32

Lesson 4:

Seeking 

Out What 

We Need

TOTAL TIME REQUIRED: 120 minutes / 3 sessions

Session 1: Getting Started 10 min;

 Activity I “A-Maze-ing Light” 40 min, 

 2 weeks observation (Science)

Session 2: Activity II “Seeking Out What We Need”

 40 min (Science/Health)

Session 3: Activity III “Tasty Broccoli” 

 20 min (Health);

 Reflect 10 min

Key Message:

Make half your plate fruits and 

vegetables. They’ll help you be your 

best at school and at play. 

Subject Connections: Science, Health

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to...

• Demonstrate an understanding of 

the scientific method by making 

hypotheses and drawing conclusions 

based on their own discoveries.

• Identify sources of fruits and vegetables 

in their school and home environment.

• Describe ways they can add more fruits 

and vegetables to their meals each day.

Supplies:

• For plant maze (per group of 3 students): 

pole bean seeds, small planting container, 

soil, cardboard box with lid/cover 

(shoebox), scraps of cardboard to build 

maze walls, tape, scissors, colored markers, 

illustration of sample mazes

• Access to sink with warm, running water 

and soap

• Access to a food preparation sink 

for rinsing broccoli

• Poster board and art supplies

• Garden Journals

• Student handouts: (pp. 75-77)

 1. A-Maze-Ing Light

 2. Fuel Up With Veggies...

 Zoom to the Finish!

• Dig In! posters – Race Car, Video Game

Featured Fruits and Vegetables: 

Broccoli

Provide enough raw samples for students 

to observe and taste, either from the 

garden or purchased from a market. 

Provide water (and cups) for students to 

drink as they taste the vegetables.

Additional Foods:

Dressings or dips (for example, hummus, 

balsamic vinaigrette, or ranch dressing) –

enough for each student to dip broccoli 

into each.

LESSON OVERVIEW:

In this lesson, students discover how plants respond to their environment 

and seek out what they need to grow. Students then apply this learning 

to their own lives as they search for sources of vegetables at school and 

home. Additionally, students take part in a class challenge: fueling up with 

a variety of fruits and vegetables ... in a race to the finish.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: What do living things need to survive, stay healthy,

 and grow? How can I seek out what I need?

TEACHING PROCEDURE:

GETTING STARTED (10 minutes)

1. Ask students: What do plants need to grow and survive? How do 

plants and people seek out what they need to grow and be healthy?

Have them answer in their Garden Journals using complete 

sentences. Invite them to share their answers. Remind them of what 

they learned in Lesson 3, that plants and people need nutrients to 

live, grow, and be healthy. People can get what they need by eating a 

variety of fruits and vegetables from each of the vegetable subgroups. 

Most people need to eat more from the Dark-Green, Red and 

Orange, and Beans and Peas vegetable subgroups.

2. Explain to students that they will do an experiment showing how plants 

respond to their environment. This experiment will help students transfer 

their understanding of plant growth, to their own nutritional needs, and 

how they can seek out what they need.

32 Dig In! • Grades 5-6 • http://teamnutrition.usda.gov
33

USING A “CONTROL” 

IN AN EXPERIMENT

Explain that the “control” in the 

experiment is a plant that is grown 

outside of the maze. This plant is 

not being affected by the conditions 

in the maze. By comparing a plant 

grown in the maze to the control 

plant, you can see which changes the 

maze environment may have caused. 

If the control plant and maze plant are 

affected in a similar way (for example, 

both plants wilt), then something other 

than the maze environment likely caused 

the change (such as too little water).

LESSON 4

Preparation (2 weeks in advance): First, decide how many mazes your 

class will create. Divide your class into groups of at least three students per 

maze. For each maze, plant two bean seeds per planting container. Plant one 

container for you to use as a “Control Bean Plant” (see sidebar). If both seeds 

in each container germinate, select the strongest seedling, and pull out the 

weaker seedling. Then, about 4 days before your students begin their 

observations, place the Control Bean Plant near a windowsill, so that it will 

begin to grow towards the sunlight. Make sure seedlings are well watered 

before they are placed in their mazes. Take care not to overwater or the roots 

will die without enough oxygen in their boxes.

1. Distribute the handout A-Maze-ing Light (p.75) to each student, and then 

divide the class into groups of four to five. Read through all instructions and 

steps. Ask: What do you think plants need to grow? (Sunlight, water, healthy 

soil, air/carbon dioxide) Do you think plants change their growth to follow the 

sun? Show students the Control Bean Plant. Ask: What do you observe about 

this plant? (It is growing towards the sunlight.) What do you think would happen 

if we moved the plant? What do you think would happen if we blocked the 

sunlight somehow? Have students write down their hypotheses in their 

Garden Journals.

2. Explain to students that they are going to design and build a plant maze to 

test how plants respond to sunlight and their environment. Give each group 

the materials required (cardboard box with lid, cardboard pieces, tape, 

scissors, potted seedling). Assure students that the mazes do not need to 

be complicated to test the hypothesis that plants grow towards light. 

Note: The more complicated the maze, the longer it will take for the bean 

plant to grow.

3. Give students 20 minutes to build their mazes. After students have completed 

them, have them place their bean plant, after watering, inside the box. Then 

position them so that sunlight will shine into the hole in the box. Have students 

record their predictions in their Garden Journals. Ask: What do you think your 

plant will do in the next week? Two weeks?

4. Have students observe, measure, and record their plant’s growth in their 

Garden Journals each day. They should also check to see if their plant needs 

water (by lifting lid of cardboard box carefully). If the soil is dry to the touch, 

they should add a little bit of water. At the conclusion of the experiment, have 

students record whether their original hypothesis was correct or incorrect, and 

in what way. Ask: Were you surprised by your results? What other factors could 

you add to this experiment to further test your hypothesis? (For example, they 

could change the location of the hole where the light enters the maze after 

1 week, or cover the hole so that no light enters the maze.)

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Activity I. A-Maze-ing Light 

(40 minutes preparation, 2 weeks observation, Science) Teacher Tip! 

DIG DEEPER! (SOCIAL STUDIES)

Explore how humans and animals 

seek out what they need to survive. 

Have students work in pairs to research 

an ancient civilization. Ask them to investigate 

why they believe people settled where they 

did. How were they seeking out what they 

needed? (For example, many civilizations 

would settle near a water source for drinking 

and to irrigate crops. Why would other 

civilizations settle in the mountains? 

How did they access food and water?).

Discuss the topic in more depth by 

asking students to think about: What 

challenges did ancient civilizations have? 

Are any of these challenges similar 

to ones we as a modern society have? 

To explore this topic further, see 

Lesson 6 (p. 42) for more activities 

on what foods are grown 

around the world.

Dig In! • Grades 5-6 • http://teamnutrition.usda.gov 33
34

Activity II. Seeking Out What We Need 

(40 minutes, 3-day tracker, Science/Health)

Pacing Note: In this activity, students will track and assess what they eat for 3 

days. It is recommended that you introduce this activity on a Monday, and then 

wrap up on a Friday.

1. Ask students to reflect on what they discovered about plants from their 

experiment, and write their reflections in their Garden Journals. What do 

plants need to grow and stay healthy? Plants need nutrients, which they get 

from water, sunlight, air (carbon dioxide), and soil. They also need space to 

grow. What do plants do when there is a barrier between them and the light 

they need? Explain that as they saw in their experiment, plants seek it out by 

growing towards the light. This is called phototropism (see sidebar). 

2. Ask students: What happens to a plant that does not get quite enough 

sunlight? Explain that it may not grow as large or produce as many flowers, 

leaves, or fruit. Sunlight helps plants turn their food into energy – this is called 

photosynthesis. Ask students: How do we get our energy? (From food, 

specifically from eating a balanced variety of foods from the five food groups.) 

Ask students: How can you seek out what you need to grow and be healthy? 

How can you eat more vegetables? 

3. Distribute the Fuel Up With Veggies . . . Zoom to the Finish! handout 

(pp.76-77). Explain that their challenge is to zoom across the finish line by 

 eating a variety of vegetables! Go over instructions 

with students. Explain that they will write down 

everything they eat and drink for 3 

days in their Garden Journals. 

They’ll use this information

to see how many 

vegetables they’ve 

eaten, and if they 

included vegetables 

from the DarkGreen, Red and 

Orange, and 

Beans and

Peas Vegetable

subgroups. 

 

LESSON 4

GARDEN TEAM TASK

Get your garden teams to 

evaluate the conditions of the 

plants growing in the garden. 

Are plants getting what they need? 

Do they need more light or water? 

Do they need pruning or more space? 

Are there weeds that need to come out? 

Are there additional plants you want to 

add? Have garden teams sprout 

seedlings indoors for new plants to 

add to the garden. Once seedlings have 

sprouted, have students work together 

to transplant them into the garden.

( p. 102)

 Teacher Tip! 

Use this activity as an introduction into

the topic of tropisms – how plants can

change their growth in response to their

environment. Plants can show four types

of tropisms: 

1. Phototropism –

 the way a plant grows 

 or bends in response to light

2. Geotropism –

the way a plant grows 

or bends in response 

to gravity

3. Hydrotropism –

the way a plant grows 

or bends in response 

to water

4. Thigmotropism –

the way a plant grows 

or bends in response 

to touch

34 Dig In! • Grades 5-6 • http://teamnutrition.usda.gov
35

BROCCOLI FUN FACTS

Share With Students:

The word broccoli comes from 

the Latin word “brachium” which 

means branch, or arm.

Broccoli is grown

in nearly every U.S. State, including 

Alaska and Hawaii. California 

grows the most. 

Broccoli is packed with vitamin C,

 which helps heal cuts and wounds and 

keeps teeth and gums healthy. 

Choose broccoli 

that is dark green – which indicates 

a healthy plant. Avoid broccoli with 

stalks that bend; open, flowering, 

or discolored clusters; tough, 

 woody stems.

Eat smart to play hard 

with broccoli.

Snack on raw broccoli and low-fat 

dip. Choose broccoli sides 

at lunch. Ask your parents 

to make broccoli for dinner.

4. Tell students that their race car will move an extra space if they try a vegetable 

 they have never eaten before. Explain that they need to eat a vegetable from

 the Dark-Green, Red and Orange, and Beans and Peas Vegetable

 Subgroups in order for their race car to cross the finish line.

5. Have students respond to the following prechallenge questions in their 

Garden Journals: 

 • How many different vegetables do you think you eat per day?

 • What new vegetables do you want to try? (Especially from the Dark-Green,

 Red and Orange, and Beans and Peas Vegetable subgroups.)

 • What are some ways you can add vegetables to your meals?

6. Check in with students each day to see how they are doing. After 3 days, 

 have students identify the vegetables they ate and sort them into their 

 vegetable subgroup. Then, ask students to determine how far their car will

 move along the racetrack based upon the vegetables they ate:

 • For each vegetable portion eaten, move one space. They may only

 count one kind of vegetable once per day. (For example, if on Day 1

 they have broccoli at lunch, carrots as a snack, broccoli again and

 eggplant with dinner, they move three spaces.)

 

 • For each NEW (i.e., tried for the first time) vegetable eaten, they get a “Turbo

 Boost” and move ahead one extra space. Students can simply taste a 

 vegetable they have never eaten to get the point. (For example, if they had

 never tried eggplant, they would get an extra “turbo” point for tasting eggplant.

 Therefore, on Day 1, they may move four spaces around the racetrack.) 

 

 • They may not cross the finish line unless they have eaten at least one 

 vegetable from each of the following vegetable subgroups: Dark-Green,

 Red and Orange, and Beans and Peas. (For example, even if they have

 eaten enough vegetables to move through all spaces on the racetrack, but

 have not eaten any vegetables from the Beans and Peas Subgroup,

 they may not yet cross the finish line.)

 Teacher Tip! Remind students that eating vegetables from every subgroup 

can help them be their best, just as they are helping their car zoom across

the finish line.

7. Ask: Who zoomed across the finish line first? How many different vegetables

 did the entire class eat? Have students evaluate the results of the challenge by

 answering these post-challenge questions in their Garden Journals: 

 • How many different vegetables did you eat over the course of 3 days? 

 • How many new vegetables did you eat over the course of 3 days? 

• What were some of the challenges you faced? 

 Invite students to share their reflections. Then celebrate by allowing students

 to race around the school track or field and then fuel up with a vegetable

 snack. Alternatively, recognize students that cross the finish line with race 

 car-themed rewards, such as car-shaped erasers.

LESSON 4

 Teacher Tip! 

Display the Dig In! Race Car 

and Video Game posters in a 

visible location in the classroom 

so that students can reference them 

as they take on the challenge. Can 

they identify all the fruits and 

vegetables? Are there any new fruits 

and vegetables they can try that will 

help them “zoom” across the finish line?

Dig In! • Grades 5-6 • http://teamnutrition.usda.gov 35
36

Activity III. Tasty Broccoli (20 minutes, Health)

Prepare: If broccoli is growing in your garden, see if it is ready for harvest. 

If not, use samples purchased from a market or store. Buy broccoli with the 

stalk so students can see the whole vegetable as it comes from the plant. 

Have students help you with preparation (under your supervision). Set up 

a tasting station with plates and at least three different salad dressings 

or dips (for example, hummus, balsamic vinaigrette, or ranch dressing).

1. Show students what broccoli looks like when it is harvested from the 

garden (with stalk). Explain that it can be purchased at the store like this, 

or precut in bags, or frozen. Review with students by asking: What part 

of the plant does broccoli come from? (The floret is the flower, while the

 stalk is the stem.) What vegetable subgroup does it belong to? (DarkGreen Vegetable Subgroup.) Share with students some 

additional broccoli fun facts (see sidebar, p. 35).

2. Have students wash their hands following proper procedures (see p. 5).

 With supervision, have them rinse the broccoli under cold, running water. Next,

 have students break broccoli into bite-size sections and plate the samples (If

 students cannot have access to a clean sink for rinsing the broccoli, provide

 prewashed, ready-to-eat broccoli for your class to sample.) Each student

 should get at least four pieces. Ask a volunteer to put samples of the different

 dips into small plastic cups for each student to try.

3. Have them first note in their Garden Journals the taste of the broccoli

 without dip – observing the texture, flavor, and color. Then ask students

 to write down their opinions after tasting broccoli with each of the dips. 

 

REFLECT (10 minutes)

1. Ask students to reflect in their Garden Journals on useful tips to share 

 with friends and family of ways to include more vegetables into their meals.

 Ask: How can you seek out what you need to make half your plate fruits 

 and vegetables? What vegetable would be fun to eat as a snack after

 school? What vegetable would make a good “on-the-go” snack? Split the

 class into small groups and provide each with poster board and art 

 materials. Have them illustrate their tips on posters to place in the cafeteria.

EXTENSIONS

Colorful Survey. Have students look at the school lunch menu to see if 

broccoli is offered and how it is prepared. Survey students to see which broccoli 

offering is their favorite and identify other ways they might like to see it included 

on the cafeteria menu. Share your results with the District Food Service Director.

Home-and-Seek. Ask students to look for fruits and vegetables at home. 

Have them look in their fridge and pantry, and list in their Garden Journals

what produce they found. They can help their families by making a shopping 

list of fruits and vegetables they would like.

LESSON 4

36 Dig In! • Grades 5-6 • http://teamnutrition.usda.gov

 DIG DEEPER! (SOCIAL STUDIES)

Explore how humans and animals seek out 

what they need to survive. 

• Have students work in pairs to research an

 ancient civilization. Ask them to investigate

 why they believe people settled where they

 did. How were they seeking out what they

 needed? (For example, many civilizations

 would settle near a water source for 

 drinking and to irrigate crops. Why would

 other civilizations settle in the mountains?

 How did they get food and water?)

• Discuss the topic in more depth by 

 asking students to think about: What 

 challenges did ancient civilizations 

 have? Are any of these challenges 

 similar to ones we as a modern 

 society have? 

• To explore this topic further, see 

 Lesson 6 (p. 42) for more activities 

 on what foods are grown 

 around the world.

 IMPORTANT FOOD 

 SAFETY STEPS! 

Please see p. 4 for a reproducible 

handout to post in a visible location in 

your classroom. It is important that you 

follow these steps to keep yourself, your 

students, and any parents or volunteers 

safe and healthy. 

Hand Washing:

All persons participating in the food 

preparation activity (teachers, students,

volunteers, parents) should wash hands

before and after preparing, handling, or

sampling foods. 

Allergy Alert! See p. 2 for more

information on food safety and allergies

before starting this food preparation activity.

COOKING DEMONSTRATION

Invite a chef to come in and demonstrate the 

cooking of a broccoli recipe. You may also 

work together with your school’s food service 

staff to see if they can prepare any recipes 

featuring broccoli for students to sample. 

(For example, a broccoli stir-fry, broccoli slaw, 

broccoli-macaroni casserole, broccoli salad, or 

steamed broccoli with low-fat cheese.) Dig In! 

at Home includes a Chic’ Penne recipe that 

your class may wish to try.