How Plants Grow

#TheCompleteSeries6lessons

This Year 3 Science plants planning contains everything you need to deliver these lessons, including six lesson plans, slides for each lesson, activity ideas, set of differentiated worksheets and other printable resources - plenty to get your children enthusiastic about plants and transformed into green-fingered gardeners!

This scheme of work is also part of a Topic Bundle. Perfect if you are teaching 'Plants' as a cross-curricular topic.

#Lesson1ExploringRoots

What are the parts of a flowering plant? What do they do? The first lesson in this series starts by briefly recapping the main parts of a plant before looking in more detail at the roots of plant.

Your class will explore what roots are for before planting some beans so they can explore root growth for themselves.

#Lesson2WaterTransportation

This fun lesson explores how water is transported in plants.

Your class will learn about how the roots of a plant absorb water from the soil and how water travels up the stem to the different parts of the plant.

They can explore this for themselves through various activities involving celery and kitchen roll!

#Lesson3LeafFunction

Now that your class know that plants need water to survive, they will look at how plants make their own food through the process of photosynthesis.

They will also investigate the other things plants need to grow and survive and explore how seeds can grow without access to light and air.

#Lesson4FlowerPower

This lesson explores the function of the flower in flowering plants and looks at the part flowers play in the reproduction of plants.

Your class will explore the processes of seed dispersal, pollination and fertilisation.

There is also the chance to dissect some flowers for themselves to identify how they are structured.

#Lesson5SeedDispersal

This lesson takes a closer look at seed dispersal and the methods different plants use to give their seeds the best chance of germination from water transportation to explosion!

Your class can then identify the methods used by a variety of plants and identify plants in their local environment that use these different methods.

#Lesson6SeedStudy

The final lesson in this series explores seeds in further detail.

Your class will look at the structure of seeds and the store of food inside a seed to help the seed grow into a plant.

They will also explore the importance of seeds as a food source and have the chance to do some seed taste testing!

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Curriculum Objectives covered

• asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them
• setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests
• making systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, taking accurate measurements using standard units, using a range of equipment, including thermometers and data loggers
• gathering, recording, classifying and presenting data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions
• recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables
• reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions
• using results to draw simple conclusions, make predictions for new values, suggest improvements and raise further questions
• identifying differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes
• using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings

• identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers
• investigate the way in which water is transported within plants
• explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal