Grade level: Preschool-1st
Suggested order: 1 week
Suggested time: 50 min per day
Overview:
Students will discover strawberries. They may already know about them but they will learn about them in a new way with hands on activities using science, technology, engineering and math. First, students will learn about each part of the strawberry, the flesh, skin, stem and seeds. The students will then use their senses to taste, touch, see, smell and hear. They will make a hypothesis on what they think they will find out with their senses. (which will be recorded) When they are blindfolded, they will use their sense of taste, touch, smell and hearing to discover the strawberry, after they will use their sense of sight. These will be recorded next to their hypothesis. The next day, they will work in groups to figure out how to grow their own strawberries. What items would they need? What would they need to do to get the strawberry to grow? How many seeds would they need? Does a strawberry have seeds? They will think about what items they would be able to create with these strawberries once they are grown. What different form would the strawberry have to take in order to create the item? Besides using it as food, is their anything else you would be able to do with a strawberry?
Objectives
- Students will learn about the life cycle of a strawberry
- Students will use their senses
- Students will learn about nature
- Students will discover that a strawberry can take many forms
- Students will learn responsibility and how to care for a plant
Materials
- Strawberries
- Pots
- Soil
- Strawberry seeds
- Blindfolds
- Potato masher
- Spoons
- Paintbrushes
- Paper
The Lesson
Part 1: About strawberries (Day 1)
- Ask the students what a strawberry is. Teach the students about strawberries such as the different parts of a strawberry. Their nutrition value and that it is a fruit. Strawberry cultivars vary widely in size, color, flavor, shape..etc.
- Students will draw a picture of what a strawberry looks like.
- Read books about strawberries.
Part 2: Senses (Day 2)
- Students will be blindfolded and use their sense of touch, taste, smell and hearing to discover strawberries. Before the project, they will create a hypothesis about what they think they will feel, smell, taste and hear which will be recorded to base it on the final answer. Before the blindfold comes off, they will be asked about their hypothesis for what they will see. After, they will use their sense of sight to describe the strawberry.
- Students will write down their experience about using their 5 senses to describe the strawberry.
- Students will be asked how many seeds a strawberry has and to try and count the seeds. (On average, a strawberry has about 200 seeds on its external membrane)
Part 3: Life Cycle (Day 3)
- Read the book Life Cycle Strawberries By Robin Nelson.
- Students will team up with a partner and think about how to grow their own strawberry plant. They will be given some materials that they have to think about using. Go over how in order to help a plant grow, it needs sun, water and soil. Students will use a hypothesis based on what they learned in the book that was read.
Part 4: Grow a strawberry plant (Day 4)
- Read the book Strawberry Growing for Beginners By John Baker
- Students will partner up with their partners from the day before and be given materials such as mini clay pots, dirt, water and a strawberry. They put dirt in the pot, pick out the seeds from the other strawberry with a toothpick, put the seeds in the dirt and water it. They will put it in the sunlight (on a windowsill or somewhere that gets a good amount of sun) and take care of their plants everyday by watering them.
- They will keep a journal that they will write in every day about the process of their strawberry so they will know at the end of the project how many days it took for their plant to grow.
Part 5: Different forms (Day 5)
- Students will be given a bunch of strawberries and asked to use the materials (potato masher, paper, spoons, forks, straws, paintbrushes..etc.) and make the strawberry into a different form.
- The students will be asked what kind of items they can make with the strawberries. (In addition to being consumed fresh, strawberries can be frozen, made into preserves,[46] as well as dried and used in prepared foods, such as cereal bars.[47] Strawberries and strawberry flavorings are a popular addition to dairy products, such as strawberry-flavored milk, strawberry ice cream, strawberry milkshakes, strawberry smoothies and strawberry yogurts. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry)
- Students will watch the video How to Make Strawberry Jam to learn the process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5LhDkAfxA8
- Students can make sculptures using the straws and strawberries or paint with smashed strawberry juice, paper and paintbrushes. Red food coloring can be added to make a stronger color.
- Of course students will eat the strawberries!
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