Garden Lesson Plans

Reading Plants  •  Japanese Garden  •  Discovering Plants

Seeds & Sprouts  •  CSI

---

Reading Plants

Vocabulary Primary
Vocabulary Secondary
Lesson Plans:	Grades
Rooting into the Soil: Examining the relationship between plants, soil, and water	4-8
Mini-Ecosystems: Venus flytrap terrariums as a study of plant adaptations	4-8
The lesson plans below were made possible through a generous grant from the Homeland Foundation.
What Plants Need to Survive and Grow:  Light	3-6
What Plants Need to Survive and Grow:  Air	3-6
What Plants Need to Survive and Grow:  Water	3-6
What Plants Need to Survive and Grow:  Soil	3-6
Learning from Leaves:  A Look at Leaf Color	3-6
Learning from Leaves:  A Look at Leaf Size	3-6
Learning from Leaves:  Adaptations to Differing Light Levels	3-6
Learning from Leaves:  From Observation to Inference	4-6
Learning from Leaves:  Adaptation Scavenger Hunt	3-6
Making Community Measurements:  Which Plant Part?	3-6
Making Community Measurements:  Abiotic Factors	3-6
Making Community Measurements:  Biotic Factors	3-6

Supporting materials:

Habitats of the World, from the Discovery Channel
This lesson encourages students to make a thorough study of habitat types. Site includes discussion questions, extensions, and vocabulary.

Observe a Leaf, from the LessonPlansPage.com
This lesson starts with leaf observations, and can be extended to leaf collections.

---

Discovering Plants

Vocabulary
Lesson Plans:	Grades
Why is an Apple Like a Suitcase?  The Importance of Fruit and Seeds in Plant Reproduction	K-2
Experiments in Tea Dying	K-2
Smelling Up a Storm:  Examining the relationship between plants and scents	K-3
Weaving Cotton	K-3

Supporting materials:

A Plant Civilization poster is for sale from The Huntington's Botanical Division.  You can print the booklet that describes this poster in PDF.

Cotton's Journey from the Alaca Company
A good source for cotton-related books and materials.

---

Seeds & Sprouts

Vocabulary
Lesson Plans:	Grades
Seeing Seeds	K-1

 

---

Japanese Garden Vocabulary

 

Vocabulary	Grades
Japanese Stone Lanterns:  Culture and Decoration in the Japanese Garden	4-7
Gyotaku:  Japanese Fish Painting	4-7
Haiku:  Writing and observation in the Japanese Garden	4-7
Seasonal Scroll Painting:  Art and observation in the Japanese Garden	4-7
Exploring the Elements of a Japanese Garden through the Book Arts	4-7
Zen Gardens:  Design elements and symbolism in The Huntington Japanese Garden	4-7

 

---

CSI: Conservatory Science Investigation

Vocabulary
Lesson Plans:	Grades
Dissect-a-Flower	6-8
Pollen Collection: Who's in your school yard?	6-8
Fruit Salad: Hold the DNA, please	6-8

 

---