GRADE: ESAM: 3-5

CONTENT STANDARD: Life Science

CONTENT TOPIC: Plants

CONCEPT: Plants have complex structures with specialized functions.

CONTENT OBJECTIVE: F6.00 To understand the characteristics of seed bearing and non-seed bearing plants

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES: The learner will:

6.01 state the two groups of seed plants.
6.02 list the characteristics of seed bearing plants.
6.03 observe and describe the characteristics of non-seed bearing plants.
6.04 list the characteristics of flowering plants.
6.05 list the characteristics of cone-bearing plants.
6.06 define the plant life cycle.

I. Seed Plants
A. Characteristics
1. Chlorophyll
2. Make own food
3. Tubes for water
B. Groups of seed plants
1. Gymnosperms (Conifers)
a. Define
b. Characteristics
2. Angiosperms
a. Define
b. Characteristics
c. Characteristics of Dicots
C. Life Cycles
1. Annuals
2. Biennials
3. Perennials
II. Non-seed Plants
A. Ferns
B. Mosses
C. Fungi
D. Algae

TN COMPONENT OF SCIENCE: Unifying Concepts of Science

TN GOAL:

To enable students to acquire scientific knowledge by applying concepts, theories, principles and laws from life/environmental, physical, and earth/space science.

2.3 ORGANIZATION - Everything is organized as related systems within systems.

2.3a Natural phenomena display a wide variety of similarities and differences.

BENCHMARK: Things can be sorted into groups according to their similarities and differences.

2.3b Groupings are based on similarities related to structure and function.

BENCHMARK: Organisms are separated into groups according to identifying characteristics.

TIME REQUIRED:

Four Classroom Connectors, 45 minutes - 1 hour each

MATERIALS:

Pictures or charts of seed bearing plants, cones, unfamiliar flowering plants

Today we are going to learn about seed bearing plants.

There are two groups of seed bearing plants. One group of seed bearing plants has cones. These are called gymnosperms. Their seeds are called cones. The conifers are one large group of gymnosperms. This group supplies wood and wood products. They keep their leaves year round. Some examples are pines, redwood, fir, spruce, and cypress. (Show examples on pictures, posters, or plants that are gymnosperms.) The other group of seed bearing plants is called angiosperms. This group supplies beauty, cloth, wood, medicine and food. They lose their leaves each year. Some examples are tulips, wheat, rice, cotton, tomatoes and many others. These plants have flowers. (Show examples on pictures, posters, or plants that are angiosperms.)

Seed bearing plants have chlorophyll. They make their own food by the process called photosynthesis. (Review photosynthesis: Plants use the sun, water, carbon dioxide, and energy combine to make sugar and oxygen.) They have tubes for water.

(Show the students two or three unfamiliar flowers or fruits, such as eggplant and mango. Explain that each flower or fruit comes from a flowering seed plant. Ask students to identify the plants. Point out that even if they cannot name the plants, they have already learned one way these plants are classified. That is, as plants that use seeds to reproduce.)

(Show the students cones from some conifers. Let the students study the cones. Have students look for seeds between the scales.) Has anyone ever seen a flower growing on an evergreen tree? (No) (Explain that instead of flowers, evergreens have cones. Have the students write descriptions of each cone.)

Please write the two groups of seed bearing plants and an example of each on your paper. (pause, seek responses, then summarize) Make a Venn diagram comparing angiosperms and gymnosperms.

Classroom Connector Two

MATERIALS:

Unshelled peanuts, dried corn, daisies, morning glories, leaves of monocots and dicots, pictures of flowers (cut out of magazines), cups, potting soil, corn seed, bean seeds

Today we are going to learn about two types of flowering plants.

Flowering plants can be classified as monocots or dicots. We can tell the difference by looking at the leaves and seeds of the plants. All dicots have leaves with netted veins and seeds with two sections. The peanut plant is a dicot. The peanut seed is made up of two sections and the leaves have netted veins. Morning glories and daisies are also dicots. Their seeds have two sections and their leaves have netted veins.

All monocots have leaves with parallel veins and their seeds are in one piece. Corn plants, tulips, and most grasses are monocots. Their seeds are in one piece and have parallel veins.

(Allow each child to touch and look at the two types of seeds and leaves. Over a period of a few weeks) Plant the corn and beans. Observe the growth and differences that make them monocots or dicots.

Cut out pictures from plant catalogs. Group them into monocots or dicots.

Walk around your school and collect examples of monocots and dicots.)

Today we have learned about two types of flowering plants. Tell your neighbor what they are called. Draw a picture of a monocot and a dicot showing the characteristics. Make a list of ways that monocots and dicots are alike and another list of how they are different.

Classroom Connector Three

MATERIALS:

Pictures of plants to use as examples, pictures of different stages of a plant's life cycle

How many of you have changed since you were born? (pause) Do plants go through changes after the seeds are planted? (response) Today we are going to talk about the different life cycles of different kinds of plants.

All organisms have life cycles. A plant's life cycle includes its germination, growth, production of new plants, and death. Different kinds of plants have different life cycles. Some plants have a short life cycle; others have a longer one. Annuals are plants that begin as seeds, grow, and die within one year or one growing season. Some examples are corn, beans, marigolds and zinnias. Biennials are plants that complete these life cycle in two years or two growing seasons. The first year, these plants will have roots, stems and leaves. The second year, they will grow flowers and form fruit and seeds. The plant will die after the second year. Some examples are beets, strawberries and hollyhocks. The third group of plants is called perennials. Perennials live more than two years before their life cycle is complete. At the end of each growing season, a part of the plant will remain alive in a bulb or in the roots. The leaves and stems will die on some plants, on other plants even the stems will remain. Some examples are tulips, daisies, lilies and trees.

Pick a type of plant - annual, biennial or perennial. Draw the stages of this plant's life cycle. Label the plant an annual, biennial or perennial.

Think back to the stages of the plant's life cycle. Write these stages on a scrap piece of paper. (Germination, growth, production of new plants, death)

Classroom Connector Four

MATERIALS:

Hand lens, microscope, samples of ferns, mosses, and algae for each group

Today we are going to learn about some plants that do not have flowers or cones. They are called non-seed bearing plants.

Non-seed bearing plants reproduce without seeds. They produce spores instead. Spores are tiny reproductive cells that grow into new plants. One plant may make millions of spores. Ferns are one type of seedless plant. The spores of ferns grow on the underside of the leaves. Ferns have transport tubes to carry food and water.

Moss is another type of seedless plant. The spores of a moss form in a capsule on top of a small stalk. Mosses do not have transport systems or veins, instead food and water move from cell to cell.

Fungi is another type of seedless plant. Fungi has no chlorophyll and depends on other organisms.

Algae is another type of non-seed plant. Algae produce their own food. Algae are grouped by color. Green scum can be seen growing on the surface of a pond.

(Set up a science center and observe non-seed bearing plants under a microscope.)

Name two kinds of non-seed plants and tell where the spores are located. Place your responses on your paper. (pause, seek responses, then summarize)

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