Getting down & dirty with soils

In this lesson, we will explore different kinds of soil (humus, sand, clay). The students will plant seeds in the different soils as part of further exploration.

A lesson plan for grade 1 English Language Arts and Science

By Amy Rhyne, Paulette Keys, and Sarah Carson

Photo credit.

About the authors

Sarah Carson currently teaches at N.B. Mills Elementary. She has taught Kindergarten for three years and First grade for three years.

Learn more

• The Magic School Bus Go to the site map and pick themes to find the different options for this topic

Related pages

• Fort Fisher State Recreation Area: The Fort Fisher program introduces students to the habitat and life history of "colonial-nesting coastal birds." The program also focuses on endangered, threatened and special-concern bird species.

• Masonboro Island: One of the four sites of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve. Interpreter led field trips must be reserved two seasons ahead. This is a favorite field trip for many teachers.
• Hammocks Beach State Park: A visit to Hammocks Beach State Parks allows students to explore several different ecosystems - estuaries, maritime forest, and desert.

Related topics

• Learn more about biology and life science, environmental science, and science.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• identify different properties of soil through exploration.
• tell which kind of soil is best for plant growth and list supporting reasons.
• document what they learned in a Science Notebook with diagrams, labels, sentences, and thinking maps.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

5 days

Materials/resources

• sand
• clay
• humus
• seeds
• "Do-It" tubes
• funnel
• pipet
• aged water
• hand lens
• clear cups
• coffee filters
• rubber bands
• science notebooks/journals for each child
• chart paper
• slides of each soil sample
• balance scale (optional)
• newspaper
• measuring containers
• books:
  • The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds, by Patricia Relf
  • The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle

Technology resources

• Kidspiration Software
• Graph Club
• internet connection
• website: Magic Schoolbus
• microscope that connects to computer (optional—Intel Play works well)
• smart TV (optional)

Pre-activities

Assess prior knowledge of sand and clay, and introduce humus.

Doing a rock unit first allows for an easy transition into soils.

The day before you plant seeds: soak your seeds in aged water (water that has been left sitting for at least 24 hours).

Activities

Day 1: (about 45 minutes)

Using chart paper, make a KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) chart to assess the students’ prior knowledge about sand, clay, and humus. Then find out what students want to know. Next, give the students time to explore. Sort students into small, heterogeneous groups. Give them the following materials:

• white paper or newsprint
• samples of clay, sand, and humus
• hand lens
• notebooks

Let them explore these soil samples and write about them in their science notebooks. Encourage students to use as many of their five senses as possible. Let them make a mess, smearing it, sprinkling it… (To include math in this lesson use a balance scale. Put a lump of clay, no bigger than a golf ball, on one side. Then, add sand or humus to the other and see how much you need to balance the scale.) Ideas of documentation for students to use in their science notebooks include:

• circle map
• bubble map
• double bubble/Venn diagram
• labeled drawing
• listing an observaton for each sense used (sight, smell, sound, touch)
• sentences that describe what they observed

While students are exploring, place slides on the microscope. Focus on each sample. Have each group view the samples on the computer microscope. Allow students to add this information to their Science notebooks.

Day 2: (about 45 minutes)

Students will observe what happens when water is added to the samples. First allow students to predict what happens when water is added to each kind of soil (gets muddy, changes color, which soil will roll into a ball). Use Graph Club on your computer to create graphs of results. Have students go back to small groups to explore. They will need:

• soil samples
• pipets
• small containers of water
• paper
• notebooks

Have students add small droplets of water and observe what happens. Allow them to explore on their own - smearing, stirring, trying to roll soil samples into balls…

Just for fun: You can add drops of water to your slides for the microscope to see how they look. Also, you can add the different soil samples to water in a container with a lid. Put the lids on and shake them up. Watch how each one settles. The comparisons are great for journal writing.

Notebooks: Students should be drawing pictures, labeling, using the thinking maps to explain or compare, and writing about what they observed with each sample.

Day 3:(about 45 minutes)

First, review KWL chart, add needed information. Students will explore which sample absorbs more water. You will need:

• clear cups
• coffee filters
• a rubber band
• equal amounts of each sample
• equal amounts of water for each sample

Put the filter inside the cup. Fold the edge over the rim cup and rubberband it in place, so the filter can hold the samples and the water will filter into the cup (you may need to put a funnel under the coffee filter if the filter cannot hold your samples on its own). Each group will have one cup per sample. They will place the soil samples in each coffee filter, over the cups. They will add equal amounts of water to each sample and wait to see what comes out at the bottom, into the cup. Compare which has the most and which has the least water in it. You may prefer to do this activity as a whole group lesson. Using Graph Club, chart each groups’ results. Questions to ask:

• Where is the water?
• If we put the same amount of water in each cup, then why do they not have the same amount at the bottom?
• Where did it go?

Discuss what they observed and where the water really went (it was absorbed).

Notebooks: Have each child make a drawing of the experiment and label the diagram. Students should illustrate how the different samples had different levels of water at the end. Have them write what happened to the water, or illustrate using arrows that the water was absorbed.

Day 4: (about 60 minutes)

The day before, soak your seeds in aged water (water that has been left sitting for at least twenty-four hours). You will need the following materials for each group:

• six tubes
• enough of each of the three kinds of soil to plant two tubes of each sample
• seeds for each of the six plantings
• funnels to help with planting
• newspaper to help with the mess
• small container of water
• pipets to add water
• 3 cups to hold the tubes upright. "Do-It Tubes" work well. They allow you to better see the roots.

First, students make predictions as to which soil will work best/worst to grow plants. Graph class predictions on Graph Club. Each group will plant seeds in two tubes of each soil sample, for a total of six tubes planted. You can use many kinds of seeds, but make sure that each group uses only one kind of seed. There are too many variables when groups use more than one kind of seed. Suggested seeds include: cucumber, pea, bean, and popcorn, but you may use what you like. Procedures for each group: put each kind of soil sample in two tubes, fill just over 3/4 full, add seeds, put more of the sample in, use pipet to water, put tubes into cups that are labled with group name, soil kind, and seed kind. Put in a well lit place, where they will not be disturbed.

Notebook: make a diagram of your plantings, label diagram, explain what you did with pictures or words.

Follow up: While this group of plans only last for five days, this planting will extend for several weeks. Have children write in notebooks, do Nature Notebooks in Kidspiration, chart and graph results, use Graph club, compare samples, compare with other groups, use thinking maps: flow map of plant growth, double bubble to compare, bubble map to list adjectives about plants, circle map to tell about plants in general… There are many extensions for this activity from books to videos, to writing, reading and math links. This can also tie in to your next unit of study: Plants and Food, Photosythesis.

Day 5:(about 45 minutes)

Now that you have worked hard all week to provide inquiry exploration, make Friday a fun and easy day. Start by reviewing/completing your KWL Chart. Allow students to participate in some of these fun options that will corrolate with this lesson: read The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds, by Patricia Relf or Eric Carle’s, The Tiny Seed; watch the video: "The Magic School Bus Goes To Seed"; visit: Magic Bus website and explore the information that goes with the topic. When at the webpage, it is easiest to go to the site map and pick themes to find the different options for this topic.

Assessment

The teacher will assess students through observation and notebooks, using the Rubric. The diagrams, labels, and writing in journals should show if the student has meet the N.C. Standard Course of Study objectives listed at the beginning of this lesson. These notebooks are a very important part of this project. Also, student discussions, whole and small group, will help the teacher complete the rubric and assess student understanding.

Supplemental information

Kidspiration Software Examples Attached below:

• Nature Notebook.kid—observing/writing about plant growth
• 5 senses.kid—template/visual aid for using the 5 senses to explore soil samples in day one of the lesson
• Circlemap.kid—example of how to make/use a circle map to describe a soil sample
• Contrast.kid —example of a way for the children to show the differences they find while exploring their soil samples

Look in your local or school library for other books on this topic. Other suggested reading includes:

• Talk About Soil, by Angela Webb
• Your First Garden Book, by Marc Tolon Brown
• Under the Ground, A First Discovey Book, by Pascele de Bourgoing
• Watch It Grow, by Julian Rowe & Molly Perham
• All About Seeds, by Susan Kuchalla
• From Seed to Plant, by Gail Gibbons

Comments

Graph club is an easy program for young children to use, however, it will only allow ten items to be graphed at one time. You may have to seperate your graphs by gender or small groups. Choosing icons to graph, use the first letter for each soil type. Graph club allowes students to view various graphs (picture, bar, circle, line). This makes it more interesting for students and has an added math benefit.

Also, there are a lot of science kits that have these activities, activity pages, and much more. Some preferred kits are STC (Science and Technology for Children) Soils kit, and FOSS Kits. The kits are costly. You can also do these experiments by having parents send in supplies or, asking your PTO/PTA to help.