Plant Life Cycles

In first grade enrichment we have been continuing our study of plants by thinking about the plant life cycle.  First students drew sketches of the life cycle in small groups.  After studying the butterfly life cycles and the economic cycle of farms in their classrooms, students really understood the idea of cycles and were able to apply this thinking to plants.  Next we watched a video put together by Williston Vermont first and second graders as the culmination of their plant learning. You can check out their great work here:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lV4uFRrnGS4&sns=em&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DlV4uFRrnGS4%26sns%3Dem

Next we watched some real life stop motion videos of plants growing.  These videos, some made by professionals and some by amateurs,  were a great way to really watch the plant cycle. Students favorite was this one:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/23/plant-time-lapse_n_3582027.html

As we watched, students exclaimed things like "plants are really alive!", "they look like aliens", and "could we do this?"  This technology was an amazing way to enhance our plant understanding.

With all of this background information students were ready to create their own claymation videos to show the life cycle of a plant.  Students created backgrounds that included things that plants need (soil, sun,water, and room to grow). These backgrounds were mounted onto an iPad filming tool and then students used clay to photograph their plants growing. Some groups began editing these movies in iMovie and soon we will have some awesome videos to share!