Plant health and growth
Lesson details
Learning outcome
You can observe and record different stages of plant growth.
Key learning points
- Plants need water, light and a suitable temperature (warmth) in order to grow and stay healthy.
- Healthy plants grow strong and upright. The leaves are firm and flowers fruit and root systems are well formed.
- An unhealthy plant can be dry, dull, brown or yellow in colour and unable to stand upright.
- The growth of plants over time can be observed and recorded in different ways.
Keywords
Plant - A plant is a living thing that often has roots, stem and leaves
Unhealthy - A plant becomes unhealthy when it does not have everything it needs
Wilt - A plant will wilt when it can no longer stay upright. Often the stem becomes floppy
Observe - When we observe, we look closely with our eyes, and use other senses
Record - We record in science to keep information so that it can be looked at again
Common misconception
Pupils may think that we observe using only our eyes
Show how we can use other senses to observe, we might listen, smell or touch when we observe
Teacher tip
Pupils will use the plants they have grown from seeds in lesson 1. They will have set up this investigations in lesson 3. In this lesson, they are planning what to observe and how to record any changes in plant growth over subsequent lessons.
Equipment
Pupils will need cameras, ipads, drawing materials etc. in order to record in their chosen ways
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of these is not part of a plant?
Q2.Plants need water, warmth and to grow and stay healthy.
Q3.What does the temperature of something tell us?
Q4.What would you use to measure the temperature of something?
Q5.What does it mean when scientists observe things?
Q6.Starting with 'start with a healthy plant', order these instructions for growing a plant with no warmth.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Plants need , warmth and light to grow and stay healthy.
Q2.Which of these is not a good reason why my sunflower grew most in July?
Q3.Which statement about healthy plants is true?
Q4.What word is used when a plant becomes droopy and floppy?
Q5.Which of these things could you observe to decide if a plant is unhealthy?
Q6.Match the tools with the different ways of recording when we investigate.
photo or video
drawing or sketch
graph or chart
To help you plan your 2 science lesson on: Plant health and growth, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 2 science lesson on: Plant health and growth, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 1 science lessons from the Growing plants unit, dive into the full primary science curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.