New Mexico Grade 1 Science

Borrow a plant’s support structure for a paper display

Design a paper support inspired by a plant in New Mexico Grade 1 science, explain observations, and find selected references, lessons, quizzes, and state guidance.

New Mexico’s science rule, NMAC 6.29.10, incorporates NGSS with additional state expectations, effective July 1, 2018. The selected NGSS references here were checked in the original publisher’s Next Generation Science Standards, September 2017 DCI arrangements. That document’s publication date identifies the reference copy; the state rule establishes New Mexico’s requirements. Read complete performance expectations, clarifications, assessment boundaries, practices, core ideas, and crosscutting concepts alongside the school’s course plan. This activity selects a Grade 1 expectation. It is one part of a science course, not a complete curriculum.

Also read the six additional New Mexico expectations and their framework. The additional 1-SS-1 NM expectation concerns scientific contributions of individuals from diverse backgrounds, including New Mexicans. Extend this design activity with verified profiles and evidence of those contributions.

Borrow a plant’s support structure for a paper display

An adult supplies a photograph or intact model of a small flowering plant. Notice how its stem supports leaves and a flower. The class needs a stand that holds a paper sign above a desk. With teacher-approved paper and tape, make a flat strip and a folded strip of the same length. Use each to support the same small sign. Predict which form will stay upright, then record what actually happens.

Explain the evidence or model

The borrowed function is support: a stem helps hold the plant’s above-ground parts, and the paper stand should hold the sign. A fold can change a strip’s shape so it resists bending better than the flat form under the same load. This is a prediction; the activity supplies no completed result. Compare whether each stand stays upright, bends, or falls. Record the sign’s position and the attachment method as well. A useful explanation names a structural feature, an actual observation, and the job it helped perform. A child can draw the plant stem and the paper stand with labels rather than memorize engineering terms.

What to check in the explanation

A paper stand does not grow, carry water, or perform every job of a stem. Changing the sign size or adding more tape to only one stand changes the comparison. Do not cut or damage a living plant to test the idea. The borrowed support function is a narrow part of plant structure and does not imply that paper and living tissue are the same.

Plan the next activity

1. Observe the stem’s support function in the supplied model.
2. Build and compare the two paper forms with the same sign.
3. Explain a recorded result and suggest one improvement.

Try another fold while keeping the paper length and sign alike. Explain what changed and test again. For New Mexico’s additional 1-SS-1 expectation, use an age-appropriate, verified profile of a scientist working in New Mexico. Ask what question the person investigates and how people with varied backgrounds can contribute; the paper design itself does not establish that broader career knowledge.