SETON HILL UNIVERSITY

Lesson Plan Template

TOPIC
Name
Subject
Grade Level
Date/Duration
Big Ideas

DETAILS
CK
Allison Carlson (Miss. Carlson)
Science (plants)
1st grade
6 weeks: beginning of April to the middle of May
Name plants that are found in Pennsylvania and identify
the similarities and differences.

Essential
Questions

What are the common plants found in Pennsylvania?

In what ways do people use common plants?
What are some similarities and differences of plants
found in Pennsylvania?

PA/Common
Core/Standards

Standard- 4. 4. K. A- Identify common plants and

animals found in Pennsylvania agricultural systems.
Standard - 4. 1. K. A- Identify the similarities and
differences of living and non-living things within the
immediate and surrounding environment.

Objective

During our field trip, all first grade students will

correctly name 5 plants found in Pennsylvania by
creating a pamphlet of the flowers they saw and
describing them.

Formative assessment: I will give each student an exit

ticket before they board the bus after the field trip. The
exit ticket will contain three questions: What are two
things you learned today? What is one thing that you
found interesting? and What is one question that you
still have?

Summative assessment: I will have my students make a

wanted poster for their favorite Pennsylvania plant.
Each poster will contain correct information on the
plant (ex: where the plant is found, description of the
plant, name of the plant, etc.) A rubric will be used for
this wanted poster

ISTE Standards
for Students

Framework for
21st Century
Learning

1C- Students use technology to seek feedback that

informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate
their learning in a variety of ways.
5B- Students collect data or identify relevant data sets,
use digital tools to analyze them, and represent data in
various ways to facilitate problem-solving and decision-

Bloom's
Taxonomy
Webb's Depth of
Knowledge
(DOK)
Formative &
Summative
Assessment
Evidence

making.

Accommodation
s, Modifications

Due to the field trip having a lot of walking and bending

over to explore, I will record the field trip and give it to
the students that were unable to make it due to
physical reasons.
The help-wanted poster can be created via technology
if the student cannot sit still for long and make certain
motions when creating projects.
Students can move around the room freely and look at
posters for ideas. This will allow them to educate
themselves without sitting in one place for too long.

SUPERVISING
TEACHERS
SIGNATURE

Seton Hill University Lesson Plan Template Step-by-Step

Procedures
RATIONALE for
the Learning
Plan

Introduction

This lesson plan is not built off of a prior lesson plans:

parts of a plant and the lifecycle of a plant.

This lesson plan will incorporate the PA standards by

using technology to determine what kind of plant it is.
Students will be able to name plants that originate from
their state (in this case PA). Students will then be able to
write similarities and differences of plants found in PA.

Activating Prior Knowledge

What kind of plants are in your backyard?
Have you ever seen a wildflower and werent sure what
it was?
Hook/Lead-In/Anticipatory Set
I will read the book Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert.

Explicit
Instructions

Big Idea Statement

There are many kinds of plants that grow right here in
our state of Pennsylvania.
Essential Questions Statement
What plants can be found in our state?
How are the plants the same and how are they different?
Objective Statement
You will be able to tell me 5 plants that are from right
here in Pennsylvania.

CK

Transition
After we return from our field trip, the students will play
Simon says as a large group. The directions for this
Simon says are touch your roots (feet), touch your
stem (legs), touch your leaves (arms), touch your flower
(head), and yell out a flower that we learned about
today.
Key Vocabulary
PA plants
o Wild ginger
o Butterfly weed
o Blue wild indigo
o Turtle head
o Etc.
Pamphlet
Similarities
Differences
Lesson
Procedure

Pre-Assessment of Students
I will ask my students if they know of any plants that are
found in PA. I am assuming that most students will not
now the names of the plants so we will be taking a field
trip to Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve in New Hope,
PA.
Modeling of the Concept
When we arrive back from the field trip I will create a
wanted poster on the smart board for my favorite PA
plant. I will create a list of everything that needs to be in
the description under the picture of the plant that is
wanted. I will walk around the room and point to the
labeled signs at different locations where the supplies
for the poster are located. I will show my students how
to find the information we saved from the field trip on
their iPad using the app Garden Answers Plant
Identification.
Guiding the Practice
Before our field trip I will ask my students if they know
the names of any flowers that can be found in the state
of Pennsylvania.
During our field trip at Bowman's Hill Wildflower
Preserve in New Hope, PA. I will tell my students that we
are plant hunters for the remainder of the trip and we
have to learn about the mysterious plants that we will
see. We will listen to the tour guide talk about the plants
and we will use our iPads to take pictures of our favorite
and least favorite plants. I will explain that the app we

will use during our trip has already been downloaded. It

is called Garden Answers Plant Identification. I will have
my students take pictures of the plants to observe their
similarities and differences. I will challenge my students
to find the plant that I think is most unique without
telling them. When we arrive back at the classroom for
the rest of the day we will talk about what we learned
and explain why the plant we chose was out favorite. We
will create a wanted poster for our favorite plant and
explain we it is wanted.
Providing the Independent Practice
Students will be creating a wanted poster of their
favorite plant. They will have to follow the rubric when
writing their reasons for it being wanted. With this
activity I will be able to see what my students learned
from the field trip.
Transition
Students will act like a plant hunter when they are
getting their belongings together for dismissal
Reading
Materials
Technology
Equipment
Supplies

iPad and app Garden Answers and Plant Identification

Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
Posters
Pencils/crayons/markers
Smart board

Evaluation of
Formal Evaluation
the
Students will create a bulleted list for 5 plants that we
Learning/Master
learned about today. They must talk about the looks of
y of the
the plant (they can use their iPad for help with this),
Concept
where the plant is usually found and when the plant
should be planted (what season).
Informal Evaluation
I will walk around with a clipboard that has each childs
name, questions and boxes to check of that they
understood what was taught during the field trip. I will
observe them while making their posters and during our
circle discussion and check off for understanding and
leave unchecked if more work is needed.
Closure

Summary & Review of the Learning

Students will explain how the field trip related to our
objective.
I will ask my students how making a wanted poster went
along with part of the objective. (naming and profiling
one PA plant)

Homework/Assignments
Go home and look in their yard to see if any of the plants
we talked about are there
Teacher
Self-reflection

Myself and my students enjoyed the field trip.

My students loved acting like a plant hunter for the day
Miss. Carlson, this is fun
Miss. Carlson look what plant a found
wow, look at this one
this one is weird
I did not have any bad remarks by my students on the
field trip or the wanted poster activity. I would not
change anything about this lesson plan for the future.