It’s Not Easy Being Green!

Essential Questions  Are you a plant? How do you know?  What is the life cycle of a flowering plant?  What adaptations allow for the success of plants in a variety of environments?

Are You a Plant? How do you Know? PlantAnimal Draw this Venn Diagram and Complete using the Characteristics Below and any others you and your Partner come up with: 1.Make their own food 2.Move freely from place to place 3.Eat other organisms 4.Grow 5.Have roots 6.Can reproduce

Classification  Why do we classify things?  Taxonomy is the science of doing classification.  We can group things, including living organisms, by physical characteristics.  Listen to the story of Slick and Shelly. Classify your buttons as you listen to the clues.

Classification Using the Linnaeus system, living things are classified on seven levels: 1. Kingdom 2. Phylum 3. Class 4. Order 5. Family 6. Genus 7. Species We classified and sorted our buttons using these physical characteristics: 1. Is it a button? 2. What shape is it? 3. What is it made of? 4. Can light pass through it? 5. What size is it? 6. How many holes? 7. What color is it?

Two of the Kingdoms

Plant Life Cycle

Flowers can be very beautiful – colorful, sweet smelling and all shapes and sizes. But why do some plants make them?

To Make New Plants! Pistil - makes the egg Stamen - makes pollen Petals - attract pollinators Sepals - protect flower Stem - holds up flower Leaves - feeds to plant to help it flower Now, Your Turn! 1.Fold your paper into 6 equal parts. 2.Label the 6 squares: Pistil, Stamen, Petals, Sepals, Stem and Leaves. 3.Carefully dissect your plant and put each of these parts in the correct square. Challenge: Tap the stamen. Observe what happens. What is the powdery stuff coming off?

Plants have many parts, each adapted to its own habitat.

Seed dispersal is one way plants adapt to survive.

Plants adapt their leaves to their habitat.

Plants adapt by producing colorful and differently shaped flowers.

Plants extend their roots to get the nutrients they need.

Don’t forget the stem too!

Plants do amazing things to survive!

Now, Your Turn to Design your own Plant!  Using the given options and weighing the benefits and challenges of each distinct adaptation for a plant, choose with your partner how you want to design your plant.  Circle the option you chose for each plant part and draw the plant.  You will soon put your plant to the test!

Let’s Review!!  Are you a plant? Name 5 reasons how you know you are not a plant.  What is the life cycle of a flowering plant? Use the words: germinate, grow, flower, pollinate, fruit and seed dispersal in your description.  What adaptations allow for the success of plants in a variety of environments? Name 3 adaptations your plant had for its own survival.