Lesson Plan 3:
Plant Identification Pictionary

Lesson Activities

1) Provide students with copies of the at tached plant characteristics sheets. Tell them that they will be collecting plant samples, learning the basic parts of a plant, identifying some different local plant species, and concluding their plant unit with a game of "Plant Identification Piction ary."

2) Have students review the sheets and ask them to offer insight on what they notice about some of the similarities and differences in the diagrams.

3) Provide students with a means of plant press. This could be a set or two of old encyclop edias, old phone books, or other heavy books. Perhaps the middle or high school's shop class would be willing to make some small ones as a project for their class. (Squares or rectangles of _ inch plywood connected at the corners with bolts and wing nuts to tighten them would work great. Varying sizes might come in handy, but most only need to be about one to two feet on a side.)

4) Take students outside on the playground or a nearby field. Instruct them to look for plants, grasses, leaves, etc. which bear characteristics similar to those they saw on their plant work sheets. Be sure they are aware that they won't necessarily find the exact same plant or leaves, but rather that the point is to find various vegeta tion with features similar to the variety on their sheets. Any vegetation they find that is different could also be collected. (If possible, they could do this at home, as well, and bring in their collected samples.)

5) Show the students how to cut or pick the plant/grass by its root and press it between the faces of a press. (Roots may not come up.) Large pieces of white paper or tissue will help to pre vent the specimen from sticking to the boards or books. Lay the specimen flat and spread its leaves and blossoms out as much as possible.

6) Secure the nuts or books on top and leave the specimens 'locked up' for a few days. Over a weekend would be great because then the stu dents will have a couple days without the temp tation of peeking (which, if repeatedly done, could alter the effectiveness of the press).

7) After about three or four days, remove the collected plants from their presses and have the students group and categorize according to simi lar characteristics. Bring in a variety of house plants which they could group and categorize along with the collected samples. They may want to refer to their plant characteristic sheets for as sistance. (Activities 8 & 9 are extensions for intermediate grades; skip to #10 for primary grades)

8) Borrow some plant field guides from the library or a local plant enthusiast. Your local Extension Office may also have some available to check out.

9) Have the students use the plant references to identify the plants, leaves, and grasses they collected. Bear in mind that not all of them may be identifiable, but most should be.

10) With the plants, etc., that the students were able to identify, have the students prepare them for display somewhere in the school or community. The display can be as simple as mounting the specimens on decorated tagboard and labeling them with the plant's parts, com mon name, and scientific name. Enhance the display to whatever degree you and the students desire.

11) The concluding activity for this lesson will be a game of "Plant Identification Pictionary," a fun activity which will call upon the students to recall and integrate their new knowledge of plant anatomy.

12) The following list of plant anatomy terms can be used. Feel free to add your own and adjust the difficulty level for your population of students.

13) Divide the students into two or three teams with ample space in front of each team to draw pictures. The chalkboard/whiteboard may work for this surface, or gather two or three easels with large notepads instead. The easels can be easily arranged so the teams can't see what the others are drawing.

14) Provide the drawer from each team the same term and allow them 60 seconds to get team to guess what it is. "Plant Identification tionary" works basically the same way as regular "Pictionary."

15) The moderator (teacher) needs to pay attention to what the students are guessing. In the beginning of the game, letting them know when they are on the right track may help them to get more involved.

16) Some students may not want to draw, but try to have everyone take a turn. Giving those who are less enthused hints as to what to draw can help them to generate ideas and become more easily involved in the game.

17) Some terms can also be drawn with nonplant related pictures. This game is great for creativity!