A Cross Curricular Pack Inspired by the Book

By Janet Stevens

By Nancy VandenBerge Firstgradewow.blogspot.com

Graphics by djinkers, scrappindoodles

I love taking a piece of fabulous literature and integrating the author’s ideas throughout our curriculum. This little unit is intended to supplement your existing plant unit using Janet Steven’s very popular and readily available book “Tops and Bottoms.” This unit includes some Measurement and other math activities, a few ELA activities, and some more fun learning opportunities!

How does your Garden Grow?

Play this game with a partner. Pick a card. Measure the “Tops and

Bottoms” with snap cubes (or other nonstandard unit). Record your

measurement on your recording sheet by adding that measurement to the previous ones. The first player to

reach 30 wins. (Teacher-print cut and shuffle)

Name __________How Does Your Garden Grow? Recording Sheet

1 2

That’s Just Plain Corny! Use the two different sized ears of corn. Measure the

items on the recording sheet using the two ears. Record

the two measurements. Show the difference.

Teacher- Print and cut apart ears of corn

Name ___________ That’s Just Plain Corny! Recording Sheet

Desk

Chair Seat

Pencil

Door

Math Book

Small ear Large ear Difference

Root Prints in the Garden!

Use the Root Prints Measuring Strips to

measure the vegetables on the different pages.

Record your measurements on the recording page.

Root Prints Measuring Strips- Nonstandard Units

Name _________ Root prints in the Garden Recording Page

Measure carrot Strip Radish Strip Turnip Strip

On the back tell about the differences in the measurements.

Hare and Bear Hi -Lo Game

Set out number line. Put Bear on the right side of the number line and Hare on the left. The leader thinks of a number between 1 and 20 (or higher!). Players take turns guessing the number. If the guess is too high, the leader says, “That number is too high.” Player moves Bear over to cover that number. If the guess is too low, the leader says, “That number is too low.” Player moves Hare over to cover that number. Players continue guessing until the leader’s number is the only number between Bear and Hare. (Small pictures can be used in a math tub with smaller numberlines. Large pictures can be used with a whole group with a floor number line.)

Hare and Bear Hi-Lo Game

Hare and Bear Hi-Lo Game

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

Cut apart and tape together to form number line to 20 (or higher)

11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

Name_____ Draw some “bottoms” in the garden.

Measure them with a nonstandard unit and label each plant with the measurement.

On the back tell about what you grew in your garden.

Name_____ Draw some “tops” in the garden.

Measure them with a nonstandard unit and label each plant with the measurement.

On the back tell about what you grew in your garden.

Hare and Bear

(Tune: "Old MacDonald Had A Farm")

Hare grew veggies on Bear’s land, EE I EE I O Tops and bottoms in his hand, EE I EE I O (Children take turns naming vegetables Hare grew) With a carrot, carrot here, and a carrot, carrot there Here a carrot, there a carrot Everywhere a carrot, carrot. Hare grew veggies on Bear’s land,

EE I EE I O

Name ________________ Tops and Bottoms Many author’s have a message they would like their readers to

understand through the text. What do you think Janet Stevens is sharing through Tops and Bottoms?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Name _____________

Tops and Bottoms Hare and Bear Compare

Name ________________ Put the Tops and Bottoms words in ABC order

Hare

Bear

tops

bottoms

carrots

broccoli

corn

trick

deal

lesson

Name _________________ Tops and Bottoms! Bottoms and Tops! Scrambled Words

Unscramble the words for Bear and Hare.

norc

eelcry

ooccrlbi

eettucl

steeb

aidshr

trroac carrot radish beets lettuce broccoli celery corn

On the back, write a sentence using two or three of the words.

Name ____________ Sowing Some Spelling Words

Name _______ Think Outside the Box What an you create?

Write about what you crated on the back!

h h a i l o c c o r b

e b c e l e r y a n e

c e r a r s a e b d e

u a s o f p c o r n t

t r t n b o t t o m s

t p l a n t h a r e u

e r e c a r r o t s a

l a d s e h s i d a r

Name ____________ Find all the Tops and Bottoms words

Hare Bear plant tops bottoms carrots radishes beets celery

broccoli lettuce corn

Fun with Carrot Plants From The World Carrot Museum

* Windowsill Carrot Plant - Cut the top off a carrot leaving about 1/2 inch of the orange part and the same amount of green stems if the carrot has already started sprouting from the top. Press the carrot piece into damp sand or soil in a saucer or bowl. Just put a little water into the dish if sand/soil are not available. Soon pretty leaves could appear and presto you have a nice plant to keep at a window in bright light. The root will not regenerate itself. But if there is enough of the root left, it is possible to plant it and get some foliage from it. The plant will eventually produce a flower and then seeds. If you are lucky the seeds will be viable and you can plant them in the ground to grow real carrots.

Name ___________ Window Sill Carrot Plant What we did: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This is what it looked like on _______________. This is what it looked like on _______________.