Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

My name is Mrs. Mehrin, and I'm really looking forward to learning all about nutrients and fertilisers for plants with you.

Welcome to today's lesson from the unit: What plants do and what they need.

Your learning outcome is: I can explain how soil quality can be changed using fertilisers.

Now, I know that learning can sometimes be a little bit challenging, but that's okay because it just means that we are going to work really hard together and we are going to learn lots of fabulous new things.

Let's begin.

So before we start, here are your five keywords for today's lesson, along with the definition.

Now, I am going to be referring to these throughout today's video.

However, if you find it helpful to have these written down somewhere, you can pause the video here and jot these down.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So our two parts to this lesson begin with the first one, which is soil.

Now, Aisha has been learning about the requirements of plants, and she says, "Do plants need soil to survive?" Jun says, "I think they do.

They wouldn't be able to stay upright if there was no soil for their roots." Alex says, "The soil is important because it is food for plants." And Lucas says, "Soil is just mud.

I don't think plants need it." What do you think? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So, soils are made from a combination of different things, including organic matter, air, water, and tiny pieces of rock.

Now, organic matter in soils is an important source of nutrients for plants.

Now, organic matter is anything which is alive or was once alive.

And without these nutrients from the soil, plants would not be able to survive or grow.

Now, the roots of a plant are the parts that typically grow below the soil.

The roots help to keep the plant firmly in place in the soil so they can stay upright.

Now, which of these is an important source of nutrients for plants? Is it A, the soil that they are growing in; B, the pot they have been put in; or C, the petals on their flowers? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Well done.

The answer is A, the soil they are growing- Now, there are many different types of soil, including sand, silt, clay, and loam.

Now, do you think all types of soil are good for growing plants? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So different types of plants have different needs, so some will need more nutrients than others and some can survive with very few nutrients.

Now, some plants may struggle to grow in certain types of soil because it may not contain the amount or types of nutrients that they need to survive and be healthy.

So, for example, tomato plants need water and lots of nutrients from soil to grow and be healthy, and they grow best in loam soil that has plenty of nutrients and holds water really well.

And they would not survive in sandy soil with very few nutrients.

Now, Sofia says, "The cress I bought from the supermarket is growing in cotton wool, not soil.

Does that mean some plants don't need nutrients at all?" What do you think? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So seeds contain a small store of nutrients to help each plant begin to grow.

So some plants like cress do not need many nutrients to grow, so they can survive for a while without any more nutrients.

However, it will eventually struggle to survive if it does not get more nutrients.

Lavender can grow well in rocky, sandy soils where there are very few nutrients.

And that reminds me of one time when I was driving along the motorway on my way to Scotland, and I remember seeing lavender just growing by the side and I thought that was really interesting.

So this is the reason why.

It's because they don't really need many nutrients in order to grow.

So lavender plants don't need many nutrients to be healthy and can grow long, deep roots in sandy soil to gather the very few nutrients that they do need.

And if we try to grow a plant in the wrong soil type, it will not be healthy and it may not survive.

True or false? All plants are able to grow and be healthy in any type of soil.

Is that true or false? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

The answer is false.

Now, let's see if you can justify your answer.

Is that because, A, different types of plants have different needs and so need different types of soil, or B, all plants are only able to grow well in soil that is very loamy? I'll give you five seconds again to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So it's A.

Different types of plants have different needs, and so they need different types of soils.

Now, here is your first task, it says, "Are these statements correct or incorrect?" So your statements are: Roots help to anchor plants in soil.

Soil is an important source of food for plants.

All plants can grow well in any kind of soil.

Different types of soil contain different amounts of nutrients.

So you need to match these statements to the following sentences.

So you've got: I'm sure this is correct, I think this is correct, I think this is incorrect, or I am sure this is incorrect.

So I'd like you to pause the video here and have a go at doing this activity.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So for the first one, roots help to anchor plants in the soil, you could have either put I'm sure this is correct or I think this is correct.

For B, soil is an important source of food for plants, you could have put I think this is incorrect or I'm sure this is incorrect.

C, all plants can grow well in any kind of soil, that could be I think this is incorrect or I'm sure this is incorrect.

And D, different types of soil contain different amounts of nutrients.

So either I am sure this is correct or I think this is correct.

Well done.

Now, here is your second part of task A, and it says, "Rewrite the incorrect statement so they are correct.

Soil is an important source of food for plants.

All plants can grow well in any kind of soil." Again, I'd like you to pause the video here and have a go at doing this activity.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So you should have changed it to: "Soil is an important source of nutrients for plants," or "Some plants may struggle to grow in different types of soil." Now, we are onto the second part of your learning, which is all about fertilisers.

Now, if soil does not have enough nutrients for the plants we want to grow, we can add something called fertilisers.

Now, fertilisers are substances that contain lots of the nutrients that plants need.

Fertilisers added to soil can make plants grow bigger and be more healthy than they would without it, and this can help to ensure that crops produce plenty of food.

Let's do a quick check-in of your learning before we carry on.

So we can add a nutrients to soil by mixing in what? A, water.

B, fertilisers; or C, sand.

I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

The answer is B, fertilisers.

Now, fertilisers are also very useful for farmers because they grow plants in the same soil year after year.

And adding fertiliser to the soil replaces any nutrients that were used up by crops in the previous years.

Now, fertilisers can make plants what? A, need less water; B, produce sweet smells; or C, grow bigger and stronger.

Again, I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

The answer is C, grow bigger and stronger.

Now, some fertilisers are organic, which means they are made for matter that was once alive.

So compost and manure are examples of organic fertilisers.

So manure is basically faeces from an animal, whereas compost is made up of organic matter, so it looks like soil, but it's a type of fertiliser that's made up of things such as vegetable peels and other things that you might find in the kitchen that can break down and create this fertiliser.

Now, some fertilisers are human-made, so this means they are created by scientists using a range of organic and human-made substances.

And they can come in the form of liquids, powders, or small granules.

And they are sometimes called plant food, although plants do make their own food, but this is just another thing that we can add to help them to grow.

Now, human-made fertilisers should be used carefully because they can cause damage to habitats.

So when you add it to soil, they often end up in nearby streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds, and this can make it harder for some plants and animals to survive.

So you have to be really careful when making this.

Now, if human-made fertilisers are bad for the environment, then why do people still use them? Well, human-made fertilisers can contain more nutrients than organic ones, so less needs to be used.

And they can also be created to meet the needs of different types of plants and are much quicker to make than organic fertilisers.

So let's do a quick check-in of your learning.

True or false? All fertilisers are human-made.

Is that true or false? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

The answer is false.

Now, is that because some fertilisers are organic, such as manure or compost, or B, no fertilisers are human-made, they are all organic? Again, I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

The answer is A.

Now, here is your second task for today, and it says, "Sort the different types of fertiliser into organic and human-made." So which ones are organic, which ones have been made by humans? So you can use an example such as this, where you've got organic and human-made.

So I'd like to pause the video now and have a go at doing this.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So organic would be the compost and the manure.

And the human-made: fertilised granules and liquid plant food.

Now, here is your second task of task B, and it says, "Aisha's mum wants to grow some corn and cabbages on her allotment, but the soil is very poor quality.

Write her a note giving her some advice about how she can improve the quality of the soil." So I'd like you to pause the video now and have a go at writing a note to Aisha's mum about how she can improve the quality of the soil so she can grow her corn and cabbages on her allotment.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So you may have said something along the lines of: "You could add fertiliser to the soil so it has more nutrients.

It would be better to use an organic fertiliser like manure or compost because human-made ones can harm the environment." Now we are on to the summary of our learning today.

Soil is an important source of nutrients for plants.

Plants may struggle to grow if they cannot get the nutrients they need from the soil they are growing in.

We can use fertilisers to add nutrients to soil.

And fertilisers can make plants grow bigger and be more healthy.

They can be organic or human-made.

Well done for your fantastic learning today.

I am so proud of all of the hard work that you've put in and your wonderful critical thinking.