Unpublished
-
Strand PHIL.II Philanthropy and Civil Society
-
Standard PCS 01. Self, citizenship, and society
-
Benchmark MS.4 Describe the characteristics of someone who helps others.
-
-
Learners will identify parts of a flowering plant, describe their functions and compare their importance to the essential roles in a democratic government.
The learner will:
- evaluate why flowering plants are important to our world.
- identify selected parts of a flowering plant and explain the function of each.
- describe the life cycle of a flowering plant.
- compare the function of parts of a flowering plant to the essential roles in a democracy.
- Display and learner copies of Parts of a Flower (Handout One)
- Learner copies of A Plant and Government Simile (Handout Two)
- A potted flowering plant and a withered plant
- Seeds (marigolds plants are very easy to grow), water-proof cups, potting soil, water
- Sunlit window or grow lights
Anticipatory Set:
Display a flowering plant and one withered, dying plant at the front of the room. Ask the learners to share what they see and analyze what has happened to the withered plant. What needs to happen for a plant to flourish? Explain that today they will be using what they know about what a plant needs to flourish with what a democratic government needs to function.
Day One: Distribute Parts of a Flower (Handout One). Ask the learners to label the parts of the plant with the appropriate name and function. Ask learners to share their prior knowledge of plants. Correct or enhance their understanding as necessary. During this discussion, the teacher can begin to state possible analogies of the parts of a plant to the parts in government. (constitution is like the roots of the plant, leaves are like the branches of government, etc.)
After dividing the learners into cooperative groups of three, give each group a copy of A Plant and Government Simile (Handout Two). Direct the learners to label the parts and write three "like" statements that relate to how the function of these essential plant parts are analogous to the essential parts of a democracy. The statements should state: The (plant part) is like the (government part) because…..)
Coming back together as a class, ask the learners to share and compare some of their "like" statements.
Day Two: Explain to the learners that they will be planting seeds to nurture within the classroom. These plants may be used to beautify a chosen location during the academic service component of this unit. Working within their cooperative learning groups, representatives should gather the individual materials needed to plant the seeds. (Teacher Note: Stations for materials could be cups and soil, seeds and water). Learners should label the cup with their names and place the planted seeds in the window or under the grow light in the designated area for their class.
In a journal entry, the learners will compare nurturing their growing seed so that it will be a healthy plant to nurturing our government so that it will be a flourishing democracy.