Video: Talking about the Needs of Living Things - Plants
In this video, a Foundation-Year 1 teacher is working with a group of students to understand how the needs of plants, as living things, are met. The learning area is Science. The lesson follows on from activities to learn about organisms and their needs, namely air, water, food, shelter and sunlight. As a class they have already discussed, made notes about, and jointly constructed texts about the needs of living things.
In this lesson, the teacher is applying understanding of those needs to a real plant, showing in the classroom how their needs are met.
Key Takeaways
- Notice how the teacher extends student understanding of living things, including a student offering of ‘dog’ as she moves towards her lesson focus of plants.
- Notice how the teacher invites students to repeat the new language with her. This is more than a ‘word wall’. She asks them to repeat a sentence, as they begin to use language in new ways, in preparation for the writing task to follow.
- Notice how the teacher extends or ‘reframes’ student answers. When one student explains that the plant has moved towards the sun, ‘sunlight’, the teacher responds ‘Yes, because sunlight is a need of a living thing’.