Photosynthesis for Interactive Notebooks

I've been loving the work my students are doing in our science notebooks this year.  Lately, we've been having fun mastering the process of photosynthesis through experiments, card sorts and some interactive flip notes!

There are definitely some great resources for teaching photosynthesis available online.  However, I just couldn't find something that I thought was a good match for this year's group, so I created some of my own diagrams and put them together to create an interactive notebook entry that teaches the photosynthesis equation.

Making meaning by modeling with play dough (Even if it is orange instead of green...which drove me a little crazy but didn't seem to matter!)

We did a grass plant experiment that clearly shows the role of sunlight in the process.  

And we recorded our observations every few days over the course of about two weeks. 

We used a few different strategies for vocabulary practice including card sorts, splat and this "How I see it" graphic organizer that encourages students to describe each word using their own words and pictures. 

For more details and printable versions of each of these photosynthesis activities, check out:

Happy Teaching...