Standards

Science

• 4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

Language Arts

• W.4.2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
• SL.4.1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher led)with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• 4.NBT.A. Generalize place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers.
• 4.NBT.B. Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi digit arithmetic.

Learning Objectives

• Students will construct an argument that plants, and animals have internal and external structures.
• Students will engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions.
• Students will identify place values of digits.

Materials

• Grow It! PDF of Lesson
• Emerging Corn Plant Structures and Functions
• Dr. Huge Brain Story
• Farmer Evelyn Word Problem
• Maze Direction Lock Worksheet
• Corn Plant Structures and Functions Word Bank and Descriptions
• Part of a Corn Plant Worksheet
• Emerging Corn Plant 4-Digit
• Certificate

Breakout Edu Tips

If this is your first time using a Breakout Edu box, you are in for a treat. Once you’ve done one breakout box your students will be ready for the next time.

• You can use breakout boxes as a whole class, in addition to small groups.
• You have the opportunity to give students hints. Every box comes with at least two hint cards. If you have a high performing group, you may want to challenge them with less hints, while a different hour may need more hints.
• Having a visual timer for students while they are working is really helpful. It allows them to budget their time and when they may want to use their hints.
• As the teacher, you have the discretion to hide things wherever in your room you deem best. Feel free to make adjustments. Just make sure the clues for the locks don’t change. Otherwise, students may not be able to get in.

Breakout Activity

This lesson can be used as a standalone lesson to introduce the different aspects of a family farm or be tied in as an informal assessment for the Kansas Corn lesson, CORN: Structurally Speaking. In the fourth grade corn lesson, they are focusing on plant structures and functions. They observe, record and reflect throughout the module. By the end, they are asked to identify structures, draw plants and identify its parts. With this breakout, students will analyze recorded data, solve word problems and identify parts of plants so they can breakout.

Recommended Ages: 4th Grade
Ideal Group Size: Small Groups of 3 or 4
Suggested Time: 30

Story

Dr. Huge Brain has a problem.  His funding of his corn research is almost gone.  Unless he and his team are able to find more funding they will be shut down.  Tomorrow he is supposed to present all of the results of his team’s work to the president of the university. If she likes the research then they will continue his funding and he and his team will be able to work on more corn research.

Unfortunately a strong thunderstorm has caused the university to lose power and it won’t be back on until after his meeting.  Because all the computers are down with the power outage Dr. Brain must break into his research using manual locks, but he doesn’t have much time left to get them open.  As a member of Dr. Brain’s scientific team, your task is to solve the problems so Dr. Brain can open all of the locks and retrieve the research.  Use all of your corn knowledge to Breakout!  Good Luck Dr. Huge Brain is counting on you!

Lock Combinations

The following codes will open the locks for the classroom box.

Directional Lock
down, left, down, right, down

4-Digit Lock
3,2,4,1

Letter Lock
T,L,S,R,H

3-Digit Lock
1,0,0

Online Lock Combinations

The following codes will open the locks for the online version.

Directional Lock (Digital Version)
down, left, down, right, down

4-Digit Lock (Digital Version)
3,2,4,1

Letter Lock (Digital Version)
R, B, S, L, N, T, E, H, S, K

Setup Instructions

Steps

1. Print off the resource documents listed in the materials section. The resources need to be printed in color and enough copies per the number of boxes you plan on using.
2. Change the locks to the appropriate lock combinations found in the lesson plan. If you are unsure on how to change the locks, please watch the official Breakout videos on YouTube entitled, “Setting Breakout EDU Locks”.
3. Grab the small breakout box. If you are planning on a breakout reward (Twizzlers are fun corn-based products to use), set it in the box before placing the direction lock on the box.
4. Place the now locked small breakout box and the, You Broke Out sheets inside the larger breakout box. Once complete, place the multi-lock mechanism on the bigger breakout box.
5. Once you have placed the multi-lock mechanism on the larger breakout box, you are ready to start placing the locks associated with the lesson. It is always a good idea to double check your locks before beginning the lesson.
6. Students should be handed the following resources, the story titled, “Dr. Huge Brain” along with the Maze Direction Lock worksheet, Corn Plant Structures and Functions word bank and descriptions, Emerging Corn Plant Structures and Functions for 4-digit lock, and Farmer Evelyn word problem for 3-digit lock.
7. Begin. Read the story and go over the locks with the students. We have found it to be helpful for a visual representation of the breakout timer to be running in the background. This can be found on YouTube by searching, Breakout EDU timer.
8. Once students have broken out, you can give them the key to open the small box. If you are willing, Kansas Corn would love it if you would to take a group picture with the breakout certificates and mention @kansascornSTEM in your tweet.

Questions

1. Where do you think corn came from?
2. The corn seeds germinated best in which conditions?
3. What does a farmer plant in her/his field in order to grow corn?
4. How many of you have grown seeds before?
5. What do you wonder about now?

Teacher Resources

• Farmer Evelyn Word Problem Answer Key
• Emerging Corn Plant 4-Digit Answer Key

This breakout box works well when used with “Structurally Speaking” lesson which comes with free materials for Kansas teachers.

Disclaimer

Any educator electing to perform demonstrations is expected to follow NSTA Minimum Safety Practices and Regulations for Demonstrations, Experiments, and Workshops, which are available at https://static. nsta.org/pdfs/MinimumSafetyPracticesAndRegulations.pdf, as well as all school policies and rules and all state and federal laws, regulations, codes and professional standards. Educators are under a duty of care to make laboratories and demonstrations in and out of the classroom as safe as possible. If in doubt, do not perform the demonstrations.