Title – Plant Development – Monocots and Dicots

By – Heather Henderson

Primary Subject – Science

Secondary Subjects – Art

Grade Level – 2-4

Note:

This lesson teaches the major differences between monocot plants and dicot plants. This visual demonstration of the differences really sinks in with the children and prepares them for more in-depth discussion and experiments.

Procedure:

1. We first review the major differences: cotyledons, leaf veining, flowering, etc.

2. Pass out to each child: one corn kernel, one peanut (bean seed if there are any allergies), one monocot leaf and one dicot leaf.

3. Have the students fold legal-sized paper in half three times – they will end up with 8 boxes on their paper.

4. In the top two boxes, have them write “MONOCOT” in one and “DICOT” in the other.

5. In the box directly under the MONOCOT box, place the monocot leaf under the paper and
   
   gently
   
   do a crayon rubbing (
   
   dark colors work best and remind students to hold the crayon on its side
   
   ) of the monocot leaf. Do the same with the dicot leaf in the box under the word DICOT.

6. Under each rubbing, have the students glue the respective leaves.

7. Demonstrate taking the dicot seed apart. In the bottom boxes have the students glue (or tape) their seed on the correct side.

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Heather Henderson

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