Mississippi Science L.5.3A.1
The Standard
- L.5.3A
- Students will demonstrate an understanding of photosynthesis and the transfer of energy from the sun into chemical energy necessary for plant growth and survival.
Research and communicate the basic process of photosynthesis that is used by plants to convert light energy into chemical energy that can be stored and released to fuel an organism’s activities.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Ecology and Interdependence
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use a book or another reliable source to find out what plants need to make sugar. They explain how light helps plants make sugar that stores energy for later use.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can label light, water, and carbon dioxide as inputs, and sugar and oxygen as outputs. They can explain that a plant uses the energy stored in sugar to grow and carry out other activities.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may say plants get their food from soil or that sunlight is food. Some think oxygen is the plant's food, or that plants stop using energy at night.
How to Assess It
- After students read a short textbook paragraph, give them a blank leaf diagram. Ask them to label what enters and leaves, then write where the energy from light is stored.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Use cards labeled light, water, carbon dioxide, sugar, and oxygen to model what enters a paper leaf and what leaves.
Read a textbook paragraph, then write two sentences answering: Why does a plant with soil and water still need light?
Play a sorting relay with picture cards: sort what plants need to make sugar from what photosynthesis produces.
Read a tomato seed packet's sunlight directions and explain how that light helps the plant make sugar for growth.
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Printable L.5.3A.1 Worksheet
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