we might want to touch on as we develop our project. Hopefully this brainstorming format doesn't bother anyone...!
Types of gardens - water gardens, indoor gardens, fruit and vegetable gardens
Importance of gardening - environmental benefits, self sustaining, erosion control, eating health/organic
The role of weather/climate - different zones where plants grow, how climate affects the landscape around us
Logistics - what plants need to grow (water, sunlight, fertilizer)
Anatomy of a plant
How plants reproduce
Importance of gardens here, vs around the world
These are just a few of the things that come to mind when I think about teaching fourth or fifth grade students about gardening. I like the idea of being able to tie in weather, science and social studies.
What am I missing? What else do you guys think?
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I think that you touched on a lot of the major themes associated with gardening. I have been waffling between a broad to narrow approach vs. a narrow to broad approach to this project. Because I think that children should understand the significance of gardens here and around the world, I have leaned toward the broad to narrow approach before. There is a cultural significance to gardens in many other countries as well as our own. My first lesson plan had to do with Unique Plants of the Biomes.
ReplyDeleteThe lesson includes studying various biomes and ecosystems and then studying a plant that is unique to each biome studied. The main objectives to the lesson are: learning abiotic (temperature, precipitation, elevation) and biotic (what plants and animals live there, food webs, food chains) features of each biome and how these interact; the difference between a biome and an ecosystem; identifying adaptations of plants that have made survival in its biome possible.
I think this ties into Chad's ideas about different weather zones, regions. In the project I started last semester, I called the "Logistics" ideas "Background Knowledge." To these ideas, I think that studying different types of plants is important (annuals, perennials, seeds, bulbs, tubers, fruit bearing, herbs, etc.).
There is also a planning aspect that I think the children should embark on (design and construction of gardens specifically). In planning, the children will have to consider shape and size of gardens to meet a specific purpose (math and measurement concepts), soil, weeding, irrigation, fertilizer (if any), tools, and borders. I think it is up to us to decide the overall purpose of the gardens we will plant. Of course, I am assuming that we intend to plant some kind of garden with our classes.
While the concept map will be changed throughout the semester, I am leaning toward a project titled, "The World is a Garden." This will allow us to tackle the broad and the specific and increase the students' global awareness. Since plants are a necessary component of life in every place on the planet, I think it is something that is broad enough to afford us some creative license.