Pollinator Pals Mini-Lesson

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May 24, 2013

United States

Objective: Students will learn that plants and animals have different adaptations to aid in pollination.

Suggested Time: 15 Minutes

Reading Level: Upper Elementary

Teacher Background

There are about 250,000 species of flowering plants in the world—and their flowers come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. But no matter MORE

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Print or Project

A Visual Overview: Show the slideshow of photos to your class. Each has a descriptive caption and kid-friendly copy for your students to read. (Please note that there is also more extensive teacher note copy just for you.)
Creative Caption Review: Once you've been through the slideshow for an overview, go back through it again. This time ask students to explain why the captions do (or do not!) work. (Example: Is it a good idea to label the urn plant as a "Red Signal"? Why or why not?)

Click the thumbnail slides below to see the captions and kid-friendly copy up close.

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Continue the Conversation: Ask students if they've ever seen a butterfly or other insect pollinating a flower. As they describe their experiences, remind them of such science vocabulary as pollen, adaptation, anthers, and stigma.
Write about it: Put students in pairs. Have one student be a reporter—the other, a flower! The reporter should write the interview questions and the "flower" writes the answers. Icebreaker examples: Where do you grow? How do you spread seeds?

Extension Activities

Reinforcements: These worksheets will be useful as you further develop your teaching unit. The Word Power worksheet will give your students vocabulary practice with key terms from this mini-lesson and the related activity will help reinforce key concepts on plants.

Word Power Vocabulary
Grade: 4 - 6
Students practice vocabulary relevant to plants and pollination by using each defined word in a sentence.

GET WORKSHEET

Plant Pollination
Grade: 3 - 5
Students read and illustrate a story about honeybees as pollinators.

GET WORKSHEET

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