Unit 9 — May: Floral Design, Horticulture, and Plant Biodiversity
Description
Students explore flower types, floral arrangements, and landscaping design. They examine complete, incomplete, perfect, and imperfect flowers, then design their own floral arrangements using school-grown flowers while learning design principles and artistic impression. Computer design programs are introduced for landscaping and floral planning. A school landscaping contest challenges students to design a plan within budget constraints. The unit also includes plant biodiversity measurement using transect methods, plant identification using field guides and apps, and plant collection with pressing and scientific naming.
Essential Questions
- What design principles guide floral and landscape aesthetics?
- How do we identify and classify plants?
- What factors affect plant biodiversity in an ecosystem?
- How do plant adaptations influence landscaping choices?
Learning Objectives
- Identify flower types and their characteristics.
- Apply design principles to create floral arrangements.
- Use computer programs to plan landscaping.
- Design a landscape within budget using appropriate plants.
- Measure plant biodiversity using scientific transect methods.
- Identify plants using multiple resources.
- Understand plant adaptations and their practical applications.
Supplemental Resources
- Markers and poster paper for floral and landscape presentations
- Colored pencils for design sketches and diagrams
- Lined field notebooks for plant observations
- Graph paper for biodiversity data recording
- Index cards for plant identification information
Crosscutting Concepts
Disciplinary Core Ideas
Earth and Space Sciences
Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Life Sciences
Science and Engineering Practices
Students read and analyze informational texts about agriculture, food science, natural resources, and animal science topics throughout the year. They write argumentative and informative pieces, including blog posts, portfolio updates, and project reports, to communicate findings and support claims with evidence. Students engage in collaborative discussions, present research to peers, and develop vocabulary specific to agricultural science domains.
Students apply mathematical reasoning across units, including calculating feed amounts, fertilizer ratios, percent loss, square footage for chicken coops, costs of food using grocery ads, carrying capacity using graphs, acreage and supply calculations for agribusiness planning, and unit conversions in food science measurements.
Students conduct investigations and laboratory experiments aligned to life science, earth science, and engineering standards throughout the year. Topics include plant cell structure and function, photosynthesis and cellular respiration, genetics and heredity, ecosystem dynamics and food webs, water chemistry and macroinvertebrate biology, natural resource management, and engineering design applied to agricultural structures.
Career readiness, financial literacy, and 21st century life skills are embedded throughout the curriculum. Students explore careers in agriculture, food science, veterinary science, natural resource management, and agribusiness. They develop personal finance skills through grocery budgeting and agribusiness planning activities, and practice workplace readiness skills including teamwork, communication, and problem-solving across all units.
Formative Assessments
- Observations of floral arrangement design
- Journals documenting flower identification and observations
- Exit tickets on design principles
- Group work on biodiversity data collection
- Discussions on landscaping decisions and plant selection
Summative Assessment
Projects including floral arrangements, landscaping design plans and presentations, plant collection with scientific documentation, and biodiversity reports
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through a teacher-guided plant identification activity using visual supports such as labeled images or simplified field guides, or by sorting flower and plant specimens by characteristics with verbal descriptions instead of written documentation. Floral arrangement design may be completed with reduced scope, such as arranging pre-selected flowers in a prepared container with teacher guidance, or presenting landscaping ideas through a combination of drawings, models, and oral explanation rather than a written design plan.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students may benefit from visual supports such as labeled diagrams of flower parts and step-by-step illustrated guides for arranging and pressing specimens, reducing the language load while keeping content accessible. For design tasks and biodiversity documentation, offering oral or dictated responses as alternatives to written journal entries supports varied output needs. Breaking the landscaping budget project into smaller sequential checkpoints with frequent teacher feedback helps students manage multi-step planning tasks. Pre-teaching key vocabulary for flower types, design principles, and plant classification before each phase of the unit builds the processing foundation students need to engage with hands-on work.
Section 504
Extended time should be applied to floral arrangement design tasks, plant identification activities, and any written documentation such as biodiversity reports or landscaping presentations. Preferential seating near demonstrations during instruction on design principles and transect methods helps students maintain focus and access visual modeling. Printed copies of directions and design criteria reduce working memory demands during independent and group tasks in this unit.
ELL / MLL
Visual cues such as photographs of flower types, labeled plant diagrams, and example floral arrangements support comprehension of this unit's specialized vocabulary before and during instruction. Key terms related to flower anatomy, design principles, and plant classification should be introduced with pictures and, where possible, connections to cognates or home language equivalents. Simplified directions for tasks like the transect activity or the landscaping design project, paired with a visual model of the expected product, help students focus on the agricultural content rather than language barriers.
At Risk (RTI)
Connecting this unit's content to students' everyday environments — such as recognizing plants in their neighborhoods or discussing familiar flowers — provides meaningful entry points into flower identification and design concepts. For the landscaping and biodiversity components, offering partially completed graphic organizers or data-collection templates reduces barriers to participation while still requiring students to engage with key ideas. Hands-on tasks like pressing plants and arranging flowers are natural motivators in this unit and should be used strategically to build confidence before introducing more abstract concepts like budgeting or scientific naming.
Gifted & Talented
Students ready for greater depth can explore the ecological and evolutionary dimensions of plant biodiversity beyond what the transect activity requires, investigating why certain plant adaptations thrive in specific regional or climatic conditions. The landscaping design project offers an opportunity to research sustainable or native planting practices, applying real-world horticultural and environmental principles to their budget-constrained designs. Students may also investigate the science behind floral symmetry, pollination strategies, or the taxonomy underlying plant classification systems, connecting artistic design principles to biological structure in ways that extend well beyond surface-level identification.