Part of Lesson Plan: Photosynthesis Process

Activity Overview / Details

Play music as the students enter the classroom (suggestions Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by the Police or Magic Man by Heart). While the song plays take roll and ask students to have their desks clear so they are ready for the story once the song is over. Bring out a houseplant and set on the desk and begin the story. I tell them this is plant may look like it is just sitting here doing nothing, but you might be surprised to learn it is a "magic plant". Just below the surface there is a lot of action going on right before your very eyes...do you see it? This plant is breathing in our carbon dioxide and sucking up water. The water and carbon dioxide meet up in a special part of the cell and then when light hits it and (snap your fingers) magic happens! Now there is sugar and oxygen where there was carbon dioxide and water. This process is happening in every green cell in this plant, over and over again a million times a minute (snap many times all around the leaves of the plant). So now you see why I think every little thing this plant does is Magic. Now, lets get out your notebooks so we can capture the details of this process and how it works.