by Judie Haynes
Sunflowers are recognized by most young students. Teach a lesson about growing plants and add some of these great sunflower activities,
Sunflowers: Sunflowers produce cooking oil and seeds.
High Beginner to Intermediate grades 3-8
PDF file of background information for teachers, sunflower facts, crayons, seeds, dirt, small paper cups, water, photographs of sunflowers
Plant, flowering plant, seeds, oil, kernel, harvest, crop, striped
- Show students a picture of a sunflower.
- Ask them what they know about sunflowers. What are the seeds used for? Record their responses.
- Read a sunflower book such as Sunflower House or Lifecycles: From Seed to Sunflower, a book for older students.
- Have students read about sunflowers on the PDF Sunflower Facts and complete the sunflower cloze sheet.
- To eplain what sunflowers are used for, show students sunflower oil and let them taste sunflower seeds. Tell them that they should only eat the seeds that are striped. Explain why sunflowers are important to the United States and other countries.
- Plant seeds with students using sunflower seeds which will grow quickly. Review the vocabulary and each step of the procedure. Have students draw pictures of the pot, the soil, the seeds, and water in their science journal.
- Have students review the planting by printing the steps of the process on sentence strips. Students should be able to sequence the steps.
- Each day students should check their plants, add water as necessary, and record in their journals. When the plant begins to push through the soil, have them draw what it looks like each day.
- Students in grades 2-3 can complete the sunflower coloring book. They can also color and assemble a sunflower from the sunflower pattern.
- Teach students the
- Older students can look at sunflower art.
- You can also download our PDF Sunflower Clipart.
- Teachers can get more detailed information on our PDF Sunfower Background.
- If you have older students, look up this lesson on art and sunflowers,
© 1998-2008 Judie Haynes, www.everythingESL.net