Assessment:
A Language Link
Students
are asked to write a story from a plants point of view.
Each student is a plant that is looking for a place to settle
down and grow quickly. There are two different gardens available
in which they can choose to grow, however the dirt in each
garden is the same and does not contain many nutrients that
they can use. Everything about each garden is exactly the
same, except what has been spread on top of the soil. They
can choose to live in one of the following moist gardens:
- A
garden that has pieces of lettuce scattered on top of
the dirt
- A
garden that has cupcakes, loaded with preservatives,
scattered on top of the dirt
- A
garden that has pieces of plastic grocery bags scattered
on top of the dirt
If
they were a plant that needed to grow quickly, in which
garden area would they choose to live in and why?
Scoring
Rubric (Out of 3 Points)
- They
choose to live in the cupcake garden or plastic bag
garden (0 points)
- They
choose to live in the lettuce garden (1 point)
- They
choose to live in the lettuce garden and explain that
the lettuce will decompose faster than the cupcakes
and the plastic bags (2 points)
- They
choose to live in the lettuce garden, explain that the
lettuce will decompose faster than the cupcakes and
the plastic bags, and that decomposition returns nutrients
to the soil that can be used by the plant (3 points)
- Total:
3 points
Top
Cross-Curricular
Extensions
Social Studies Extension
Students should research different methods that have
been used over time to prevent food spoilage. The student’s
research can have a broad focus or a narrow focus on an
industry or a country. Examples of different methods that
student groups can research include: refrigeration and
freezing, salting, smoking, bottling, canning, vacuum
packing, and the use of preservatives. The results of
each student’s research can be written in a report or
illustrated on poster board.
