The experiential component of this lesson is very personalized. When the students read the motivating story of What If Everybody Gave?, they will be motivated to give in some manner. The students report back in what manner they gave.

Anticipatory Set:
The teacher will display around the room pictures of people with flowers to interest the learners in a new unit involving growing our own gifts for others. Introduce a volunteer master gardener to the class.

Day One:

• Allow the learners to handle the flowers the master gardener brought for demonstration. The master gardener can share motivating information about where the plants were grown, what they are called, what the parts are called, whether they like sun or shade, impact on the environment, and so on.
• Have the master gardener share personal reasons for being involved in gardening. Talk about how gardening affects one’s well-being. Discuss what senses are involved in the care and handling of flowers. Discuss how seeing flowers in the community or receiving flowers as a gift makes people feel. Ask students to predict how it will feel to give flowers as a gift.
• The master gardener should explain how to properly plant the seeds and take care of the plants in the current season. Talk about the natural resources involved. The gardener can help the students and teacher break the procedure for planting, caring and presenting the flowers into steps over time. (It would be helpful to have examples—real or pictures—of plants at various stages of growth with information about how long it takes to reach each stage.)
• The teacher should write the steps on a timeline (from planting to delivering flowerpots) and assign the tasks to students and groups.
• Teach the students how to use the digital camera. Allow some students to document the master gardener visit with pictures. They should include pictures of the gardener, a variety of flowers, and any visual instructions and illustrations of growth stages.
  Note: Keep track of the students who take pictures so that each student gets a chance in the unit.
• Read aloud some of the books about seeds and plants in the bibliography today and other days throughout the unit.
  
  
  Day Two:
  
• Define Philanthropy as the sharing of time, talent or treasure for the common good.
• Read aloud the book What If Everybody Gave? by Janet Wakefield (see Bibliographical References). Discuss the students’ reactions to the book. How are the examples in the book examples of philanthropy?
• Tell the students that you want them to think of ways that they can give. Tell them that you want them to think about it for a few days and then make a plan for giving. Check back with the students each day over the next several days to hear what they are thinking. Keep a list of their ideas. If students take the initiative to give in some way, have them report about it to the rest of the class.
• Explain to the class that they are going to be philanthropists with their flower projects. They will give the plant that they took time to grow and care for to a person that they meet at a retirement facility. They will also plant flowers in a common area in the community.
• Introduce the concept of “community capital.” When someone gives and contributes in ways that help or make people feel good, he or she builds up “community capital.” People feel good about the giver and may help the giver in the future.
• List the volunteers and philanthropists who are directly involved in this project: the volunteer master gardener, the store or individuals who donated the pots for painting, the parent helpers, and so on. Add the class to the list of philanthropists.
• Show the students the terra-cotta plant pot. This pot will hold the gift flowers. Give them paper to plan the art designs for painting the pots. Encourage the students to use a plant theme (to be finished in Lesson Three: Rubbing Elbows with Plants.)

• Interactive Parent / Student Homework:
  Students take home the book What If Everybody Gave? (see Bibliographical References). They read the book with their families and talk about ways they can give. They should make a plan within their families to carry out an idea on their own initiative. Students can bring a list of brainstormed ideas back to school when they return the books.

• Carle, Eric. The Tiny Seed. Aladdin Library, 2001. ISBN: 0689842449
  
  
• Cooney, Barbara. Miss Rumphius. Scott Foresman, 1985. ISBN: 0140505393
  
  
• Demi. The Empty Pot. New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1996. ISBN 0805049002
  
  
• Gibbons, Gail. From Seed to Plant. Holiday House, 1993. ISBN: 0823410250
  
  
• Heller, Ruth. The Reason for a Flower. Paper Star, 1999. ISBN: 0698115597
  
  
• Hickman, Pamela. A Seed Grows: A first Look at a Plant’s Life Cycle. Kids Can Press, 1997. ISBN: 1550742000
  
  
• Wakefield, Janet. What If Everybody Gave? Community Partnerships with Youth, Inc., 2002. ISBN 0971749701