My BEST Science Activity Title: Needs of a Plant, 2 weeks Teacher: Michelle Strange Grade Level: 3 Objective: Students will be able to identify the needs of a plant.

Four or five plants will be needed to complete this activity. One plant is placed in a cup with no dirt, but receives water, sunlight, and room temperature air. One plant is placed in a cup with ample soil and receives sunlight and room temperature air, but does not receive any water. One plant is placed in a cup with ample soil and receives water and room temperature air, but is placed under a paper bag so that it doesn’t receive any light. Another plant is placed in a cup with ample soil and receives water, sunlight, and is kept at room temperature. Students form a hypothesis about what they think will happen to each of the plants involved in the experiment. Students watch the plants daily for two weeks and record their observations. By the end of the two weeks, students conclude that a plant requires water, soil, light, and air to survive due to the fact that the plants that were deprived one of these basic needs does not grow and thrive as the plant that received all of the basic needs. This experiment can be used to introduce a plant unit teaching the basic needs of plants. Although it requires several days to complete, it is rather simplistic in nature and is easy to do in a classroom environment. Other variations to this experiment could include, but are not limited to, covering one or more leaves on the plant with clear plastic bags so that the leaf still gets light but no air, covering some leaves on the plant with dark paper or bags so that the leaf does not receive any light, placing plants in environments at various temperatures, etc. This activity also can be used to teach the scientific method.