Erin Murphy
Summer Ag Session 1
6/16/14-6/20/14
Lesson Title: Gardening with Groundhog using the book titled, How Groundhog’s Garden Grew within
the Journeys Series utilized in district 109. Second Grade Classroom
1) Brief Overview of Lesson: First, the class will read the story, How Groundhog’s Garden Grew, from
the Journeys Textbook. The students will sequence the steps to planting a garden by organizing
sentence strips in the correct order and illustrating the steps within the story. The students will
utilize the knowledge they have learned from the story to inform others how to garden successfully
by creating informative posters. To supplement with non-fiction text, the teacher may want to
utilize the Horticulture Ag Mag prior to help with creating the informative posters. Also, a great
book to review seeds would be Oh Say Can You Seed? Finally, to incorporate the NGSS standards,
the students will take part in a classroom inquiry brainstorming session to determine experiment
parameters to study plant needs. The students will chart plant growth of plants with and without
water and light within the next lessons.
Extension Activity: Beanie Baby Necklace Project on page 26 within the Agriculture Feeds the
World: A Complementary Lesson Booklet for IAITC’s Summer Agriculture Institute.
*Differentiation ideas/extension activities for fast learners are included within the modeling portion of
this plan.
Objectives- The students will be able to:
2) sequence the steps to planting a garden.
3) Illustrate tips to growing a garden on a poster board. (Share what student learned through a visual
representation that may be informative to others interested in getting a green thumb).
4) Plan an experiment to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow using an inquiry
brainstorming page. (NGSS 2-LS2-1)
Standards Addressed:
CCSS. ELA RL.2.7. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to
demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
CCSS.ELA SL.2.2 recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented
orally or through other media.
NGSS 2-LS2-1 Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
Rationale/Purpose: I chose to utilize the story titled, How Groundhog’s Garden Grew, since it’s a story
showcased in the 2nd grade Journeys Textbook. The sequencing and writing portion of this assignment
fall under language arts while the science experiment falls under the NGSS standards for 2nd grade. All
2nd grade students within the district of 109 will be working on the plant experiment that meets the
requirement for NGSS 2-LS2-1.
Connection/Review Previous Knowledge: Prior to this lesson, the students will have a brief
understanding of plant parts, uses for plants, and a general idea of how to grow plants. I will refer back
to our Fall unit on apples and pumpkins to get the students in the mindset of plant growth.
Material List:
“Dr. Seuss Book” Oh Say Can You
Seed? By: Bonnie Worth
Journeys Textbook/storytelling cd
Journeys Vocabulary Cards
Writing Journal (optional)
Sequencing Handout (attached)
Agriculture Feeds the World: A
Complementary Lesson Booklet for
IAITC’s Summer Agriculture
Institute.
Informative Poster Brainstorming
Modeling Page (attached)
Inquiry Plant Experiment
Brainstorming Modeled Page
(attached)
Posters, paper to glue sequenced
events
Horticulture Ag Magazines
provided by the Farm Bureau
Crayons, pencils, scissors
ORGANIZATION STEPS WITHIN THIS LESSON:
Part 1) Teacher Steps/Modeling: Sequencing

Discuss the vocabulary cards prior to reading the story, place cards in pocket chart to refer to
during the story.
crops
sprouting
drooping
blossom
fortunate
promised
underneath
harmful

Read the story titled, How Groundhog’s Garden Grew using the Journeys storytelling cd. Make
sure to review the vocabulary words in context page prior to reading the story. Please stop for
the “stop and think” sequence prompts to discuss the prompts with the class out loud. Students
may reflect upon their thoughts in their writing journal.

After reading the story, model how to sequence the events in the story utilizing the sequencing
pages. Refer to the pages within the book to confirm the correct sequence.
Part 1) Guided Practice: Sequencing

After modeling the sequencing activity, the students will work on the page with a partner. Make
sure to have the students check their book to confirm their sequenced events.
For early finishers: Students can illustrate pictures to go with the events within the story.
Students can review gardening non-fiction texts with a partner. Students can record facts they
learned from the non-fiction texts.
For students who need additional assistance: Students can be put into cooperative groups to
complete one sequenced page. The students can each be responsible for only a few events, not
the whole story. The teacher could scaffold their learning, by placing sequenced checkpoints for
them to follow to make sure their story makes sense before pasting down the events.
Formative Assessment: Walk around the room to make sure students are grasping the
sequencing process. See if students check their work with the use of their textbook.
Summative Assessment: Collect the handout page and review events, conference with students
who need assistance.
Part 2) Teacher Steps/Modeling: Creating an informative poster

Review the Horticulture Ag Mag prior to creating the informative posters using a projector.
Jot down facts learned from the story and the Ag Mag on the board that can be used on the
poster. Also, above I recommended the book Oh Say Can You Seed? By: Bonnie Worth.
The students will utilize the knowledge they have learned from the fiction and non-fiction texts
to inform others how to garden successfully by creating informative posters. Teacher may model
how to create a poster.
For early finishers: Students can utilize the non-fiction texts to quote specific gardening tips to
add to their posters. Students may even utilize computers to research more gardening tips or
pictures to add to the poster. Also, students can compose questions that they could use to
interview a farmer to gain more knowledge and farming tips.
For students who need additional assistance: Students can be put into cooperative groups to
complete one larger poster. The students can each be responsible for only a few tips, not the
whole poster. Non-writers can just illustrate their tips if needed.
Part 3) Teacher Steps/Modeling: Planning a plant investigation (brainstorming for an experiment)

After students complete the first two steps within this plan, they will move onto the planning an
investigation phase of the unit. As a class, determine what steps will be taken to conduct an
inquiry of basic plant needs. The teacher needs to model an inquiry form to model the planning
process. Students will then help guide what the variables within the experiment.
NAME:____________________________________
Sequencing Activity Worksheet How Groundhog’s Garden Grew
Steps to planting a garden: Cut out the sentence strips and glue them in the
correct order. Make sure to check if they are in the right order before you apply
the glue!
Make sure your garden gets water every day.
Mark your garden so you know where you planted
certain vegetables.
Find a sunny spot with good soil so your garden will
grow well.
Make sure you put enough space between the
seeds so they have room to grow.
Gather the seeds for the vegetables you want to
grow.
When your vegetables start to ripen, carefully pick
then off the plant.
Enjoy your vegetables!
Using something to dig with, gently plant you seeds
into the soil.
*If you finish pasting, illustrate a picture to demonstrate each gardening step!
Poster Illustration Brainstorming Graphic Organizer Page: (Use to model)
Review the Horticulture Ag Mag prior to creating the informative posters using a projector. Also, read
the Oh Say Can You Seed? Book to generate plant germinating facts!
Jot down facts learned from the stories and the Ag Mag on the board that can be used on the poster.
The students will utilize the knowledge they have learned from the fiction and non-fiction texts to
inform others how to garden successfully by creating informative posters. Teacher may model how to
create a poster.
Informing others about the
steps to gardening: What
tips can you share with your
friends and family?
Planning a plant investigation (brainstorming for an experiment) As a class, determine what steps will be taken to
conduct an inquiry of basic plant needs. The teacher needs to model an inquiry form to model the planning
process. Class Modeled Form:
 What do we want to find out when we do our plant study?
 What are the steps we need to take to make this experiment a
success?
 What materials are needed for this experiment?
 Who will watch for changes in the plants? How will we record our
observations?
 How long should the experiment last?
 How will you find out the results of the experiment?