God’s Design for Life: The World of Plants
This curriculum is planned out well and in a good order, but we added some additional lessons to this curriculum for expansion. We always find activities that we like and those are added here, as well as, supplemental books. We love learning through books, so there are a lot a great choices here.
Introduction to Botany
Additional Lesson: Botany Exploration and Tools
Activity: Add a Botany Kit to our Field Kit
Pocket Microscope, Botany Dissection Kit
Activity: Practice using the Audubon Field Guide app
Notebooking: Create a Botany Cover Page
Notebooking: Write the Alphabet in ‘Botany’ Font
Unit 1 Introduction to Life Science
Lesson 1: Is It Alive?
Notebooking: Living vs Non-Living Sorting Chart using Magazine Cut-outs
Book: What’s Alive? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld (BC Library)
Additional Lesson: Louis Pasteur
Notebooking: Scientist Detective Worksheet (CGC)
Book: Pasteur’s Fight Against Microbes by Beverly Birch &
Christian Birmingham (Maybe Order)
Book: The Value of Believing in Yourself: The Story of Louis Pasteur (Home Library)
Book: For Those Who Dare: 101 Great Christians and How They Changed the World
Louis Pasteur; pg 192
Lesson 2: What is a Kingdom?
Lesson 3: Classification System
Activity: Hands-on Exploration of Various Plants:
Cacti, Flowers, Herbs, Shrubs and Bushes, Trees, Vegetables
Special Feature: Carl Linnaeus
Notebooking: Scientist Detective Worksheet (CGC)
Book: For Those Who Dare: 101 Great Christians and How They Changed the World
Carolus Linnaeus; pg 106
Lesson 4: Plant & Animal Cells
Special Feature: Cells
Activity: Microscope: View Plant Cell and Animal Cell Slides
Activity: What’s Under The Microscope Worksheet (education.com)
Activity: Model/Diagram of Plant Cell
Activity: Model/Diagram of Animal Cell
Book: Greg’s Microscope (I Can Read) by Millicent E. Selsam and Arnold Lobel (Home Library)
Book: Complete Book of the Microscope by Kirsteen Rogers (BC Library)
Unit 2 Flowering Plants & Seeds
Lesson 5: Flowering Plants
Lifeskills: Plants We Eat Chart
Lifeskills: Eat A Whole Plant
Notebooking: Parts of a Plant Collage
Notebooking: Parts of A Plant Foldable
Notebooking: Press Flowers with a Flower Press
Lesson 6: Grasses
Lifeskills: Bake Bread
Notebooking: Wheat
Lesson 7: Trees
Notebooking: Tree Detective (CGC)
Notebooking: Bark Rubbings
Book: A Tree is a Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla (Home LIbrary)
Book: Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing the Trees by Jim Arnosky (Home LIbrary)
Book: The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown Ups by Gina Ingoglia (Home LIbrary)
Book: A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry (BC Library)
Book: Tell Me, Tree: All About Trees for Kids by Gail Gibbons
Special Feature: Redwoods
Book: Redwoods by Jason Chin (Home LIbrary)
Field Trip: The Mollie Steves Zachry Texas Arboretum
Lesson 8: Seeds
Lesson 9: Monocots & Dicots
Lesson 10: Seeds—Where Are They?
Activity: Microscope: View Seeds and Dandelion Fuzz Slides
Activity: Seed Location
Activity: Seed Dissection
Activity: Seed Sorting
Activity: Egg Carton Garden: Seed Germination and Observation
Notebooking: Sketch Seeds on Magnifying Glass Printable
Book: A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long (Home Library)
Book: The Dandelion Seed by Joseph P. Anthony
Book: A Dandelion’s Life by John Himmelman
Special Feature: George Washington Carver
Notebooking: Scientist Detective Worksheet (CGC)
Book: For Those Who Dare: 101 Great Christians and How They Changed the World
George Washington Carver; pg 236
Unit 3 Roots & Stems
Lesson 11: Roots
Lesson 12: Special Roots
Activity: Plant Growth and Root Viewer (Carrot, Radish, Scallion)
Activity: Microscope: View Root Slides
Notebooking: Sketch Roots on Magnifying Glass Printable
Lesson 13: Stems
Lesson 14: Stem Structure
Lesson 15: Stem Growth
Activity: Microscope: View Stem Slides
Activity: Celery and Carnation in Food Color
Activity: Examine Tree Rings
Notebooking: Sketch Stem on Magnifying Glass Printable
Unit 4 Leaves
Lesson 16: Photosynthesis
Activity: Phototropism Maze
Activity: Photosynthesis Game
Video: Photosynthesis by They Might Be Giants
Notebooking: Photosynthesis Recipe
Lesson 17: Arrangement of Leaves
Lesson 18: Leaves—Shape & Design
Activity: Microscope: View Leaf Slides
Notebooking: Wax Paper Pressing for Leaf Preservation
Notebooking: Leaf Rubbing
Notebooking: Watercolor the Leaf Shapes Chart
Book: Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins (Home LIbrary)
Book: Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert (Home Library)
Lesson 19: Changing Colors
Book: Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro (Home Library)
Lesson 20: Tree Identification Final Project
Field Trip: Lost Maples State Natural Area (Nov 1-15)
Unit 5 Flowers & Fruits
Lesson 21: Flowers
Field Trip: Nursery or Garden Center
Lesson 22: Pollination
Activity: Microscope: View Pollen Slides
Notebooking: Pollination Foldable
Additional Lesson: Bees
Activity: Explore Bee Life Cycle Model
Activity: Taste Honey
Book: The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Micucci (Home Library)
Book: The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons (Home Library)
Book: The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive by Joanna Cole &
Bruce Degen (Home Library)
Book: Are You a Bee? by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries (Home Library)
Field Trip: Round Rock Honey Beekeeping Academy (Oct 26, $125/3hrs)
Special Feature: Pierre-Joseph Redoute
Activity: View Artwork of Pierre-Joseph Redoute (Store in Envelope in Notebook)
Book: Redoute: The Man Who Painted Flowers by Carolyn Croll
Lesson 23: Flower Dissection
Activity: Flower Dissection
Special Feature: A Rose By Any Other Name
Lesson 24: Fruits
Activity: Microscope: View Fruit Slide
Activity: Explore Types of Fruit
Lesson 25: Annuals, Biennials, & Perennials
Activity: Plant Life Cycle Ordering Cards (Store in Envelope in Notebook)
Notebooking: Flower Detective Worksheet (CGC)
Book: From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons (Home Library)
Book: Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington (Home Library)
Additional Lesson: Plants and Seasonal Changes
Book: Big Tree by Phoebe M. Anderson (Home Library)
Book: A Book of Seasons by Alive and Martin Provensen (Home Library)
Book: The Year at Maple Hill Farm by Alice and Martin Provensen (Home Library)
Book: Plant A Little Seed by Bonnie Christensen
Field Trip: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Unit 6 Unusual Plants
Lesson 26: Meat-eating Plants
Activity: Weird Plant Garden
Space Plants, Eyeball Plants, Brain Plants, Pitcher Plants, Venus Fly Trap, Yellow Trumpet
Hooded Pitcher Plant, Purple Pitcher Plant, Pale Trumpet, Temperate Sundew Plants
Cobra Lillies, Mimosa Tickle Plant
Notebooking: Watercolor Unusual Plants
Lesson 27: Parasites & Passengers
Activity: Parasites and Passengers Scavenger Hunt
Parasites: Mistletoe, Rafflesia, Dodder, Love Vine
Passengers: Moth Orchid, Spanish Moss, Lichen, Old Man’s Beard
Lesson 28: Tropisms
Activity: Observe Heliotropism with a Sunflower
Lesson 29: Survival Techniques
Lesson 30: Reproduction Without Seeds
Lifeskills: Foods that You Can Regrow from Scraps
Activity: Propagate Lavender and Rosemary from Stem Cuttings
Lesson 31: Ferns
Activity: Microscope: View Fern Slides
Notebooking: Watercolor Fern Types
Lesson 32: Mosses
Activity: Microscope: View Moss and Lichen Slides
Activity: Moss Garden
Notebooking: Watercolor Moss Types
Lesson 33: Algae
Activity: Observe and Collect Algae Samples at our Pond
Activity: Microscope: Make and View an Algae Slide
Lesson 34: Fungi (Yeast, Mold, Mushrooms)
Activity: Grow Mold in A Petri Dish
Activity: Grow Mushrooms (Need Mushroom Kit)
Activity: Decomposition Column
Lifeskills: Cook Turkish Mushroom Soup
Notebooking: Mold Detective Worksheet
Notebooking: Spore Prints
Notebooking: Watercolor Mushroom Types
Book: The Mushroom Hunt (Read and Wonder Books) by Simon Frazer (Home Library)
Book: A Moldy Mystery (Social Studies Connects) by Michelle Knudsen (Home Library)
Book: Mushroom in the Rain by Mirra Ginsburg (Home Library)
Book: Molds, Mushrooms, & Other Fungi by Steve Parker (BC Library)
Lesson 35: Conclusion
Activity: Field Guide Identification: Edible, Medicinal, & Poisonous Plants, Algae, and Fungi
Book: The Flower Hunter: William Bartram, America’s First Naturalist by Deborah Kogan Ray. This is a really good book; well written and illustrated.
Activity: Mason Jar Terrarium
Live the Perissos Life!
Blessings,
