Bean Plants

The students will be able to recall and label the inside parts of a bean. The students will also investigate the inside of a bean and record their findings.

Duration

1-2 hours

Lesson Type

Traditional Lesson

Essential Question

What are the parts of a bean?

Prepare
Lesson
Resources
Standards
Assessments

Grade(s):

Kindergarten

Subject(s):

Science

Recommended Technology:

Other Instructional Materials or Notes:

- chart paper
- 'One Bean' by Anne Rockwell
- cups
- water
- beans
- paper towels
- bean worksheet
- plant observation journals
- pencils
- crayons
- markers

Lesson Progression

1. Teacher will have students come to the carpet to begin the lesson.

2. Teacher will explain that they will be learning about the inside of a bean and ask students what they currently know about bean plants or the life cycle of a bean plant.

3. Have students share what they know. As they are sharing, the teacher records what they already know on chart paper for the students to see.

4. Teacher will read ‘One Bean’ by Anne Rockwell and stop to ask questions about what is happening to get students thinking about beans and how they grow.

5. After the read-aloud, the teacher will direct students back to their tables. On their tables will be the beans they have been soaking all day in a cup of water. (Previous to this, students would have already tried to split open the bean and found that they were not able to because it was too hard. The teacher would have a discussion about this. The students would have placed their bean in a cup of water and it would have been soaking all day up until this point.)

6. Students will be instructed to take their bean out of the water and place it on a paper towel in front of them. Students will split open their beans and observe/investigate what it looks like on the inside.

7. As they are investigating, students should draw or write about what they see in their plant observation journals.

8. Once students have been given time to look, the teacher will pass out the parts of a seed activity. Students will be asked to label the inside of a seed. Once they have labeled each part, they are allowed to color the worksheet.

9 .After everyone has finished with their activity sheet, the students will come back to the carpet to discuss what they observed and what they now know about bean plants.

Teacher Notes

Students should try to split their beans hours before they investigate them. The beans should sit in water for a majority of the day so that it is easy for the students to split them open when it is time.

One Bean by Anne Rockwell

View Resource

Standards

Life Science: Exploring Organisms and the Environment
- K.L.2 The student will demonstrate an understanding of organisms found in the environment and how these organisms depend on the environment to meet those needs.
  - K.L.2A The environment consists of many types of organisms including plants, animals, and fungi. Organisms depend on the land, water, and air to live and grow. Plants need water and light to make their own food. Fungi and animals cannot make their own ...
    - K.L.2A.2 Conduct structured investigations to determine what plants need to live and grow (including water and light).

Assessments

Students will be assessed when they are conducting their investigations. The plant observation journals should be picked up and used as an assessment as well. When using this as the assessment, the teacher will be able to tell if the students are able to label the parts of a seed and are able to draw or write about what they observed/investigated during the experiment. If the students are not able to label the parts of a seed and draw/write about their experiment in their observation journals, then the teacher will know that they do not fully understand the concept and will need more practice on this topic.