The Life cycle of a Plant
Created By: Claudia Cassat, Mary Beth Davidson, Michelle Jaluvka, and Lily Moore
Rationale
This video hook is an entertaining and humorous display of the life cycle of a plant. Students will get to see their educators perform the life cycle of a plant and learn some of the basics of biology. This video was created without words in order to encourage students to identify what cycle this is and be able to narrate the video themselves.
Questions
1. What process is this video showing?
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2. Can you identify each step that’s shown in the illustrated life cycle on the whiteboard?
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3. Draw your own plant life cycle
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4. Create a voice over for this video.
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5. What colors are shown in this video, and what do you think they mean? Describe at least 3 colors
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6.What similarities do you notice between the very beginning and the very end of the video?
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7. Based on the video, could you predict what would happen next following the last clip?
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8. After reviewing the whole video, do you think the life cycle of a plant in any way resembles that of a human? How so? Give specific examples.
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9. Can you match each person to their character?
a. Who is water?
b. Who is the sun?
c. Who is winter?
d. Who is the plant?
Model Student Responses
1. This video is showing the life of a plant from beginning to end. It gives the cycle in movie form and on a white board, so it can be understood by anyone who learns in different ways
2. First the flower pot has only dirt, but then it gets fed water and sunlight, which causes a seedling to grow! Once this is done more water and sunlight are applied, creating a full grown flower! Then the winter comes along and kills the flower, therefore completing the cycle of a plants life
3. Self explanatory
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4. Self explanatory
5. There is lots of yellow throughout the video, which is representative of the sun that helps the flower grow. The blue represents the rain and water that is used to help feed the thirsty flower and give it life. The grey and white represent the cold winter that will eventually freeze the flower and end the cycle.
6. In the beginning they show a flower pot with dirt, and instead of ending when the flower dies and completes the cycle, but they instead end it at the beginning again where the flower pot is filled with dirt.
7. I think after the pot picture, the plant pot will be watered and fed with sun.
8. I definitely think that it is similar to a human life, because its like theyre born and fed and watered unti lthey grow up, and eventually they end their life cycle too.
9.
a. The water is the girl with the flowy blue streamers on her arms
b. The sun is the girl with the yellow mask on
c. Winter is the grey and white dressed girl
d. The plant is the girl with the pink mask on
Teacher's Notes:
Show video before the lesson. Play through once, and then again, pausing at certain points, have the students voice over what they think is happening in the video.
After the video, and lesson, have the students draw their own plant life cycle.
Content Standards
Standard: 3.L.2.3 Students know the distinct stages of the life cycle of seed plants (seed, germination, seedling, adult).
