PLANTS ACTIVITIES

PLANT REPRODUCTION: FRUITS AND SEEDS

After the pollen grains reach the stigma, a fruit forms.
Inside the fruit are the seeds.
Fruits can be fleshy or dry.

• Fleshy fruits contain a lot of water. They are juicy.
• Dry fruits contain little water.

Inside each seed there is a tiny plant.
The seed falls to the ground, absorbs water, then germinates.
The little plant starts to grow and becomes a new plant.

Fleshy fruits, from ndhealthfacts

Dry fruits, from americandryfruit

PLANT REPRODUCTION: POLLINATION

Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the stamens of one flower to the stigma of the same or of another flower.
Some plants have very beautiful flowers.
They attract insects which land on the flowers.
Pollen sticks to the insects.
The insects carry the pollen to other flowers.
Other plants are not so attractive to insects.
They produce a lot of pollen grains, which the wind carries to the stigmas of other flowers.

Bee collecting pollen. Photo by Jon Sullivan, in PDPhoto.org

PLANT REPRODUCTION: FLOWERS

The plant's reproductive organs are in the flowers.
Flowers have four main parts:

• Tha calyx. This is made up of small green leaves called sepals. Sepals protect the flower.
• The corolla. This is made up of coloured leaves called petals.
• The stamens. These are the male parts of the flower. They produce pollen.
• The pistil. This is the female part of the flower. It is shaped like a bottle. It consists of the stigma, the style and the ovary.

PLANT NUTRITION: PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Plant make their own food in their leaves.
This process is called photosynthesis.
Water and mineral salts travel from the roots through the stem to the leaves.
In the leaves, the water and mineral salts mix with carbon dioxide and become food for the plant.
To carry out photosynthesis, plants need to use a lot of energy from sunlight.
During photosynthesis, plants release oxygen.
All the oxygen in the air comes from photosynthesis.

Photo from mdkshareef111

PLANT NUTRITION: CARBON DIOXIDE

Carbon dioxide is one of the gases found in air.
Living things release carbon dioxide when they breathe.
Carbon dioxide is always released when something burns.
It is also released by car engines.
Plants take in carbon dioxide through their leaves.

Photo from blogspan.

Photo from Ecofriend.

Photo from Gizmag (Shutterstock)

Photo from Real Trees 4 Kids

OUR PLANTS

Here you have some photos of the plants we have at home:

To start here you have the plant that Alex shared with us:

And here there are the plants that Claudia wants to show you:

Lydia wants us to see this plant:

Susana has to show you a video of her plant, it is a very special one:

This is the plant that Juan brought to our class this morning:

And this is the plant that Andrea shared with us:

Here you have Paula's cactus:

All of them are wonderful, please, show us your plants!

PLANT NUTRITION: WATER AND MINERAL SALTS

All plants need watering.
If you do not water a plant, first it withers, then it dies.


Plants take in water through very fine root hairs on their roots.

Photo from doctortee, by John Tiftickjian

Plants also need to take in mineral salts from the soil.
Mineral salts dissolve in water, so plants take them in through their roots with the water.
Farmers add fertilisers to the soil because fertilisers contain mineral salts.

PLANT NUTRITION: HOW PLANTS MAKE FOOD

Plants make their own food.
To make their food, plants need:

• Sunlight.
• Mineral salts from the soil.
• Carbon dioxide from the air.
• Water.

Photo from nelsonthornes.com

PARTS OF PLANTS: LEAVES

The leaves of a plant are the green parts that grow from the stem.
They have two parts:

• The petiole is the part connected to the stem.
• The blade is the widest part of the leaf. It can have many different shapes.

The plants which lose their leaves in autumn are called decidious.

The plants which have green leaves all year round are called evergreens.

Evergreen Tree. Photo from Sevacall

Decidious Tree.
Photo by Gregor Richardson in Otago Daily Times

PARTS OF PLANTS: STEMS

The stem of a plant grows above the ground.
It supports the leaves, the flowers and the fruit.
The stem usually divides up into branches.
There are two types of stems:

• Woody stems are hard and rigid. They are called trunks. Trees and bushes have trunks.
• Herbaceous stems are soft and flexible. They sometimes branch into smaller stems.

PARTS OF PLANTS: ROOTS

The roots of a plant are nearly always underground.
Types of roots:

• Taproots: A taproot is a main root with smaller roots branching out from it.
• Fibrous roots: Grasses have a lot of very fine roots, called fibrous roots.
• Carrots and beetroot have a thick taproot which stores food.

Root

Taproot

Fibrous roots

Carrots. Photo from Essential Health Magazine

Beetroots. Photo from Photo dictionary.

PARTS OF PLANTS

Picture from Heights Technology Blog

REMEMBER

PLANTS
Plants are living things. They need water, air, sunlight and nutrients from the soil.

THE PARTS OF PLANTS
Plants have a stem, leaves and roots.
Plants can be trees, shrubs or grasses, depending on the type of stem.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PLANTS
Plants provide animals with food and oxygen.
They also provide people with many products, such as wood, paper and cotton.

STRAWBERRY TREES

Strawberry trees grow wild in the countryside in some parts of Europe and North America.
They are also grown in many gardens because they are very attractive.
Unlike other trees, the fruits of the strawberry tree take a whole year to ripen and the flowers appear in the autumn.
So, at this time of the year, strawberry trees are very beautiful with their red fruits and white flowers.
The shiny green leaves stay on the tree all year round.

Photo by Mike Peel (http://www.mikepeel.net/) on Wikipedia

Photo from San Diego Plant Pictures