Plant+Life+Cycles

** Green Plants. ** More information on this topic including common misconceptions, diagrams of parts of a plant and more resources on the wiki page Living Things- Plants. **KS1.**

**What does the National Curriculum say at KS1?**

3. Pupils should be taught: 1. This resource is really useful for demonstrating that planst need water, sunlight and air. []
 * 1) to recognise that plants need light and water to grow
 * 2) to recognise and name the leaf, flower, stem and root of flowering plants
 * 3) that seeds grow into flowering plants.

2. The diagram below (expertly crafted by myself using Paint) shows the parts of a plant that KS1 children need to know. 

3. Here is a song i discovered on the TES website that looks like a very useful tool for helping to teach children that seeds grow into plants. ** GROWING PLANTS ** Down in the woods where the squirrels play There’s an acorn growing in the earth today With some heat from the sun and a little bit of rain Here’s another oak tree growing again

Chorus

// With a root, shoot, stem //// a leaf and a flower // // With a root, shoot, stem //// a leaf and a flower // // With a root, shoot, stem // a leaf and a flower

// That’s the way the oak tree grows // Down in the orchard where the blackbirds play There’s an apple tree growing in the earth today With some heat from the sun and a little bit of rain  Here’s another apple tree growing again With a root, shoot, stem……………  // That’s the way the apple tree grows //  Down in the garden where the children play  There’s a bulb poking through the earth today  With some heat from the sun and a little bit of rain  Here’s another daffodil flowering again With a root, shoot, stem………. That’s the way the daffodil grows

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Resources: KS1.**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Brilliant resource that has interactive resources which cover all the learning objectives in the Growing Plants section of the QCA.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Good interactive whiteboard resources. Scroll down the list to the section entitled 'Plant Labels'. Click on the picture to open the interactive resources. Resources include an activitys on: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Labeling parts of a plant.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What plants need to grow.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What else do you know about plants?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**KS2.**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**What does the National Curriculum say at KS2?**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Pupils should be taught:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Growth and nutrition

 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the effect of light, air, water and temperature on plant growth
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the role of the leaf in producing new material for growth
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">that the root anchors the plant, and that water and minerals are taken in through the root and transported through the stem to other parts of the plant

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Reproduction

 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">about the parts of the flower [for example, stigma, stamen, petal, sepal] and their role in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation, seed dispersal and germination.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Content.**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Plant Life Cycles.**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The life of a flowering plant goes in a circular cycle. Flowers come from seeds, and they create seeds too. Each different part of a plant has its own unique purpose.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** How seeds are made: **

<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. Plants attract Bees and other insects who can’t get enough of that sweet nectar. Insects get coated in pollen whilst trying to get at the nectar. The pollen is then carried by the insects or taken by the wind from one flower to another. This process is called **pollination**.

<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. Pollen reaches the carpel of the new flower. Here the pollen fertilises egg cells in the ovary, producing seeds. This process is called **fertilisation**.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 3. The seeds are scattered by animals or the wind in a process called **dispersal**. Some of the seeds will grow into new plants.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Parts of Plants:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**Petals.** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Key Points to remember about Petals:-


 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Petals are often very brightly coloured in order to attract insects, such as bees or butterflies, into the flower.
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Insects pick up **pollen** from the flower, and carry it to the next flower they visit. This is how most flowers are pollinated.
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Some flowers **do not** have brightly coloured petals. Examples of this are small, dull, off-white flowers found in grasses. This is because they are not pollinated by insects or other animals, but use the **wind** to blow their pollen grains to other plants.

<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">**Sepals.**

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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Key Points to remember about Sepals:

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 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Sepals are special types of leaves that form a ring around the petals.
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">They **protect** the flower while it is still a bud.
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">When the flower has opened, the sepals are still visible behind the petals.
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Sepals are usually green or brown, although in some plants they are the same colour as the petals.
 * Nectaries**

Nectaries are the glands within a flower that produce nectar. Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid that attracts pollinating insects. Bees and butterflies are examples of pollinators. Insects use the nectar, which is usually found in the centre of the flower, to give them energy. Bees use the nectar as a sugar source for honey.

As the insects enter the flower, to search for nectar, their bodies brush against the anthers; this being where pollen is present. Once the pollen is deposited onto the insects, they tranfer it onto another flower that they visit.


 * Carpels**

The carpel is better known as the female part of the flower. The carpel is responsible for making the seeds. It is made up of three parts; these being the stigma, the style, and the ovary.

1. **The stigma** catches the grains of pollen. It is covered in a sticky substance which allows the grains of pollen to attach. 2. **The style** holds up the stigma. Its job is to raise the stigma away from the ovary. 3. **The ovary** contains the ovules. Its job is to protect the ovules once they have been fertilised.

After pollination has occured, the pollen adheres to the sticky substance found on the stigma.The pollen then travels to the ovary by creating a pathway through the style. Once the pollen has reached the ovary, it joins with the ovules to form seeds.This process is known as fertilisation. After fertlisation, the ovule starts to swell and becomes the fruit.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Resources KS2.**

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