LESSON ACTIVITY PLAN

 

AGE LEVEL: 4 TO 5

 

NUMBER OF CHILDREN: Groups of 2 or 3, with teacher supervision.

 

INSIDE OR OUTSIDE: This can be done outside, set up on a table under a covered area.

 

LESSON DURATION (MINUTES): Group of 2 to 3 children with teacher supervision will take roughly 15 minutes.

Overall ongoing activity as the children will watch their heads grow over the space of a few weeks.

 

 

EARLY CHILDHOOD FRAMEWORK LEARNING OUTCOMES:

IDENTITY

1.2.5 As the children watch their Hairy Harry’s grow over the weeks, they are able to recognise and celebrate their hard work and the hard work of others.

 

COMMUNITY

2.4.6 As the children engage in the group time and activity, they are developing addition knowledge of the environment and how things, living or non-living, connect and relate to each other. They observe, notice and respond to their Hairy Harry’s as they grow, understanding that they are responsible for its care.

 

 

Prerequisite knowledge and/or links to previous/future lessons:

There are no specific prerequisites required to participate in this activity.

This arts experience could be used as a follow up science activity regarding the topic of “How things grow” and the “Seed growth”.

 

 

Resources required:

-Stockings

-Plastic cups

-Potting soil

-Grass seeds

-Gloves

-Spades

-Water

-Art materials to decorate (googly eyes, pipe cleaners, stickers, felt)

-Markers to draw on cups

 

 

ASSESSMENT:

Observations, pictures and learning stories can be taken during this activity to assess the children’s learning and engagement throughout. By assessing the children’s engagement during the experience, this will allow for identification of learning and developmental opportunities. From these assessments new interests and abilities can be identified, and children’s learning and development can be assessed, measured and documented. These assessments will aid with future planning of activities, experiences and overall programs.

Specific areas of interest throughout this activity would be the assessment of the children’s overall knowledge of seeds and plant growth. Social interactions between the small groups of children can also be observed.

 

 

LESSON

 

Lesson Introduction:

During a group time experience, have the children come together and read them a story relating to the environment, seeds or how things grow.

After this story, begin a discussion through the use of story related content or questions and have the children discuss the topics of seeds and growth. Some questions you could use during this discussion could include,

-What are seeds?

-What can seeds grow into?

-Where do we put seeds?

-How can we care for our seeds and plants?

-What do seeds and plants need to survive?

-How do seeds grow?

As you ask the children these questions and they reply with their own questions make sure you can provide the children with the answers they require. Do your research before hand to brush up on your seed and growth knowledge, so as to provide children with the most accurate information possible.

After your discussion, lead into the introduction of the activity. Explain to the children that we will be growing our own seeds so we can observe how they grow, and practise how we can look after our plants.

Once you have explained the process of the activity, let the children go and allow them to make their way over in their own time.   

 

 

 

Main Component of Lesson

Gather the children into groups of 2 or 3 and call them over 1 group at a time to make their Hairy Harry’s.

Once you have you group have the children all put of disposable glove as to protect their skin from the soil.

Give the children a stocking each and ask them to take a small handful of grass seeds and place them in their stocking.

After this prompt the children to fill their stockings up with a few spade full’s of our soil.

Once our stocking if full, take the stockings from the children one at a time and tie a tight knot in the bottom so the end of the stocking looks like the shape of an egg.

Put the stockings to the side and start the children on their cup decorations.

Once the cups are decorated have the children decorate their stocking head. Make sure to remind the children not to place anything on top of their head, otherwise their grass wont grow properly. 

Once the children have decorated each part, get them to fill the bottoms of their cups up with water and place the stocking head on top. Let the children know how the water will soak up into their heads (through the bottom of their stocking).

As the teacher running the activity, my job will be to encourage and support the children throughout. Guiding them through the steps of the activity all the way to the end. As the children work on their Hairy Harry’s I will ask them questions and begin discussions around the table to gather an understanding of their understanding of the process being taken, the tools being used and their overall interest and engagement.

 

As the children participate in this activity the overall learning and developmental aims include,

-The further development of fine motor skills.

-The development of hand and finger muscles.

-Gaining an understanding of seeds, plants and how things grow.

-Development of environmental knowledge.

-Development of social and language skills.

-Development of creative and imaginative skills.

-Ability to make connections to real life situations.

 

 

 

Lesson Conclusion

Once the children have finished, place the Hairy Harry’s on a windowsill.

Over the next couple of weeks encourage the children to observe and care for their Hairy Harry’s.

Have discussions during group time about the stages of growth they are going through and share their progress with the class through group sharing activities.

Some discussion topics could be

-Why they are growing

-Why they aren’t growing

-What we are doing to help them grow

-How we thing they are growing

-Looking at the root systems through the cups