Download Green Plants short term plan

Science Short Term Plan: Green Plants Y3
Term 6
Lesson 1: Elicitation Activity
Objectives
To find out what we already know
about plants
Main Teaching
What do they know about plants?
Children to write about what they
know about plants at the moment,
without any input. Question
prompts to respond to.
Remind children to write in full
sentences and remember to
punctuate correctly.
Pupil Activities &
Differentiation
Jake: Ashleigh to
scribe
Leon: Kay to repeat
instructions and to help
maintain focus
Resources/Preparation
Question prompt
sheets.
Lessons 2 & 3: What plants do we have in the school grounds?

Objectives
To identify and
classify plants
Scientific Vocabulary
Roots, stem, leaf,
flower, seeds, fruits,
water
Main Teaching
What is a plant? What names of different plants do you know?
Challenge the children to find as many different plants as they can in the school
grounds. Without damaging the plants, they need to gather evidence, so that they can
identify them. How can this be done? Taking photos, collecting leaves, seeds, fruits,
twigs, seed cases, etc. Children to make a leaf bag, by cutting out a net, folding and
gluing.
Use identification charts (downloaded from the Woodland Trust website) to identify the
plants collected.
Children to stick plant parts into their books, name them and recount what they did,
writing in paragraphs, using the past tense and including scientific vocabulary, where
possible.
Resources/Prepa
ration
Sandwich bags to
collect samples
in.
http://www2.
bgfl.org/bgfl
2/custom/res
ources_ftp/cl
ient_ftp/ks2
/science/plan
ts_pt2/plants
2/tree_id.ht
m#
http://www.n
aturedetectiv
es.org.uk/pac
ks/pack_spot
ting.htm
Lesson 4 – 5: Investigation over time – what is the function of the stem?



Objectives
 To be able to
compare the
stems from
different plants.
 To know the
function of the
stem.
Scientific Vocabulary
Stem, xylem,
evaporation,
transpiration
Success Criteria
AF1
I can compare the
stems of different
plants. (Level 2)
I can explain the
function of the stem.
(Level 3)
I can communicate in
a scientific way what
was found out (cause
and effect). (Level 3)
Main Teaching
Explain we are going to be thinking about why plants have stems and what their
role is.
What would happen if a plant didn’t have a stem? Talk about the fact that the
plant would be all floppy and have nothing to hold it up. The stem is rather like a
skeleton – holding the plant up so that it can reach the light and supporting leaves
and flowers.
Why do we put cut flowers into water?
Pupil Activity: Give children a slice of celery to look at closely with a magnifying
glass. Children to draw carefully what they see. Also look at white tulips and
white carnations. Explain that we are going to investigate the stem’s function.
Put a stem of celery in water (coloured blue with food colouring) and mark on the
beaker where the water level is. Leave on windowsill until next science lesson.
What do they think will happen? Why? Children to record their predictions.
Next lesson: measure the water level, make observations. Children to explain
what they think has happened.
Plants have a system to transport water and minerals up their stem called a
xylem. As the coloured water is sucked up through the xylem, it turns the plant
that colour. To keep the water moving upwards, water must be continually
evaporated from the leaves in the process of transpiration.
Resources/Preparation
 Celery with leaves at
the top of the stem
 White carnation
 White tulip
 Food colouring: dark
colours
http://www.greatgrubclub.
com/clever-celery
Lesson 4



Objectives
To explain the
purpose of a
plant’s stem
To explain how
water travels
around a plant
Main Teaching
Resources/Prepa
ration
To consider which
parts of the plant
we eat
Scientific Vocabulary

Lesson 5/ Lesson 6



Objectives
to know that most
of our diet comes
from plants
To consider what
conditions seeds
need to grow
To set up a fair
test scientific
investigation

Scientific Vocabulary
Children to take measurements, make observations and photographs of bean seed
light/dark investigation – make sure children focus on how the shoot looks different
now. Must make observation notes as well as measurement.
Tomato watering investigation. Children to take measurements, record. Also, those
children who have not completed the science diary properly, give guidance on completing
factors part particularly.
Stem Investigation: Children to observe celery, record how plant looks now and
measure water level.
As a class – take photos and measurements of the leaf investigation plants. With TPs
discuss how the plants may look different.
Main Teaching:
Ask children to tell TP why it is important for us to understand what plants need to
Resources/Prepa
ration
cress seeds
paper towels
labels
science
investigation
diaries
measuring jugs
for water
usb powerpoint
Success Criteria
Remember to:

make them grow healthily. Elicit that the abundance and success of plants if of benefit presentation.
to humans since we harvest and eat a large range of fruit, vegetables, cereals and grain
as food. (It is the fact that humans are able to cultivate plants with great success that
has sustained life throughout the world. Discuss how some areas more difficult due to
lack of rain etc.
TPs to tell each other what we know so far about what plants need to grow well. Water,
light, leaves, roots, stem.
Suggest that temperature may also be important for healthy plant growth.
Lesson 6 :
Activity:
Tell children that we are going to carry out an investigation to try to find out the ideal
conditions for growing plants, particularly those that we can use for food. We are going
to use cress seeds.
Children to think independently and jot/draw ideas down on planning investigation diary.
Provide cip word cards for SEN/LA children to support.
Children to share ideas and as a class we decide how to set up the investigation.
Children to record factors and what will change – focus on light and heat. (fridge,
cupboard, windowsill, what could we use that was cold and light?)
Children to write prediction in diaries.
Each table to take one scenario for the seeds and set up the investigation.
Assessment: during the investigation try to talk to as many children as possible and
elicit level of understanding. Where possible scribe for SEN children (difficult to do all
as only one adult in class)
Plenary:
Tell children that we will be looking at the results next week and making conclusions
about what conditions affect plant growth.
Show powerpoint pictures of different range of food crops growing.
Lesson 6


Objectives
To draw conclusions from results
To consider the implications of our
conclusions
Scientific Vocabulary
Success Criteria
Remember to:

Main Teaching
Pupil Activity
Recap with children the investigations we have set up this
term and what we have been trying to find out.
Tell children that we are going to collect our final results
and then look carefully at them and try to answer the
question we were originally asking.
Bean Seed investigation (light): As a group children to
discuss their results. What conclusions can they draw?
Elicit plants grown in the dark will germinate, but will grow
very tall and spindly, yellowy in colour and have very few
leaves.
Plants in the light much healthier, therefore plants need
light to grow!
Tomato investigation (water): As a group children to take
final measurements for the watering investigation. Can
they decide as a group what the investigation has shown
them. Elicit that plants definitely need water to grow and
hopefully the results show that a very large amount of
water doesn’t necessarily produce the best growth.
Children to write conclusion in their own words (SN/LA to
say their sentence to Talking Tin first, then write).
As a class discuss the implications these findings have on
Resources/Preparation
Plenary
every day life – ie no rain, no crops. Some parts of the
world find it much more difficult to grow crops and it may
produce problems with food production in these areas.
Children to write sentence in science diaries to explain this.
Next session: take results of cress investigation –
(warmth) and photographs for leaf investigation.
Lesson 7
Objectives
Main Teaching
Resources/Preparation
Pupil Activity
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
To know that most of our diet comes
from plants
To know that plants are carefully
tended so they produce large crops
To consider which parts of plant we eat
Scientific Vocabulary
Success Criteria
Remember to:

Plenary