3-46PLANTWATCH CONNECTIONS T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E

©E.G. BEAUBIEN 2001

Language ArtsTopics and ideas:

Descriptions

Celebrating Spring

Plantwatch Crossword Puzzle

3-47PLANTWATCH CONNECTIONS T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E

©E.G. BEAUBIEN 2001

Descriptions

LANGUAGE ARTS

activity one

DYNAMIC GRAPHICS

• Read the native legend of the prairiecrocus “How the Prairie Anemone got itsFur Coat” (located on the web page<www.devonian.ualberta.ca/pwatch>).The class could also read other legends,and students could then write their ownlegends to explain natural phenomena.

• Write poetry about the plant or flower theyare observing, or about its environment.

• Research information about uses of nativeplants by First Nations peoples, and write aparagraph or essay on the topic.

• Write exact descriptions of the habitats oftheir plants in order to help researchscientists understand local growingconditions.

• Create, read and interpret non-prose formsof communicating information (e.g. graphs,

maps, charts) related to Plantwatch data.(For example, students could writeparagraphs to explain the informationcontained on a graph.)

• Report orally to other classes the purposeand results of their Plantwatch project.

• Write an account of the weather just priorto and during flowering. Both exact andfigurative language could be encouraged.

• Suggestion: Photocopy the sketch of yourchosen plant to make covers for studentobservations/projects.

• Use the following field observation sheetto record information on each plant, foreach visit to the plants. The form is only amodel; you may wish to use only thecolumn headings and expand the spaceprovided for sketches, for example.

Concepts and skills developed through Plantwatch:

While engaged in the Plantwatch program, you could have students:

examplePLANT

SPECIESNUMBERor NAME

FLOWER/LEAFSKETCHES

OTHERCOMMENTS

GROWTH STAGEFlowers Leaves

Saskatoon #4 buds nowhave somewhiteshowing

just startingto unfurl

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Language Arts Activity One: Descriptions…continued

PLANTSPECIES

NUMBERor NAME

FLOWER/LEAFSKETCHES

OTHERCOMMENTS

GROWTH STAGEFlowers Leaves

DATE: OBSERVER’S NAME:

LOCATION: DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT:

observation sheet

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Celebrating Spring

LANGUAGE ARTS

activity two

KIRK HAROLD

Engage the students with a recording of “Springon the Prairies” from Connie Kaldor’s WoodRiver album. Read aloud the poems “In Just-Spring” by E.E. Cummings and “April RainSong” by Langston Hughes.

Invite your students to help create a Celebrationof Spring that recognizes and incorporatesimages and experiences from their localenvironment. Introduce them to seasonalcelebrations of various cultures by encouragingthem to research their own, or others’ culturaltraditions.

Share other examples of music, poetry,photography, and painting that

celebrate the arrival of spring.

Provide students with anopportunity to immerse

themselves in anatural

environment

and observe the sights, sounds and smellsaround them. Ask them to describe the land,the air, the water and the sun. Encourage themto pay close attention to the colours and shapesof plants. Give them quiet time to reflect andrecord their observations, thoughts and feelingsin a personal journal.

Encourage students to create their own poems,songs, photographs or artwork based on thesigns of spring that they have observed in theirnatural environment.

Encourage them to create their own wordcombinations (like E.E. Cummings’ “mud-luscious”) or express their feelings about signs ofspring (like Langston Hughes’ “I love the rain.”)

Invite a class of younger students to participatein a Celebration of Spring, by having yourstudents accompany them on a “spring flower”nature walk and share with the younger studentsthe poems, songs and artwork created by yourstudents.

Concepts and skills developed through Plantwatch:

TREVOR LANTZ

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LANGUAGE ARTS

activity threecrossword puzzle

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crossword puzzle

answers