Soil Pictures
(Closing Activity)

Time - 20 minutes

Student Outcomes
Given materials, students will:

1. Draw a line across the middle of an open folder, as modeled.
2. Draw a plant of their choice above the line.
3. Draw roots below the line.
4. Apply glue around the roots and sprinkle soil over glue, then dump excess soil on newspaper.

Materials

• manila folders
• glue
• crayons/ markers
• soil
• newspapers
• paper towels

Focus

"In our last activity, what did we discover about grass and how it helps soil?" (The grass kept the soil from washing out of the container.) "We also decided there might be other plants which keep soil from washing away. What are some of those?"

Procedure

1. "I am passing out some folders to each of you, along with some newspaper. I want you to cover your desk with newspaper. Open your folder and be sure your name is on it somewhere. Take a crayon and draw a line across the middle of your folder like this. This line represents the ground. Now I want you to draw your favorite plant above the line. It can be a tree, flowers, some grass, or whatever plant you like. Below the line I want you to draw some roots for your plant."
2. Have students apply glue around their roots and then sprinkle soil over the glue. (use soil from one of the other activities) Have them shake any extra soil onto their newspaper. (Have two getters carry the trash can around to collect all the newspapers.)

Closure

Have students share what plants they drew on their folders. List some of the different plants on the board. "All the plants we listed on the board help protect our soil. They keep it from washing away. How do the colors of the soils differ? Texture?"

Notes:

These soil pictures make a nice bulletin board display.