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Plant Cells: Cells With Walls
By Brandi Waters
You've already learned that all living things are made up of cells. Each
cell is a living building block. One cell can make up a simple organism.
Hundreds, thousands, or even millions of cells can be put together to build
bigger and more complex organisms. Cells are not all the same. The cells that make up
your skin are different from the cells that make up your blood. The cells in a fish are not
the same as the cells in a dog. The cells in a rose are not the same as the cells in a tree.
Cells need to be different to do different jobs. Even though there are many kinds of cells,
all cells can be put into one of two groups: plant cells and animal cells. Today, you are
going to learn about plant cells.
1
Trees, grass, flowers, and moss are all plants. They are all made up of plant cells.
What makes a plant cell different from an animal cell? One difference is that plant cells
have cell walls. A cell wall is layer of stiff material that goes all the way around the
outside of the cell. A cell wall helps to protect the cell from damage. It also helps to hold
the shape of a cell. Animal cells do not have cell walls. Plant cells also have structures
that help them make their own food using sunlight. These structures are called
chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are what give plants their green color. Animal cells do not
have these structures. They cannot make energy from sunlight.
2
What does a plant cell look like? Imagine a cardboard box. The box represents the
cell wall. Imagine that there is a sealed plastic bag inside the box. This bag represents a
structure called the cell membrane. It is thin and flexible. It holds the cell together. The
bag is filled with a slimy liquid. The slimy liquid contains different colored balloons that
float in it. In a plant cell, this slimy liquid is called cytoplasm. Inside the cytoplasm are
organelles that do different jobs inside the cell. The nucleus is one of the organelles in
the cytoplasm. The nucleus holds the plant's DNA, the "blueprints" of what the cell will
look like and what it will do. Vacuoles are another kind of organelle inside the cell.
Vacuoles are storage closets for the cell. They store food and water that the cell can use
when they are needed. Both plant and animal cells have vacuoles, but in plants, the
vacuoles are much, much larger. Empty vacuoles are the reason that plants begin to wilt
when they need water! Chloroplasts and mitochondria are two organelles in the cell that
are used to make energy for the plant. Organelles called the Golgi apparatus and the
endoplasmic reticulum help move things in and out of the cell. All of these structures
work together to make a living plant cell.
3
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1
Plant Cells: Cells With Walls
1. There are ______ main groups that all
cells can be put into.
Fifty
Seven
Two
Five
3. Name two things that make plant cells
different from animal cells?
5. The ______ holds the cell's DNA.
2. Which of these is not a plant?
A mushroom
Moss
A tree
Grass
4. The job of the ______ is to hold all of
the parts of a cell together.
Golgi apparatus
Cell membrane
Vacuole
Cell wall
6. ______ give plants their green color.
The cell wall
Vacuoles
Chloroplasts
The Golgi apparatus