MaraLIMAthon

Kindergarten students will work with an older grade buddy (we worked with 1st grade students) to make predictions, and then over a two-week period, see changes in lima bean growth, and be able to document the lima bean's progress. The buddies will work together to create an illustrated short story about lima bean characters that they create.

A lesson plan for grade K English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science

By Kristi Waddle

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• Learn more about biology, cooperative learning, data collection, graphing, hands-on, labs, language arts, lima beans, mathematics, observation, plant growth, plants, science, writing, and writing process.

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Learning outcomes

The learner will:

• Make predictions about their lima bean’s growth on Day 1.
• Provide basic needs for their lima bean (watering as needed—placing in sunlight).
• Work with an older buddy to create a story made up of lima bean characters that they create (using creative appearances and personalities).
• Document progress of lima bean growth through the form of a bar graph each day.
• Verbally report results of their lima bean’s progress and give reasons why they think they did/didn’t grow.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

2 weeks

Materials/resources

Teacher preparation:

• sandwich size Ziploc bags
• napkins
• staples
• lima beans
• graphing sheet with dates at the bottom

Student preparation:

• pencils
• crayons/colored pencils
• paper

Pre-activities

This is actually done on Day 1. The students will be introduced to the lesson by making predictions about which class’ lima beans will grow the best. (We did this with a class across the hall—their class received morning sun through their windows, while our class received afternoon sun.) The teacher will document their predictions on chart paper.

Activities

Day 1 (30 minutes)

1. The two classes will meet in the same room. The teacher will introduce the MaraLIMAthon by explaining the name as a lima bean “race.” The teacher will inform the students that they will each be given a lima bean to hang in their classroom window and they will watch their lima bean for two weeks to see what happens. The teacher will discuss what is needed for plants to grow. The teacher will then explain that because the sun shines in one of the rooms in the morning and in the other room in the afternoon it may affect the growth of the lima bean. The teacher will then ask for predictions about the lima bean growth (which class’s beans will grow the best and why).
2. How to assemble the lima bean bags: place a damp napkin in a Ziploc bag. Place the lima bean in the middle of the napkin and put two staples underneath the lima bean leaving a small space between them. Note: do not put too much water in the Ziploc bag or you will have stinky beans!
3. The teacher will then allow the students to assemble their Ziploc bags. The teacher will give each student a graphing sheet with the dates at the bottom. The student will lay the lima bean at the bottom of the graphing sheet and make a line on the bar graph where the lima bean’s height stops. The students should color in their graph for that day.
4. The students will be informed that at the next meeting (two days later) they will be paired up with a buddy with whom they will work to create a story about their lima beans. The teacher will encourage the students to think about a name, personality, and appearance (clothing, size, etc.) for their lima bean before the next meeting.
5. Each student will hang their lima bean in the window of their room with the bean facing the window and the napkin facing the classroom.
6. On Wednesday allow the students to walk to the window and view their lima bean so they can color in the graph before they meet with their buddies (I asked my students to do this during their free choice time—only 2 people at the window at a time. It worked like a center.) Do this before every meeting to save time for the writing work.

Day 2 (30 minutes)

1. Half of each class should go to the other’s class to insure that everyone has enough room to work. Once inside the class, the students will share their lima bean’s growth with their buddy (allow about five minutes for this).
2. The teacher will inform the students that they will begin working on their short stories today. The teacher will first ask them to brainstorm about their story. The teacher should model this on the board by creating a lima bean character of her own and writing down key words. (What their character’s name is, what is their attitude/personality like, how do they dress, what the story is about, where the lima beans will go, what will they do). The older buddy should document this just by writing key words down. A bubble map for each character is a good idea if you use thinking maps in your class, and then a separate bubble map for the events of the story.
3. The teacher will inform the older student to keep the brainstorming sheet—it will be used at the next three meetings for help in writing the short story.

Days 3, 4 & 5 (30 minutes each)

1. The teacher will allow about five minutes for the students to share their bar graph with their buddies. The teacher will instruct the students to begin writing their short story. (I usually have them write first and then illustrate). The teacher will go to every buddy pair and ask questions about their lima bean characters and their story events. (What is the name of your bean? What does he/she look like? How are you going to dress him/her? What is your story about? How are you going to make that happen?) The students will work until time permits.
2. Parent volunteers and assistants are a wonderful thing to use during this time.
3. On Day 4 the teacher will inform the students that they should be finishing the writing portion of their story and beginning the illustrations before the end of today’s session.
4. On Day 5 the teacher will inform the students that their short stories must be completed by the end of the session.

Day 6 (1 hour 30 minutes)

1. Everyone will gather in one room. On this day the buddy groups will present and read their short stories to the class. Usually this takes about an hour. After the presentations of the short stories, the teacher will bring out the chart paper with the students’ predictions on it. The teacher will then ask the students to make observations about the growth of their lima beans. The teacher will ask the students to get their graph out and listen to the following questions and answer by raising their hand:
   • Kindergarten students look at your buddy’s graph.
   • If their lima bean grew more than your lima bean raise your hand.
   • The teacher will document this number on the board under the buddy class’ grade number.
   • (Buddy Grade) students look at your kindergarten buddy’s graph.
   • If their lima bean grew more than your lima bean, raise your hand.
2. The teacher will document this number on the board under the letter “K” for kindergarten.
3. The teacher will ask the students to look at the numbers and determine which is greater. This number will determine which class’s lima beans grew the “best.” Typically, the class that receives the most sunlight has the most growth in their lima beans. The teacher will ask the students for reasons why they think the winning class “won.”

Assessment

• Participation during each session.
• Completion (with their buddy) of a short story containing a beginning, middle, and an end.
• Completion of the graph that documents their lima bean’s growth.
• Creativity and presentation of the short story.

Supplemental information

6 days over a period of 2 weeks (M,W,F,M,W,F)

• Week 1 M,W,F—30 min
• Week 2 M,W—30 min
• Week 2 Last session (F)—1 hour 30 min

Comments

At the end of the session on day 6, we had celebrated by having all green snacks. While the students were enjoying the snack, we handed out MaraLIMAthon certificates that had been signed by the principal and both teachers. Also, we hung a huge banner in the hallway between our rooms during the two weeks, and then after it was over, we hung the students’ short stories and graphs underneath the banner. It was a very fun event that the students are still talking about!