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Grade 2. In 10 lessons, students learn about the relationship between plants and animals in habitat systems. Module includes a teacher guide, 16 Smithsonian Science Stories student readers, and enough materials for 32 students to use 1 time.

Grade 2. Module Highlights: In 10 lessons, students learn about the relationship between plants and animals in habitat systems. Students first explain the phenomenon of radish seeds that sprouted in the dark, then solve the problem of a tomato plant that flowered but never grew tomatoes. Students also explain the phenomenon of an acorn that traveled to a planter on a balcony. In the end-of-module science challenge, students use data as evidence to engage in argumentation about the best place for two plants in the schoolyard habitat.

This module includes a teacher guide, 16 Smithsonian Science Stories student readers, and enough materials for 32 students to use 1 time.

Student Readers Available HERE

Alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards*
Performance Expectations

• 2-LS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to determine whether plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 2-LS2-2: Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.
• 2-LS4-1: Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
• K-2-ETS1-1: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
• K-2-ETS1-2: Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.

• Plants depend on water and light to grow.
• Plants depend on animals for pollination or to move their seeds around.

• There are many different kinds of living things in any area, and they exist in different places on land and in water.

• A situation that people want to change or create can be approached as a problem to be solved through engineering.
• Asking questions, making observations, and gathering information are helpful in thinking about problems.
• Before beginning to design a solution, it is important to clearly understand the problem.

• Designs can be conveyed through sketches, drawings, or physical models. These representations are useful in communicating ideas for a problem's solutions to other people.

• Because there is always more than one possible solution to a problem, it is useful to compare and test designs.

Science and Engineering Practices
Focal:

• Analyzing and interpreting data
• Engaging in argument from evidence

• Structure and Function
• Systems and system models

Phenomena and Problems Storyline
Lesson Summaries
Lesson 1: Surprise Sprouts
Even though seeds can sprout with only water, plants depend on water and light to grow.
Students record and use observations as evidence to come up with an initial explanation for what caused the seeds to sprout in Ada's backpack.
Lesson 2: Plan it Out
Even though seeds can sprout with only water, plants depend on water and light to grow.
Students plan and begin to carry out an investigation into whether radish plants need both water and light to grow.
Lesson 3: Sunshine and Rain
Even though seeds can sprout with only water, plants depend on water and light to grow.
Students use data from their investigations to construct a revised, evidence-based account for what caused the radish seeds to sprout in Ada's backpack.
Lesson 4: Tomato Trouble
Students design and build a model of a tool that mimics bees moving pollen from one flower to another.
Students use texts and images to collaboratively construct a scientific claim using evidence to explain that the tomato plant needs to be pollinated to grow tomatoes.
Lesson 5: Flower to Flower
Students design and build a model of a tool that mimics bees moving pollen from one flower to another.
Students record and use observations of bees' bodies to identify what parts make them good pollinators, then use those observations to come up with an initial idea for a design that could be used to solve the problem.
Lesson 6: A Gardener's Gadget
Students design and build a model of a tool that mimics bees moving pollen from one flower to another.
Students design and compare model hand pollinators and evaluate how well they mimic how bees move pollen from flower to flower.
Lesson 7: Hitching a Ride
Some seeds are moved by animals.
Students use evidence from modeling of wind and fur to determine that the acorn traveled to the planter on the balcony by something other than wind or mammal fur.
Lesson 8: Home on the Range
Some seeds are moved by animals.
Students use a computer simulation to recognize relationships between plants, animals, and the places they live in a natural system. Students use a pattern as evidence to support a revised argument explaining how the acorn traveled into the planter on the balcony.
Science Challenge
Lesson 9: Place That Plant! Part 1
Students use data as evidence to engage in argumentation about the best place for two plants in the schoolyard.
Students use data and observations to determine the best places to plant burdock and milkweed seeds using a map of different places in the schoolyard.
Lesson 10: Place That Plant! Part 2
Students use data as evidence to engage in argumentation about the best place for two plants in the schoolyard.
Students evaluate Ms. Silvia's argument about the best habitat for a plant in the schoolyard, based on what it needs to live, grow, and reproduce.

*Next Generation Science Standards® is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.