Lesson 4

How can plants be grouped?

Home > Private: *ARCHIVE Year 3 Science – Focus Group > Unit 1 – Biological Sciences > Lesson 4 – How can plants be grouped?

icon_lessonplan_teal_white

Lesson Plan

icon_studentpgs_teal_white

Student Pages

icon_download_teal_white

Downloads

Lesson Plan

Preparation

Have a wide variety of plant pictures from the groups listed in the lesson to discuss throughout (mosses, ferns, flowering plants, etc.). Actual plants, if possible, would also be helpful.
Students will need access to the internet and other reference material to complete the classification activity on the investigation sheet.

Curriculum links

Australian Curriculum: ACSSU044, ACSIS053, ACSIS057, ACSIS058, ACSIS060
NSW Curriculum: ST2-4LW-S, ST2-1WS-S
VIC Curriculum: VCSSU057, VCSIS065, VCSIS069, VCSIS071, VCSIS072
WA Curriculum: ACSSU044, ACSIS053, ACSIS057, ACSIS058, ACSIS060

Suggested teaching strategies

Introduction

Display the digital lesson on your smartboard to introduce plant classification.
The student summary and worksheet should be used together.

Development

Provide students with printable versions of the student summary and worksheet. Have students complete the worksheet.
Students will need to use the student summary to complete the investigation sheet. Although they should be able to figure out most of the answers, they may need to research the plants they aren’t familiar with.

Differentation

Experiment sheet could be completed as pairs, groups or as a class rather than individually.

Conclusion

Check the answers to the investigation sheet as a class to see if everyone comes to the same conclusion. If there are conflicting answers, help the students agree on the correct one.

Assessment

Worksheet answers

1. Seed plants and non-seed plants.
2. They reproduce by spores.
3. (a) N (b) S (c) N (d) N (e) S (f) N (g) S (h) N (i) S
4. A spore does not have any nutrients for the shoot to use until its roots grow and take in nutrients.
5. (a) non-seed plants/reproduce by spores/grow in damp places (b) mosses are smaller/ferns are larger/mosses have simple leaves/ferns have spreading fronds/ferns have special tubes to carry nutrients from the roots to the leaves and mosses do not
6. Yellow: has flowers, seeds grow in an ovary. Green: seeds grow in a cone. Orange: can be a tree, has seeds, special tubes that carry water and nutrients.

Investigation sheet answers

Has flowers: rose, gum, lemon, olive, basil, carnation, parsley, broccoli, grape, ivy, daffodil
Is a herb: basil, parsley Is a tree: gum, lemon, olive, fir, pine, tree fern
Has cones: fir, pine
Is a creeper or a vine: grape, ivy
Part of the plant is a fruit or a vegetable: lemon, olive, broccoli, grape
Has seeds: rose, gum, lemon, olive, basil, carnation, fir, pine, parsley, broccoli, grape, ivy, daffodil
Has spores: moss, tree fern

Student Pages

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Intro 1

Lesson 4

How can plants be grouped?

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Intro 2

LOADING

Lesson 4

How can plants be grouped?

0%

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 2 - copy

Take a look at this video showing the life cycle of a flowering plant.

Play

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 1

Scientists group plants by the things they have in common.

This is called classification.

There are many ways plants can be classified.

Here is one way.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 2

Non-seed plants are plants that reproduce by spores.

Non-seed plants can be sorted into mosses and ferns.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 3

Mosses do not have seeds or flowers.

They reproduce by spores.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 4

Spores are a bit like seeds, but they do not have any nutrients in them for the sprout to use until its roots grow and take in nutrients.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 5

Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 4 – image – liverworts

Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 4 – image – hornworts

Mosses are small plants and have simple leaves.

They are found growing in damp places on the ground, on rocks or on other plants.

Other related plants in this group are liverworts and hornworts.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 6

Ferns

Like mosses, ferns reproduce by spores and do not have seeds or flowers.

They are larger than mosses.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 7

Their spreading leaves are called fronds.

Ferns are mostly found in damp places.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 8

Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 4 – image – fern tube

Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 4 – image – horsetail fern

Unlike mosses, ferns have special tubes that carry water and nutrients from the roots to the fronds.

Another related plant is the horsetail.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 9

Seed plants are plants that reproduce by seeds.

Seed plants can be sorted into non-flowering and flowering plants.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 10

Non-flowering plants

Conifers are trees or shrubs that do not have flowers.
They reproduce from seeds.
These are contained in a cone instead of a flower.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 11

Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 4 – image – pine cone

Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 4 – image – fir cone

Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 4 – image – cedar cone

Conifers have special tubes that carry water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves.

The leaves are small or needle-shaped.

Examples of conifers are pines, firs and cedars.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 12

Flowering plants

Most plants belong in this group.
They include most trees, shrubs, vines, herbs, flowers, legumes, fruits and vegetables.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 13

Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 4 – image – zucchini flower

Like conifers, they have special tubes that carry water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves.

The seeds are grown in an ovary which is inside a flower or fruit.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 14

Many flowers are brightly coloured and easy to see.

Others are small and not brightly coloured.

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 15

Other ways plants can be classified :

where are they found
can they be eaten
can medicine be made from them
are they a creeper
are they a tree or garden flower

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Slide 16

Can you think of another way to group plants?

Science Year 3 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Final Slide

POWER DOWN

Lesson 4

Complete

20%

Downloads