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What will a baby plant look like when it grows up?
Plant Superpowers Unit | Lesson 1 of 3
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What will a baby plant look like when it grows up?

Plant Superpowers Unit | Lesson 1 of 3
Lesson narration:
English Spanish
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DISCUSS:
What’s DIFFERENT about these three plants?
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DISCUSS:
Which is the best spot for the pumpkin? Which is the best spot for the geranium?
Which is the best spot for the sunflower?
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DISCUSS:
Look closely at this leaf.
Come up with as many different words as you can to describe it.
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01/16
For this activity, you’ll work with a partner.
You and your partner will share ideas.
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02/16
Get your supplies.
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Here are my three seedlings. Look at them carefully. It’s up to you to
figure out which of these will grow into a pumpkin plant! Discuss:
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04/16
The biggest difference is the shape of the leaves. When you are
trying to figure out which plant is which, the shape of the leaves is an
important clue.
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Let’s look at the leaves of the seedlings side by side. One of these
leaves is a really different shape from the other two. Discuss:
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The leaves of Seedling 2 are kind of roundish with a point at one end.
They’re very different from the leaves of Seedlings 1 and 3. Let’s see
if Seedling 2’s leaves can tell us what it will be when it grows up.
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Get your Look for Clues Worksheet. Look at the pictures of all three
seedlings when they’ve grown. Compare the leaves on the adult
plants to the leaves on Seedling 2. Discuss:
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The sunflower plant has leaves that look like the leaves on Seedling 2!
On your worksheet, write 2 by the sunflower plant. Color the picture
of the sunflower on your worksheet.
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The pumpkin plant that you’re looking for is either Seedling 1 or
Seedling 3. But the leaves of these seedlings are close to the same
shape! To find the pumpkin plant, you need more clues. Discuss:
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DISCUSS:
Take a look at the STEMS on this sunflower, geranium, and pumpkin.
What looks the SAME? What looks DIFFERENT?
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Watch how the stems of these three seedlings change as they grow.
Compare the stems of the seedlings with the stem of the sunflower
plant on your worksheet. Discuss:
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Seedling 2 has a straight stem—just like a sunflower. That, plus the
leaves, makes us feel sure that Seedling 2 is a sunflower. Now let’s
look for clues to help us find the pumpkin plant. Discuss:
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The stem of Seedling 3 bends to the side. It also has curls growing
from it. The stem of Seedling 1 grows straight up. Compare the stem
of Seedling 1 to the adult plants on your worksheet. Discuss:
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Three clues tell you Seedling 1 is a geranium. It has leaves like a
geranium, a straight stem, and no curls. Write 1 by the geranium on
your worksheet. Color the picture on your worksheet.
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You’ve probably guessed that Seedling 3 is a pumpkin plant since
that’s the only plant left! But scientists don’t just guess. Compare
Seedling 3 with the pictures on your worksheet. Discuss:
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Seedling 3 has a stem that bends to the side, curls growing from its
stem, and leaves like the pumpkin plant. On the worksheet, write 3 by
the pumpkin plant. Color the plant.
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Congratulations! You did a great job figuring out which plant is which
by looking at the leaves and stems. But adult plants have more than
leaves and stems. Discuss:
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Anchor Connection In the past lesson, you looked at these leaves. You looked at how they were different. Now, let’s do the opposite. Discuss. What is the same about each of these leaves? Look at the color, shape, and anything else you can see.
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We noticed that all of the leaves are green. All of the leaves also have a stalk.
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Now, let’s look at the backs of the leaves. These aren’t the exact same as the leaves before, but they are similar. Discuss. What do you notice? What is the same about each of these leaves? What is different?
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All of the leaves are green, but they aren’t the exact same color. All of the leaves have lines on the back called veins. The veins are in different shapes, but all of these leaves have veins. All of the veins fan out from the stalk.
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At the beginning of the unit, we saw these big floating things. Discuss. What is the same about all of them? What is different? Be sure to look at the shapes and colors you see on the tops and the sides close to the water.
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Let’s flip one of these floating things over and look at the underside. On the next slide, you will see one of these floating things flipped over.
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This is one of the floating things turned upside down. Discuss. What do you notice?
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These floating things have veins on the back. They also have a long stalk. The veins fan out from the stalk. Let’s look at a group of these floating things from farther back. Let’s see what we can notice.
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Discuss. What do you notice? Do you have any new ideas about what these floating things are?
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All of the stalks connect back to one spot. That is because they are all part of one single plant. The giant floating things are leaves! Discuss. How many leaves does this plant have? And can you find the smallest, youngest leaf? It hasn’t grown to full size yet.
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The youngest leaf is already a huge leaf, but it will grow much bigger. These kinds of plants are called giant water lilies. Giant water lilies grow some of the largest leaves of any plant anywhere in the world.
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There are different kinds of giant water lilies, but they all grow these giant floating leaves. The leaves are different colors on different plants, but they are all giant!
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Even though giant water lily leaves are huge, they are still leaves. And they are similar to the leaves you saw in the lesson. Discuss. How are all of these leaves similar? How are they different?
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Get your See-Think-Wonder Chart. Are there any new things that you saw? Are there any new things that you think? Are there any new things that you wonder? Record all of those things in your chart.
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Save your See-Think-Wonder Chart. You will come back to it after the next lesson.
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plant


1 of 10

a living thing that doesn't need to eat other living things
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seed


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a part of a plant that can grow into a baby plant
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seedling


3 of 10

a young plant that grows from a seed
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root


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a part of a plant that is usually under the ground
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stem


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a part of a plant, usually above ground, that has leaves, flowers, and fruits connected to it
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leaf


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a part of a plant that is often flat and green
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flower


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a part of a plant that is usually brightly colored
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observe


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to pay close attention to something
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shape


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how something looks, such as a circle, square, or triangle
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size


10 of 10

how big or small something is
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Lesson narration:
English Spanish

Grade 1

Plant Traits & Survival

Plant Traits & Offspring

1-LS3-1

1314 reviews

Activity Prep

Print Prep
In this lesson, students identify the pattern that young plants are similar to their parent plants. In the activity, Mixed-up Plants, students observe three seedlings and three adult plants and use their observations to match each seedling to its adult counterpart.
Preview activity
Number of students:

I have a Mystery Pack

Look for Clues printout Print 30 copies
Crayons
We suggest green, yellow, orange, brown, and pink. Colored pencils or markers will also work.
Details
150
Prep Instructions

We suggest students work in pairs so that they can discuss their ideas. Homeschool students can work on their own.

Exploration

10 mins

Hands-On Activity

30 mins

Grade 1

Plant Traits & Survival

Plant Traits & Offspring

1-LS3-1

1314 reviews
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