Unit 3 Section 2 Lesson 2: Presto, Changeo
Photosynthesis Recipe
Handout 2
PHOTOSYNTHESIS RECIPE: A Creative Dramatics Simulation
Green plants make their own food
Food is needed to exist
The way that green plants make food is
PHO - TO - SYN - THE - SIS!
Sunlight provides the energy (If some children
have been given green squares, they come to
the clear space.)
And next comes H2O (Four H2O molecules
come to the open space.)
That’s a fancy name for water,
In case you didn’t know.
In leaves, holes called stomata
Take CO2 from the air (Three CO2 children are
invited to join the circling H’s.)
Animals exhale it
And so it’s everywhere! (Three more CO2
children join the group and circle.)
The plant now has just what it needs
To produce a meal that’s sweet
The recipe for making lunch
Is really rather neat!
To 12 H’s add 6 oxygen (Six CO2 children
exchange an oxygen circle for a hydrogen
circle with the 12 hydrogen children.)
Add 6 carbon to the dozen
Mix well, but very gently (All the children
weave in and out, under and over, and drop
their circles on the floor as they “dance”.)
The light provides the oven!
Some water is made within the leaf (Invite
four more H2O’s to join the group in the open
space.)
By chloroplasts, special cells
But water is sucked up through the roots
To provide H20 as well. (Call four more H2O’s
to join the team. Have them join H2O’s in the
space.)
Within the leaf, the chloroplasts
Split H’s from the O’s (The children with green
squares collect the blue circles in sets of two.)
The tiny O’s find partners
And from the leaf they go! (The sets of two blue
circles are given to the instructor.)
The meal when finished
Looks like this: (All the children sit in a circle
around the dropped atoms.)
C6, H12, O6
This O2 given off by plants,
Animals need to stay alive
They inhale the oxygen
And need it to survive.
The hydrogen molecules left behind
Wait for CO2 to join their dance. (H’s circle left
and right.)
And CO2’s arrival is not left up to chance!
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1. Put the formula on the board, pointing out
the number of each kind of atom that is
needed.
2. Have each child choose a circle (an atom)
from the floor, which they will be able to
add to the recipe.
3. Tally the type of atom chosen to help
children select one they can contribute.
4. Have the children take turns and place
their chosen atom in the center to form
the pattern C6 H12 O6.
6
5
Unit 3 Section 2 Lesson 2: Presto, Changeo
Handout 2
4
Photosynthesis Recipe
There are some atoms left over. (12 hydrogen atoms and 6
oxygen atoms will not be used.)
Do you know what they do? (Guide the children to realize that
these left over atoms can be used to make 6 water molecules:
H2O.)
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3
1
And so the plant begins again
To produce a tasty treat
With sunlight, CO2 and chlorophyll
They’ll make a meal that’s sweet!