Life cycle of a flowering plant
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can present the life cycle of a flowering plant.
Key learning points
- Germination is when a seed first starts to grow into a plant.
- For a seed to germinate, the conditions must be right; including access to water, air and warmth.
- The life cycle of a flowering plant includes germination, growing, pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal.
- Life cycles can be presented in different ways including oral and written forms.
Keywords
Life cycle - A life cycle is the way in which a living thing changes throughout its life.
Germination - Germination is when a plant starts to grow from a seed.
Pollination - Pollination is when pollen from a male anther is transferred to the female stigma of a flower.
Seed formation - Seed formation happens inside flowers after a plant has been fertilised.
Seed dispersal - Seed dispersal is the way seeds are spread out from their parent plant.
Common misconception
Pupils may confuse pollination and seed dispersal, as both involve something from the flower being moved from one place to another.
Explain that each of these processes happen at different times and have different purposes. Pollination happens before seeds have formed and leads to fertilisation whereas seed dispersal spreads the fully formed seeds away from the parent plant.
Teacher tip
To enhance this lesson, pupils could ‘adopt’ a plant in the school grounds. To begin, they could make some observations of their plant and discuss whereabouts it is in its life cycle, then revisit their plant in different seasons to see how it is changing.
Equipment
None required.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.The part of the plant that allows it to reproduce is called a .
Q2.What do we call plants that grow flowers?
Q3.A life cycle is…
Q4.What is seed formation?
Q5.Seeds are formed inside the ovaries of flowering plants. Where are the ovaries?
Q6.When pollen is transferred from an anther to a stigma of a flower by animals or the wind, it is called…
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is germination?
Q2.What do most seeds need to germinate?
Q3.Starting with the stage where a seed first begins to sprout, order the stages of a flowering plant's life cycle.
Q4.Which of these would not be a good way to present information about flowering plant life cycles?
Q5.Which of these stages of the flowering plant life cycle needs either animals or wind in order to happen?
Q6.Match the name of the life cycle stage to what happens during that stage.
To help you plan your 3 science lesson on: Life cycle of a flowering plant, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 3 science lesson on: Life cycle of a flowering plant, 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 2 science lessons from the What plants do and what they need unit, dive into the full primary science curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.