Higher:
Is able to explain what plants need in order to change and grow over time
Middle:
Can describe what happens to plants as they grow
Lower:
Knows the names of the stages of growth
Higher:
Middle:
Lower:
Lesson Recap Starter: Think back to the last lesson. Name two different plants which are crops.
Lesson Starter: Use the Flower Power handout to colour in your plant. What is your favourite colour for a flower? Can you trace over and label the parts of the plant?
Children to use Handout 1 - Flower Starter to draw around the outside of the flower and then colour it in how they like.
Children are to be asked what a flower grows from. It would be good to have some seeds/bulbs at this point and ask children what they are and to touch, feel them.
Presentation - Starter Slide
Handout 1 - Flower Starter
Pens/colouring pencils
Seeds / Bulbs (optional)
Answer questions and take part in activities during the presentation. Stop the presentation at the relevant slides: Talk Partners; AfLs; Songs. Take part in the Choral Response Questions activity (see Assessment section) after the Keywords/Rocket Words slide.
Key Concept:
During this unit, each lesson contains a key concept question housed in the '30 Second Challenge' slide. To help children master this content so the knowledge moves from their short term memory to their long term memory, at the beginning of the follow on lesson the question from the previous lesson is revisited.
The questions covered during this unit include:
1. What does a plant needs in order to stay healthy and grow?
2. What is a leaf? What is a bud? Why are they important?
3. Describe a rose. Describe a tulip. Describe a pansy. Describe a sweet pea. Describe a gladiolus. Describe an oak tree.
4. What is a deciduous tree? What is an evergreen tree?
5. Name two different plants which are crops.
6. What happens to a tree as it grows older?
Presentation
Expert Film: Mike Linley talks about how plants change over time.
How we deliver the Gatsby Benchmarks:
2 - Learning from career and labour market information: Pop along to Developing Experts career’s zone to find out about jobs in your area.
4 - Linking curriculum learning to careers: This unit showcases careers in horticulture and agriculture. Access our 360° virtual work tours.
7 - Encounters with Further and Higher Education: Pop along to Developing Experts career’s zone to find out about training providers in your area.
Presentation - Expert Film.
Choice 1 - Make a Growing Tree
Watch the Lesson Assignment film for more help with this activity.
Begin by sticking short ends of the brown and green sheets of paper together to make a long stream of paper. Then, roll the paper up from the short end so it creates a paper roll.
Using scissors, cut some slits in one end of the paper roll, a few centimetres long and about six separate cuts around one end. Fan out the leaves which have been cut in. If you then pull it out, you can see your tree grow in front of your eyes.
Choice 2 - Plant Card Challenge
Cut up the cards on Handout 2 - Plant Card Challenge.
Put them in three columns - one with the images, one with the key stage of growth word and one with the describing words.
One child picks up a card from each column and the other child must make up a sentence using the three ideas chosen.
i.e. the seedling is bigger than the seed.
This will be easy for some of the card selections and more difficult for others, but children should get used to describing the differences between the stages and how plants grow over time. For an extra challenge, children could pick an extra describing word and stage of growth. i.e. the seedling is bigger than the seed, but smaller than the young plant.
Make a Growing Tree
Various coloured paper (brown/green)
scissors (adult supervision)
sticky tape
Handout 2 - Plant Card Challenge
Scissors (adult supervision)
What are the different stages of plant growth called?
What is needed for plants to grow?
What words can you use to describe plant growth?
Why do some plants grow quicker than others?
How do plants begin growing and why can they die away?
N/A
What are the stages of plant growth called?
Whole Class Choral Response / suggested phrasing:
A plant begins growth as a ... (seed)
At the next stage, a (seedling), a plant will begin to...
As a young plant, it will...
A flowering plant...
Most plants grow throughout their lives. This happens through a combination of cell growth and cell division. In the first instance, a seed is needed to begin growth. Seeds are usually very small, but they contain everything inside them that is needed for a plant to grow.
Germination is the process of the plant growing roots and also sprouting up through the soil. As a plant hits the light, it gains energy from the sunlight, water and nutrients through the soil and begins its life journey.
When we buy seeds from a garden centre or nursery, they are usually dormant (or inactive). To begin growth they usually just need water. They can grow inside a paper towel!
Biology - Plants: How Plants Change Over Time.
The Australian Curriculum - Recognising that descriptions of what we observe are used by people to help identify change
Identifying and classifying
Class 2 - Plants