Winter Squash: Sink or Float?
Lesson Plans
Grades3, 4, 5Science, English Language Arts, Health
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Provided by Center for Ecoliteracy
What it is
- This hands-on lesson about California-grown squash includes directions for a squash taste test, a squash buoyancy test, a vocabulary list, and worksheets to print for your students.
- Students will enjoy this fun lesson, which can span one or two 50-minute periods.
Teaching tips
Positives
- This lesson will provide students with lasting impressions.
- Students will get to test their hypotheses about squash buoyancy, taste several varieties of winter squash, and learn about these vegetables.
Additional Prerequisites
- Several materials are required to complete all the components of this lesson, including copies of worksheets, baking and kitchen supplies, several varieties of squash, and plastic containers filled with water.
Differentiation
- This activity would work well in a health class discussing nutrition, a science class working on density or biodiversity, and language arts classes reading non-fiction.
- It would work well as station work or lab work, where students complete a portion of the lesson and rotate through each of the stations.
- As an extension, have students complete the density test with other produce.
From the scientist review
This resource is an in depth lesson on Californian grown varieties of winter squash. It dives into its history and uses as well as its cultivation. All information within is accurate and verifiable. This resource is recommended for teaching.
How we review resourcesReady to use it?
Hosted on ecoliteracy.org
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