Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mrs. Hudson, and today we're going to be looking at a lesson called the function of flowers.

This is a science lesson and it's in the unit called what plants do and what plants need.

So let's get going.

So the outcome of today's lesson is I can gather data from a color survey of flowering plants and present my findings.

There will be some keywords in today's lesson, and those keywords are flower, life cycle, reproduce, pollination, and petals.

Should we have a look a little closer at what each of those words mean?

A flower is the part of a plant that enables it to reproduce.

A life cycle is the way in which a living thing changes as it ages.

When living things reproduce, they create their offspring.

Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the male reproductive parts of a flower to a female one.

And finally, a petal is a part of a flower, which is often colorful and attracts insects to pollinate the flower.

So in today's lesson about the function of flowers, there's going to be two parts.

The first part of the lesson, we're going to be looking at the function of flowers.

And then in the second part of the lesson, we're going to look at common colors for flowers.

But let's get going, first of all, with the function of flowers.

Plants come in many different colors, shapes, and sizes, and we can see here that there's lots of different pictures of plants and each of them look quite different to each other because they're different colors, they are different shapes, and they are different sizes.

Most plants though, they do have roots, leaves, and a stem.

So we can see the roots in the middle picture here.

The roots are below ground in the soil and they absorb lots of water.

The leaves, they absorb lots of light.

And the stem is what keeps the plant upright.

Many types of plants also have flowers though.

And again, we can see lots of different plants here that each have flowers.

Plants that have flowers are called flowering plants.

Let's see how much of that we can remember.

Plants that grow flowers are known as A, flowering plants, B, flowery plants, or C, flowerful plants?

Let's check if we got that right.

You should have A, plants that grow flowers are called flowering plants.

Really well done if you got that right.

This is a picture of someone called Jun.

Jun has been investigating the plants in his school grounds, and we can see there's a picture of a strawberry plant a few weeks ago that's got some flowers on it, and then a strawberry plant now, which looks like a strawberry you'd eat.

And Jun says the strawberry plant had flowers a few weeks ago, but they've all gone now.

Does that mean it is not a flowering plant anymore?

What do you think?

Most flowering plants don't have flowers all year round.

So we can see a picture there of a rose bush, but it doesn't look like a rosebush because it hasn't got any flowers, but it is still a rosebush.

Their flowers bloom and die as part of the plant's life cycle.

Even when the flowers are not blooming, which means we can't see them, we still classify these plants as flowering plants because they are able to grow flowers.

Here's a picture of a beautiful flower from a plant.

Flowers hold the parts of the plant needed to produce new plants.

This is called reproduction.

Let's quickly check if we understand that.

What is the function of flowers?

A, they absorb water and nutrients for the plant.

B, they allow the plant to make food.

C, they allow the plant to reproduce, or D, they support the plant and help it to stay upright.

Hopefully here we went for C, the function of flowers is they allow the plant to reproduce.

If you put A, the roots are what absorb water and nutrients for the plant.

B is the function of the leaves to make food.

And D is the function of the stem.

So well done if you recognize the answer was C.

To reproduce, flowers need to be pollinated.

And again, we can see a lovely picture of a flower here and the very inside of the flower.

Pollen is a dusty substance made by the male parts of the flower.

And we can see the pollen there on that picture.

And it looks a funny, dusty brown color.

Pollination happens when pollen from male parts of a flower lands on the female parts of a flower of the same type.

Let's just quickly check we understand that.

Pollination happens when pollen is, A, moved from the male parts of a flower to the leaves, B, made by the male parts of the flower, or C, transferred from the male parts of a flower to the female parts.

Hopefully here we went for C, pollination happens when pollen is transferred from the male parts of a flower to the female parts.

Great job if you got that right.

Sofia's wondering though, how does pollen get from one flower to another?

What do you think?

Some flowering plants are pollinated by small animals like insects.

And we can see here there's a picture of a bee covered in pollen in that flower.

And when these animals land on the flowers to gather food from inside, pollen gets stuck to them and is moved onto the next flower that they visit.

Many flowers have strong scents, which means smells, to attract pollinating animals from far away.

Now often we smell flowers because they smell lovely, but actually the strong scent that flowers give off is to try and attract insects who might pollinate their flowers.

Lots of flowers also have brightly colored petals to attract insects.

And there's a picture here of some wild flowers and we can see all the different brightly colored flowers.

What colors of flowers have you noticed in the area where you live?

I'm sure you can think of lots of different colors.

We can find out which color of flowers are most common by carrying out a color survey.

And to do this, we have to go out and observe flowers just like this little girl is doing here.

We can go outside and record the amount of each color of the flowers that we see.

What would be a good method to record our findings?

Sofia has said we need something quick and easy.

Jacob thinks, I think we should use a tally chart to record our findings.

This is a tally chart here.

So you've got the color in one column and then we make a tally of how many colors we see.

So the red color has got three, the yellow has got five, and the blue has got one.

But make sure you only count each type of flower once.

There are only three flowers here, but only two different types.

Can you see which ones are the same type?

So Sofia says there are two different types of flower, so I will record this as two plants.

Let's check if we've understood that.

How can we find out about which flower colors are most common in our local area?

A, reading a book about how to grow flowers.

B, carrying out to comparative test.

Or C, carrying out a flower color survey.

This is C.

Well done if you've got that question right.

Great job so far.

We're ready to move on to the first task of the lesson now.

In the first part of the task, you are going to make a prediction about which colors of flowers will be the most common in your area.

The most common means, the one that you would see the most and a prediction is you tell us what you think will be the most common flower.

You need to use what you know about the function of flowers to help you make your prediction.

And there's a sentence starter here, I think, and then you're going to pick which color of flower you think will be the most common, and then use the word because to explain why.

Sure you're going to do a great job of this.

Have a go now to write your sentence and then come back to me and I'll give you the answer.

Welcome back, let's see how we did.

So this is an example of a prediction.

I think yellow will be the most common color because it is bright, so it will be easy for pollinating animals to find it.

Sofia says, is your prediction similar to mine?

You might have a different color, but your reason might be the same.

Let's have a go at question two now.

You're going to carry out a flower color survey in your local area, and you can see there's a table here that you'll need to use to record your results with lots of different colors.

And then you're going to use a tally chart to record the number of those colors you observe.

Remember though, you may need to add other colors to your survey if there are different colored flowers you find.

So off you go.

Have a really fun time doing this and then come back ready to discuss what you've got.

So let's have a look.

This is just some examples of results, but Sofia says, your results might be different to mine because you've obviously counted in a different area.

So in my results, we had two red flowers, one orange, five yellow, no green flowers, one blue, three purple, seven pink, three white, and no black flowers.

Your results might be different to mine, but just have a look now and check that you know how many of each flowers there were.

Really great job with this task, well done.

What a brilliant start to this lesson.

We're ready now to move on to the second part of the lesson where we're looking at common colors for flowers.

So this is my tally chart for the results for our flower survey.

Which color did you find was the most common for flowers?

We found that pink was the most common color and there were also a lot of yellow flowers.

Your results might be slightly different to this.

We didn't see any black or green flowers though.

Why do you think there weren't any flowers in these colors?

Well, these colors would not stand out very well and would be harder for animals to find.

It is less common for flowers to be darker colors or colors that blend in with the background, like green.

Flowers that do have very dark petals, often have brighter colors in the center to attract insects.

And if you look at that picture there of a hollyhock flower, it's got quite dark colored leaves, but then the very middle of the flower is much brighter in color and that will attract insects to it.

Many types of plants have flowers that appeal to specific animals.

For example, bees can see the color purple more clearly than any other color.

So you will often see lots of bees visiting plants like lavender, buddleia, and alliums, and we can see a picture there of each of those flowers with bees on them.

Let's do a quick question to check our understanding.

Why are flower petals often bright colors like yellow, pink, and purple?

A, so they look beautiful to humans.

B, so it is easier for small animals to find them or C, so they are less likely to get trampled on.

This is B.

They're bright colors, so it's easier for small animals to find them and then pollinate them.

Well done if you've got that right.

We're ready now to move on to the last task of the lesson, task B.

And you're going to write a conclusion explaining what you found out and why you think this is.

So we're going to use our results from the flower survey to say, I found out that, and you're going to say which flowers were the most common.

And then you're going to use a sentence starter there to explain why.

I think this is because, and then talk about why you think that is the most commonly colored flower.

I'm sure you're going to do a really great job.

Think really hard about all the things that we've spoken about in today's lesson and then press play when you're ready for me to go through the answers.

Let's see how we did.

So this is what Sofia wrote.

I found out that the most common colors for flowers in my area are yellow and pink.

I think this is because these are bright colors, so they would be easy for pollinating insects to see.

Your conclusions might be different to mine if your results were different.

So if you've got a different color but it's right for your color survey, then that is totally fine.

If you want to pause the video to add any detail into your answer, then please do, but if not, we're going to summarize what we've learned in the lesson.

Well done, we've got to the end of the lesson, and today we've been learning about the function of flowers.

And we have said some types of plants have flowers.

We call these flowering plants.

We also said that just because the plants might not have flowers at that moment doesn't mean it's not a flowering plant.

Sometimes the flowers are in bloom and other times they are not.

The function of flowers is to produce new plants.

This is called reproduction.

Many flowers need to be pollinated by insects or other animals to reproduce.

We said then to attract insects, most flowers are brightly colored and some have a nice smell to attract animals towards them.

We can carry out a survey to explore which colors are the most common for flowers, and we also used a tally chart to record the number of each flowers for each color.

You've done such a brilliant job this lesson, well done.

I really enjoyed teaching it to you.

I hope you've enjoyed it too, and I look forward to seeing you next time.