Grade 2 Science Week 4 | Teacher Guide

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Day 16: Do Plants Need Light?

Standard: Grade 2 Science Standard 5, 2.5

Practice record: Light test plan, printed on the Week 4 Practice Workbook.

Worked example: A seedling under a box grew long and pale. What need was missing? Worked answer: Light was missing.

1. Light (where the plant is placed).
2. The kind of plant or the water.
3. Plant 2 will probably be pale or yellow and thin, because it has no light to make food. Accept any prediction about pale, thin or weak growth with the reason of no light.

Teaching note: Moving a plant can change more than its light, such as how warm it is. Keep the window spot and the cupboard at about the same temperature so light is the main difference. A prediction does not have to be correct to be a good prediction; it must give a reason.

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Day 17: Measuring Plant Growth

Standard: Grade 2 Science Standard 5, 2.5

Practice record: Light test results (height in centimeters), printed on the Week 4 Practice Workbook.

Worked example: A ruler’s zero is at the soil, and the top of the plant reaches the 7. How tall is the plant? Worked answer: The plant is 7 cm tall.

1. 7 cm.
2. 9 cm.
3. Plant 2 grew tall and thin while stretching to find light, and it was pale yellow. Being taller does not mean being healthy; it had no light to make food and was falling over by Day 14. Accept any answer that uses the color or weakness as evidence.

Teaching note: Dark-grown seedlings can briefly outgrow light-grown ones. This surprise is a good lesson in reading all the data.

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Day 18: Comparing Results

Standard: Grade 2 Science Standard 5, 2.5

Practice record: Leaf count on Day 14, printed on the Week 4 Practice Workbook.

Worked example: Plant A has 8 large green leaves. Plant B has 3 small yellow leaves. Compare the leaves. Worked answer: Plant A has more, larger and greener leaves than Plant B.

1. 6.
2. Thin and bent.
3. Plant 1 had more leaves (10 to 4), dark green leaves instead of pale yellow, and a thick, upright stem instead of a thin, bent one. Accept any comparison that uses two kinds of observations.

Teaching note: Encourage complete comparison sentences that name both plants.

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Day 19: Drawing a Conclusion

Standard: Grade 2 Science Standard 5, 2.5

Practice record: Question and evidence, printed on the Week 4 Practice Workbook.

Worked example: A test asked whether radish seeds need water to sprout. Seeds with water sprouted in 4 days. Dry seeds did not sprout. What is the conclusion? Worked answer: Radish seeds need water to sprout, because only the watered seeds sprouted.

1. Do pea plants need light to grow well?
2. Any one of: thin, pale yellow, only 4 leaves, falling over.
3. Pea plants need light to grow well, because the plant in the sunny window was green and strong with 10 leaves, while the plant in the dark was pale, thin and falling over. Accept any conclusion that answers the question and names evidence.

Teaching note: Conclusions should not include ideas the test did not check, such as soil, since soil was kept the same.

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Day 20: Independent Check: Light and Plant Growth

Standard: Grade 2 Science Standard 5, 2.5

Practice record: Sam’s sunflower test, printed on the Week 4 Practice Workbook.

Worked example: A ruler’s zero is at the soil and the plant reaches 12. How tall is it? Worked answer: 12 cm.

1. The amount of sunlight each day.
2. 11 cm.
3. Sunflowers grow better with more sunlight. Sunflower 1, with 8 hours of sun, grew 24 cm with large green leaves, while Sunflower 2, with 2 hours, grew only 13 cm with small light green leaves. Accept any conclusion with evidence from both plants.

Teaching note: Independent check: read the table aloud if needed, but do not give the answers.

Week 4 Student Textbook | Week 4 Practice Workbook | Week 4 Teacher Guide | Week 3 Student Textbook | Week 5 Student Textbook | Grade 2 index