What if you could challenge your first graders to relate changes in seasonal weather patterns to changes in the plant world using a container garden? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series, you can!

Patterns and the Plant World outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. As are the other volumes in the series, this book is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms.

The book is an interdisciplinary module that uses project- and problem-based learning to help young children make discoveries about a range of natural phenomena. Students will draw on Earth and environmental science, mathematics, engineering, English language arts, and social studies to do the following:

• Explore how Earth’s movement around the Sun affects the planet’s regional weather patterns.

• Observe the changes in plant life that come with the changing seasons.

• Use the steps of the engineering design process (EDP) to design and create a class garden for the Container Garden Design Challenge.

• Design an observation notebook to record data about their garden, with an emphasis on data collection, measurement, and presenting numerical data in graphic form.

The STEM Road Map Curriculum Series is anchored in the Next Generation Science Standards, the Common Core State Standards, and the Framework for 21st Century Learning. In-depth and flexible, Patterns and the Plant World can be used as a whole unit or in part to meet the needs of districts, schools, and teachers who are charting a course toward an integrated STEM approach.