City
Mouse Visits Country Mouse
A
WebQuest about plants
By:
Julie Clark
City
Mouse has taken a vacation to see Country Mouse on the farm.
When he arrived, he was shocked to see so much green! What was all
that stuff? “Silly Mouse!” said Country Mouse,
“That green you see is plants of all kinds. Haven’t
you ever seen a field of corn before or a garden full of
vegetables?” “No, never,” said City Mouse,
“and what are all those red things hanging off that
tree?” “Are you kidding?” asked Country
Mouse. “Why those are cherries. Didn’t you
know that cherries come from trees? I can tell I have a lot
to teach you while you are here at the farm. Come on.
Let’s go get you a country education!”
Task:
The purpose of this project is to help first graders learn the basic parts of plants. Students will also be introduced to the concept of the importance of plants to man. The students will generalize the new information by going out on the playground and looking at plants they see every day and identifying their parts. These concepts are from science standards identified in Hamilton County Benchmark, 2.1.3.
Students will have previously been introduced to the concept of living things and their environments. They also have already compared and contrasted mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and insects. Students will use their new information about plants to chart their growth and explore soil composition. For Mother's Day, students will grow a plant in a pot to give to their moms.
This project will give students a basic knowledge of plants. They will be able to generalize the information as they look at other plants and identify their basic parts. This information will be critical as they begin to learn about photosynthesis and transpiration.
The
activity could be improved by having the students find pictures
of plants to label. They could bring their favorite plants
to eat from home to share with the class. They could grow
plants with fruits, vegetables, and/or flowers in the class.
Your job is to help City Mouse identify plants and understand why they are important. To visit each web site, click on the link.
1. Pair up with a partner, and one of you be City Mouse and the other be Country Mouse.
2. Country Mouse and City Mouse will learn the parts of a plant and what they need to grow by visiting the web site The Great Plant Escape and reading the information together.
3. Country Mouse and City Mouse will fill in the information on the Plant Diagram together.
4. Country Mouse and City Mouse will understand why plants are important by reading about it on a web site and then writing a paragraph giving at least four reasons why they are important to us.
4. City Mouse and Country Mouse
will then take a walk on the playground and identify some plants
and their parts.
5. City Mouse and Country Mouse
will create a poster that will illustrate at least five of their
favorite plants and correctly identify all their parts.
Correctly complete the Plant Diagram.
Write your paragraph using capital letters and punctuation correctly. Make sure each sentence is complete.
On your poster, make sure each plant is labeled correctly.
Now City Mouse knows all about plants. Both of you have learned the parts of plants and why they are important to us. You have had fun identifying plants on the playground and have created a poster with your favorite plants illustrated. You are a PLANT EXPERT! Congratulations!
Animation Factory. (2003). Nature – Free animation factory samples. Retrieved from http://www.animationfactory.com/free/nature/nature_page_aa.html
Beltsville Agricultural Research Center Vegetable Laboratory. (2000). Plants are important. Retrieved March 21, 2003, from http://www.barc.usda.gov/psi/vl/bpdkids/page2.html
Hamilton County Department of Education. (2003). Standards and Benchmarks. Retrieved March 19, 2003, from http://www.hcde.org/standards/stindex.html
Howell, L., Rogers, K., & Henderson, C. (2001). The Usborne internet-linked library of science world of plants. London: Usborne Publishing Ltd.
Kids Color Pages.com. (2003). Mice clipart. Retrieved March 25, 2003, from http://www.kidscolorpages.com/mouseclipart.htm
University of Illinois Extention. (n. d.). The great plant escape. Retrieved March 21, 2003, from http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case1/c1m1app.html
University of Illinois Extention. (n. d.). The great plant escape. Retrieved March 21, 2003, from http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case1/c1facts2a.html
