90006 The Garden - Blake Education · garden. Health and PE 1.12Identify when a garden is a safe place to be. Arts 1.4, 1.9, 1.14, 1.19, 1.23,Respond to Monet’s work in a personal

TheGarden

Blake’s Topic B

ank Each integrated unit contains:

� 6 pages of teaching notes in an integrated teaching sequence� 10 practical blackline masters� National Profile outcomes� A useful resource list

by Kara Louise Munn

IU11� The GardenEarly Childhood

© Blake Education – The Garden Integrated Unit

1

EARLY CHILDHOOD

Learning Area Focus ScienceTopic Most students will have access to a garden of some description, whether it is a largebackyard or a window box. This unit allows students to participate in some simple gardening inthe classroom. Students will be encouraged to understand the complexity of life that exists in eventhe smallest of gardens. A variety of common plants and animals will be studied in some detail.

National Profile Outcomes Students will:

� Science 1.7 Identify some of the needs ofplants and animals in the garden.

� Science 1.9 Identify features of plants andanimals that change over time.

� Science 1.14 Listen to instructions andcarry out procedures.

� Technology 1.3 Undertake simpleproduction processes with care and safety.

� English 1.12 Experiment with showinginformation using written symbols.

� Mathematics 1.9 Talk about likenesses anddifferences between living things and begin toconnect shape to function.

� Mathematics 1.20 Make non-numericalsize estimates about growing things.

� SOSE 1.6 Take part in caring for a classgarden.

� Health and PE 1.12 Identify when agarden is a safe place to be.

� Arts 1.4, 1.9, 1.14, 1.19, 1.23, Respondto Monet’s work in a personal way.

The Gardenby Kara Louise Munn

ResourcesPicture booksChristina Bjork, Linnea in Monet’s Garden, R&S Books.

Eric Carle, The Tiny Seed, Penguin.

Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Penguin.

Janet Stevens, Tops and Bottoms, Koala Books.

Factual booksSue Johnson and Cheryl Evans, First SkillsStarting Gardening, Usborne.

Gerald Legg, Factfinders Minibeasts, Watts.

Laurence Mound, Amazing Insects, RDPress.

Alexandra Parsons, Amazing Spiders, RDPress.

Angela Royston, Life Cycle of Broad Bean,Heinemann.

Angela Wilkes, My First Garden Book, Hodderand Stoughton.

VideosDorling Kindersley, See How They Grow MiniBeasts, Pickwick.

For all your teaching needs visit www.blake.com.au

2

The Garden Teaching NotesIntroductionTake students outside into an area of the schoolgarden. If your school does not have a garden youwill need to have planned ahead and planted avariety of quick growing plants in tubs. If possibletake an easel and some chart paper with you. Askstudents to tell you everything they can about theschool garden and record these on the chart paper.Prompt students to notice any plants, animals orsoils. Encourage student to think about what mightbe under the soil.

Ask students about their own gardens or gardensthey have come across. Return to the classroomand provide students with crayons and paper andask them to draw a garden. It may be an imaginarygarden or one based on memory. Talk withstudents about the types of gardens they havedrawn. Often children will draw ornamentalgardens featuring lots of colourful flowers. Askstudents to think about other types of gardens.Provide visual stimulation in the form of photos,books and pictures.

List different types of gardens. Lists could includeornamental gardens, herb gardens, vegetablegardens, botanical gardens, backyard gardens,window boxes, pot plants.

Mary Mary Quite ContraryHave the class say the nursery rhyme together. Askeach student to use collage to make their owngarden for Mary. Students can cut silver bells fromaluminium foil, or make ‘bells’ by wrapping silverfoil around the separated sections of an egg carton.If you have access to a beach, students can pastereal shells onto their garden. Alternatively, studentscan colour, cut and paste their own shells. Makeconcertina folded ‘pretty maids’ and colour in.

Monet’s garden Show students pictures of Monet’s garden inGiverny. Linnea in Monet’s Garden has a variety ofillustrations as well as photos. Explain to studentsthat Monet used his garden for inspiration when hewas painting. Show students some of Monet’spaintings, especially his water lily ones.

Set aside a corner of the classroom and make alarge jointly-constructed 3D version of Monet’sgarden using a roll of paper about 2 metres by 2metres. Provide students with pastel coloured blueand green paints. Encourage students to dab paintall over the paper. Attach it to the wall, draping itover a desk if possible. Now have students makewater lilies from circles of pink and white tissuepaper attached in the centres. Paste onto the waterbackground. Long vines can be twisted from crepepaper which can be fastened to the roof, providinga 3D effect. Cut a green Japanese Bridge fromcardboard and fix it so that it is slightly protruding.

Animals in the garden

SnailsCollect snails from damp, dark places in the gardenand put them in glass jars. Provide students withmagnifying glasses to watch movements of thesnails through the glass. Hand out BLM 1 andhelp students put labels on the snail. Discuss snails,particularly the shape of a snail’s shell. Takestudents outside and make large swirls on theground using fat paint brushes and water. Returnto the classroom and have students use paint topaint swirls and Ss on paper. Make a list of wordsstarting with S.

Put some snails in a covered, well-ventilated box.Have students collect a variety of leaves and askthem to guess how many leaves the snails will eatand which leaves will be most popular. Includeleaves from the area where the snails were found.Leave snails with the leaves overnight. The nextmorning students can check what has been eaten.Snails can be released back into the area wherethey were found.

Talk about the different sizes of snails you havelooked at. Explain that snails hatch from eggs. Thesnails eat and grow bigger, until it is time to laytheir own eggs. Complete BLM 2.



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Worms Use play dough, soft clay or plasticine. Allowstudents some free time to experiment and thenask them to make Ws using the dough. Make a listof other words starting with W. Have studentscollect worms from home or purchase somethrough your local nursery. Place them in a boxand add compost materials and newspaper.Students will be amazed how quickly wormsdevour the contents of the box. Encourage studentsto put food scraps (but not meat or citrus) fromtheir lunches into the box. Discuss the significanceof worm farming and composting.

Caterpillars and butterfliesShow students pictures of butterflies and moths.Confirm that butterflies are insects. Explain thatboth sides of the butterfly are the same. Providestudents with paper to fold in half. Put threesplotches of brightly coloured paint down thecentre of the page. Have students fold the pageover and press the sides together. When opened upit should resemble a butterfly.

Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Improvise on thetext. Make your own big book, with studentsincluding foods that they are interested in. Obtainsome caterpillars and put them in a container withlots of the leaves they were found on. Students willbe amazed how quickly caterpillars can devourhuge quantities of leaves.

Explain the life cycle of the butterfly. It all beginswith a tiny butterfly egg, that hatches into a smallcaterpillar, or larva. Larvae love to eat, and as alarva grows, it sometimes sheds its outgrown skin.When the time is right, the caterpillar fastens itselfto a leaf or twig with a sticky thread from inside itsbody. The caterpillar then spins a cocoon arounditself. It is now called a pupa. Over a period ofseveral days to six months, the pupa changes into abeautiful adult, called a butterfly. Once it hasemerged from the cocoon, the butterfly hangs inplace until its wings and body are dry and firm.Then it is ready to begin its life as an adult.

You can also refer to The Very Hungry Caterpillarand the video See How They Grow Mini Beastswhich has a very informative section. Havestudents cut out the pictures on BLM 3 and placethem in correct position. Attach the page to a pieceof cardboard with a split pin so that students arereminded of the repetitive aspect of the life cycle.

Grow your own caterpillar!

Have students bring old pantyhose to school. Eachstudent will need about 40 centimetres. Fillstockings with a mixture of alfalfa seeds andpotting mix and put rubber bands around stockingsat 10 centimetre intervals. Add pipe cleanerantennae and felt eyes. Water caterpillars-to-be andkeep them in the sun. Watch as the caterpillarsbecome hairier and hairier.

Insects Explain that insects have three body parts: thehead, thorax and abdomen. The head contains thefeelers, eyes and jaws. The thorax holds the legsand wings. The abdomen is where food is digestedand new eggs are produced. Help students make alist of all the insects they know. Provide referencebooks and encourage students to use illustrationsto determine if creatures are insects or not.

Provide students with a piece of coloured brennixpaper. Fold the paper in half lengthwise. Studentsmust now draw one-half of an insect along the foldof the paper. They must draw a semicircle for thehead, the thorax and the abdomen. Antennaeshould come from the head. Three legs shouldcome from the thorax. When students havecompleted the outline, help them to cut out theirinsect and unfold it. Insects will be symmetrical.Play ‘Make your own insect’ with BLM 4.



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BirdsTake students into the garden to look for birds.Students will need to sit quietly for a period oftime. Notice sounds that the birds make.Hypothesise as to what the birds might be doing.Explain that some plants try to attract birds so thatthe birds will help to spread the pollen. Collect abranch of bottlebrush in the early morning. Shakeit and collect nectar for students to taste.

Sit students in a circle with some coloured beetlescut out of card placed in the centre. Placedifferently patterned and coloured materialsunderneath the beetles and have students wonderabout which beetles would be more likely targetsfor birds flying overhead.

Then have students use scraps of material (thefancier the patterns on the material the better) andcut enough beetle shapes for each student to haveone. Tell students they have found a new species ofbeetle, but the beetle has nowhere to hide.Students must name their beetle and then place iton a piece of white paper to see if their beetlewould be noticeable to a bird flying past. Studentsshould use textas and pencils to colour thebackground around their material beetle tocamouflage it. Discuss other garden creatures, suchas stick insects and some caterpillars that usecamouflage.

SpidersRead Little Miss Muffet, provide simple costumesand dramatise it. Ask students to think of funnyrhymes to match their teacher’s name (e.g. LittleMs Heppers sat on some peppers). Tell the story ofthe real Little Miss Muffet, who apparently was the

daughter of a spider expert. Herfather made her eat mashed

spiders when she got sick! Explain the importance ofspiders. Spiders arehelpful to humansbecause they eat somany insects.

Emphasise that while some spiders are deadly,most are harmless; but make sure studentsunderstand that all living creatures should betreated with caution and they should neverassume a spider is harmless. (Or eat them mashed!)

Spiders have 8 legs. Help students to paint a hugespider on chart paper. Provide a range of mathscounting materials such as buttons, lids, tinyteddies, marbles, blocks. Students sit in a circle andeach student counts out 8 objects. Students mustthen give each leg of the spider one object. Asstudents are doing this it is important that theycount 1:1.

Discuss other interesting spider number facts, forexample, each leg has 6 joints (this means that aspider has 48 knees) and that spiders usually havetwo rows of 4 eyes making 8 eyes altogether. Showstudents BLM 5. Explain that they must makeeach spider complete. Each spider must have 8legs, 8 eyes, 2 feelers and 2 fangs.

If possible, take students on a walk to see spiderwebs. Do some weaving in the classroom. Providestudents with some form of base from which toweave. This may be two ice-block sticks crossed inthe middle. It may be a branch with a fork in it.Students can use wool, string, streamers or othermaterials to weave under and over their frame.The video See How They Grow Mini Beasts has anexcellent section featuring a spider spinning its web.




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Plants in the gardenTake students for a walk around the streets nearyour school. Observe all the types of plants thatyou pass; this should include trees, flowers inwindows and weeds in cracks of the footpath.When you return to the classroom, refer to the listof gardens you made in one of the first lessons.Which types of gardens did you see in your area?Which types of plants? Have students study andclassify the plants in BLM 6. Suggest possiblegroups. Have students cut around plants, pastethem onto large sheets of paper and label groups.Make a collection of seeds and seed pods. Includepeas, beans, corn, acorns, horse chestnuts, andsycamore seeds. Have students study seeds withhand lenses and work in small groups to sort seeds

into groups.

Read The Tiny Seed and Jack andthe Beanstalk. Plant bean seedsin small see-through containerspadded with paper towel.Place them in different areasof the classroom. Put at leasttwo in a cupboard and twonear a window. Water only one

of each pair. Ask students toobserve what is happening daily.

Students can carefully remove theseed in the paper towel and note rootdevelopment. Students should be encouraged tonote that bean plants grow toward the light andthat they need moderate amounts of water.

Another way to grow plants is from sections of themature plant. Have students bring the leafy ends ofcarrots or parsnips to school. Place these on cottonwool and water them each day. The ends shouldsoon sprout. Balsam seeds are quick growing andhardy in most situations. Students can ‘pop’ theseed pods and grow balsam flowers from seed.Help students to cut off small amounts of stem, dipthese in rooting mixture and plant in the soil. Ifbalsam stems are watered daily they should soonsprout and flower. Plant lots in a pot and place itby a window for a quick show of flowers.

Students can make their own salad garden on amargarine lid. Sprinkle alfalfa, cress and mungbeans on cotton wool. Students can water andobserve the growth. Have students draw what theyobserve each day. When sprouts are long enough to

eat, snip them off and students can add them totheir sandwiches. Play some music and havestudents dramatise the growth of their seeds. Play Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Discuss the changesthat occur in gardens in different seasons.Introduce the terms evergreen and deciduous.Refer to the animal life cycles in earlier lessons.Explain to students that plants also follow lifecycles.

If possible, show students some real sunflowerheads. Use the resource list to show photos. Drawa life cycle of the sunflower on chart paper,beginning with the seed and the young plant.Draw taller and taller plants. The last stages arethe wilting plant and dropping seeds. Havestudents transfer this information onto BLM 7.

Read Tops and Bottoms or a book about vegetables.Bring some vegetables to school; you might like totake students shopping to purchase them. Find arange of interesting vegetables that students maynot have seen before. Include some vegetables thatgrow above the ground (spinach), some that growbelow the ground (carrots), and some that growon vines (beans). Have students sketch the outsideof the vegetables using soft pencils. Cut vegetablesopen and have students sketch the inside of them.Provide students with BLM 8. Invite students toarrange the vegetables in the vegetable garden.

Cut up the vegetables that you have been using,mix with some stock and cook slowly untilvegetables are soft. Have each student bring abowl and spoon to school and have a Vege SoupDay. Explain how to write a recipe, using BLM 9.Help students write their own recipe.



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Soils in the gardenCollect a bucket of good quality soil. Provide eachstudent with a magnifying glass and tip a handfulof soil in front of each student. Encourage them tohandle the soil and describe what they see, smelland feel. Give each student or group a jar to halffill with water and half fill with soil. Put the lid on,shake contents and allow to settle overnight.Distinct levels will be seen. Humus will be floatingon or at the top. Smaller particles will settle at thebottom of the jar and larger particles at the top.

Explain to students that it is important forgardeners to understand the size of soil particles sothey know which plants to grow in the kind of soilthey have, and how often to water them. Goodsoils need to be able to hold onto water.

Set up an experiment to test this. You will needthree terracotta pots, three see-through dishes,garden soil and sand. Place each pot in its owndish. Fill one pot with sand and label. Fill anotherpot with soil and label. Fill the third pot with amixture of sand and soil. Have students pour anequal amount of water into each of the three pots.More water will run through the sand only pot andcollect in the dish. Soil with no sand is able to holdonto the most water. Have students record theirfindings on BLM 10.

Care of the gardenOn chart paper make a list of things such asdigging, raking, hoeing, weeding or planting thatyou do in the garden. Have students think abouttools that are used for each of these chores. Includerake, shovel, hoe, hose, wheelbarrow, watering can,scissors, trowel and fork. Provide as many of thesetools as possible for students to view and use inrole play. Have students use soft pencils to sketchone of the garden tools. Provide boxes, egg cartons,plastic bottles and other craft supplies andencourage students to construct their owngardening tools from the materials.

Make a list of safety reminders for working in thegarden. Discuss wearing gloves and sturdyfootwear, storing a rake the correct way, washinghands after working in the garden, storingfertilizers and plant foods out of reach of animalsand small children, wearing a hat and sunscreen,asking for help when lifting heavy things, anddialling 000 in case of an accident. Help studentsillustrate safety posters that could be displayed inthe school garden.

3. sand and soil


© Blake Education – The Garden Integrated Unit© Blake Education – The Garden Integrated UnitThis page may be reproduced by the original purchaser for non-commercial classroom use.

BLM1

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Label the snail

eyes

breathing hole

shellfoot

tentacles

Cut out the labels and put them in the right place



BLM 2

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Snails get biggerCut out the snails. Paste them in order from the smallest to the biggest.



BLM 3

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

The life cycle of the butterflyDraw each part of the life cycle. Cut out the circle andattach it to cardboard with a split pin.



BLM 4

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Cut out the pieces. Throw a die.If the number on thedie matches thenumber on one of thepieces you can collect thatpiece. Continue throwingthe die andcollectingpiecesuntil youhavemade acompleteinsect.

Make your own insect

4

5

6

2

3

1

45

6



BLM 5

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Spider MathsEach spider is missing something. Can you work out what it is?Draw the missing part in.



BLM 6

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Sort and group the plantsCut out the plants. Can you put them in groups?



BLM 7

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

The life cycle of a sunflowerDraw each stage of the life cycle in a petal. Some havebeen done for you. Attach a long streamer for a stalk. Add some leaves and hang it in your classroom.



BLM 8

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Design a Vegetable GardenWhat would you put in your vegetable garden? How would you arrange it? Draw your vegetable garden.



BLM 9

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

How to make Vegetable SoupWhat you need:

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What you do:..........................................................................................................................................................................................

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2. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

3. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

4. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

5. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

What the soup looks like: ............................................................................................................................................

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BLM 10

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Sand, Soil and WaterWhat I think will happen:..................................................................................................................................................

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What did happen:..........................................................................................................................................................................

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1. sand 3. sand and soil2. soil


Documents

90006 The Garden - Blake Education · garden. Health and PE 1.12Identify when a garden is a safe place to be. Arts 1.4, 1.9, 1.14, 1.19, 1.23,Respond to Monet’s work in a personal