Third Graders Study San Francisco Native Plants

San Francisco is at the heart of our social studies curriculum in third grade! The first couple months of the school year are devoted to developing a strong classroom community and then we move on to studying the rich history of San Francisco. We begin by learning more about the native people of San Francisco, the Ohlone. The Ohlone used many of the native plants in San Francisco. Science is integrated with our social studies for this unit. Each girl is assigned the task of studying, observing and becoming an expert on an assigned plant. While learning about their own plant, they also learn about the parts of a plant and how to use and make a dichotomous key. We began by going on a field trip to the San Francisco Botanical Garden, where we had a chance to learn more about our plants. It was a great experience! We are also lucky enough to have a Native Plant Garden at our school which gives the girls the opportunity to study these plants up close and personal. They recently spent some time in the garden drawing and measuring their plants. Check out some of the pictures below!