Hello and welcome to today's lesson from the unit Growing Plants.

Today's lesson is called What plants need to grow and stay healthy.

Hi, I'm Mrs. Waller, and in this lesson today, you are going to be setting up your own investigation to find out what happens to plants when they do not have everything they need.

Have you set up your own investigation before? You will need to work and think like a scientist.

Are you ready? So let's start by looking at our keywords for today's lesson: plant, healthy, temperature, botanist, and investigate.

Just have a think for a moment.

Do you know what some of these words mean? Do you know what all of these words mean? Don't worry if you don't at this stage.

We'll be learning about all of these words as we go through today's lesson.

This lesson is in two parts.

The first part, we will be learning about what plants need, and in the second part, we will be moving onto our investigation and we'll be thinking about how to investigate what do plants need.

Did you know that plants are alive? Yes, plants are living things just like humans and other animals.

Take a look at the pictures on the screen.

The tree is a plant.

It's a living thing.

The child and the leopard and any other animals that you could name, birds and fish and insects, are animals and they're all living things.

Now, I have a question for you.

What do all living things need to grow and stay healthy? You might have lots of different ideas.

You might think about food and drink.

You might think about keeping warm.

You might have some other ideas that you'd like to share.

Now, let's think about plants.

Plants need water.

They need water to grow and to stay healthy.

Have you ever watered a plant before? Do you have a watering can or a water spray? Let's think about these plants in particular.

So this rice plant needs lots of water to grow and to stay healthy.

But actually, this aloe vera plant doesn't need so much water.

It still does need some water but it needs a lot less than the rice plant.

Plants also need just the right temperature to grow and to stay healthy.

This means that plants need just the right amount of warmth.

I've got some examples here.

So we know that some plants grow in warmer temperatures.

They grow really well.

They are ever so healthy in warm countries and in warm temperatures.

For example, this pepper plant.

Now, some other plants, they don't need as much warmth.

They can still grow and stay healthy in colder temperatures.

So here's an example today, which is this conifer tree.

Plants also need light.

They need light from the sun to grow and to stay healthy.

Can you think of any examples of plants that need lots of light or that actually don't need as much light and grow really well in the shade? Here's some examples for you.

So just like the peppers, these tomatoes grow brilliantly in warm places and in full sunlight.

We have these snow drops.

Now, snow drops, they often grow when it's showing us that springtime is on its way.

So they don't need just as much light as the tomatoes.

They can grow really well in the shade.

And now I'm going to ask you a few questions just to check if you've understood what we've covered so far.

Remember to think like a scientist.

So my first question is for you to think about which of these statements is true.

So only animals are living things, only plants are living things, or plants and animals are living things.

Have you decided? And the answer is that plants and animals are living things.

The next question is, which statement below is false? Plants need light.

Plants need plant pots.

Plants need water.

Plants need warmth.

Have you decided? And the answer is the false statement is that plants need plant pots.

Have you ever grown a plant before not in a plant pot? I've grown a plant in a glass vase.

I've also grown some plants on some damp cotton wool.

So they definitely don't need to be in a plant pot.

So this is our first practise task now and I want you to think about what does a plant look like when it is healthy? Once you've got some ideas together, you might want to draw a picture of a healthy plant.

It can be any plant at all.

You might want to write a description of what a plant looks like when it's healthy, or you might want to talk through your ideas with somebody else.

And once we've got a clear idea of what a healthy plant looks like, I want you to then think about those three things that we've been learning about that a plant needs: the water and the light and the suitable temperature, which we're going to call warmth.

What would happen to a plant if it didn't have those things? So what would happen to the plant if it had the water taken away, the light taken away, or the warmth taken away from it? Would it look exactly the same? Would it be just as healthy? Or would it change? And again, if you want to, you can draw a picture or you can write about it or you can share your ideas by talking to somebody.

And I want you to try and think about this time what would happen if a plant does not have all of those things that it needs.

So I've got some ideas here to share with you.

What does a plant look like when it's healthy? So here's a description of a healthy plant.

A healthy plant grows tall and strong.

It can have green, shiny leaves or bright coloured flowers or fruit.

Is that the same types of ideas that you had? Or you might have drawn a picture of a healthy plant.

Does yours look anything like this? You might have drawn a different type of plant.

You might have drawn a tree.

This is a plant with a healthy flower and you can see that it's green and it's strong and it's standing up tall and it's bright and it's colourful.

It certainly does look healthy to me.

Are your ideas similar to this or are your ideas different? We're going to move on now to our second practise task.

And I wanted you to think about what would happen to the plant if it didn't have the water or the light or the warmth.

Would it look different? So we have a description here and we're saying that a plant without water, light, or warmth could turn brown, it could go dull, or it might even go droopy, and a word for that is that it might wilt.

Here's a picture, here's a drawing of an unhealthy plant.

If you drew a picture, does yours look anything like this too? It looks a bit dry and brown and crispy and it's certainly gone droopy.

Are your ideas similar to this or different to mine? But before we move on to our own investigation, let's think about how and why scientists investigate.

Scientists investigate to find out more about things.

They observe.

They look really closely.

They try to explain why things happen.

Here's a photograph of a botanist.

Now, a botanist is a plant scientist.

They help us to find out about plants and what plants need to grow and to stay healthy.

So really we're being botanists, aren't we, in today's science lesson? Another thing that scientists do is they ask lots of questions.

But they don't just leave it there.

They think very hard about it and they try to find the answers to their questions, just like you in your science lessons.

So you're the scientist and you're going to think about lots of different questions that you could ask and you could find out about plants.

Think of a question that you could ask that might lead to investigation that would help you to know more about plants.

What question might you ask? So by now, you might have thought of lots of different questions, things that you could ask so that you could find out more about plants.

In this lesson today, our question that we're going to be investigating is what happens to plants when they do not get to what they need? You know what they need, don't you? That's what we've been learning about.

So what happens to plants if they don't have water? What happens to plants if they don't have warmth? What happens to plants if they're put into a dark place and they don't have light? And what happens to plants if they just keep growing with everything that they need, the water, the warmth, and the light? So we're going to be working like scientists.

Remember, we're going to be botanists and we're going to be observing.

So we're going to be looking really closely at what happens to our plants over a number of weeks when they do have everything they need, but also to the plants that have one thing taken away.

Let's think about setting up our investigation.

If you've already started to grow some plants from seeds, then these will be perfect for this investigation.

But don't worry if you haven't.

You could maybe visit a local garden centre or a supermarket and buy some plants that aren't very expensive.

So what we're going to do is we're going to think about putting these plants under different conditions, which means that something is going to be taken away from them.

And I was thinking that we could have groups of plants.

Maybe the plants in group A could be the plants that we're going to take away the water.

So, so far, if you've been growing plants from seeds, you will have been giving them everything, water, warmth, and light.

So now at this stage in the investigation, we're going to stop giving the plants in group A the water.

So I'm just going to show you on this table so that it's a little bit easier for you to see what we are going to give the plants and what we're not going to give the plants.

So the plants in group A, they will not have water from this point in the investigation, but it's really important that they do have the other things that they need.

So yes, they will still have warmth, and yes, they will still have light.

So maybe these plants can continue to grow on a sunny window spot.

The plants in group B, so they're going to be a little bit different, so we're going to be taking away their warmth.

Can we put them somewhere colder so they're not going to have warmth anymore? Oh my gosh, where are we going to put them? But they are going to have water, so you've still got to water them as regularly as you have been, and yes, you are still going to give them light.

So they still need to be somewhere where they can get light from the sun.

Now, the plants in group C, what are they going to have taken away from them? They're going to have light taken away from them.

So exactly the same in this table, we've put a red cross next to light.

So these plants, you're going to put them somewhere or you're going to do something with them so they're no longer getting light.

But don't forget, they still do need to have water and they still do need to be somewhere warmth.

Does it sound complicated? Well, have a look at this table and make a note of the water, the warmth, and the light and all you've got to do is think about the one thing that's got the red cross next to it is the one thing that you're going to take away from the plants in that group and anything that's got the green tick next to it, you've got to make sure that you're still giving your plants those things, okay? Have a think about it and make sure that you understand.

Now, can you remember when I said it's really important to keep a plant or some plants growing with everything that they need? So we are going to have a plant or a few plants in group D and they're going to keep growing as they have been with everything.

So if we were to add to the table, we would have the same water, warmth.

and light and the plants in group D would have the green tick next to all three of those things I have a couple of questions for you.

Why do you think it is important for the plants in group D to grow with everything that they need? So why are we continuing to grow some plants with water, warmth, and light? And my second question is before we set up the investigation and make a start, which plants do you think will grow best and why do you think this? So we've got plants with water being taken away, we've got plants with warmth being taken away, we've got plants with light being taken away, and, also, we've got our plants continuing to grow with everything that they need.

Which plants do you think will be the healthiest? Which plants do you think will grow best? And can you explain why do you think this? So if you've had time to have a think about this, scientists quite often continue to grow plants with everything that they need whilst they're also taking something away.

And they would do this so that they could compare what happens if the plants had just been growing anyway to what happens if something really important is taken away from them.

Now, the answer to the second question, I'm afraid I can't help you with that one.

We've all got our own ideas, I'm sure, but we'll only find out when we actually do the investigation.

So we need to get cracking, don't we? Moving on.

It's time to move on now to check that you've understood everything that we've covered in the second part of this lesson.

And don't forget, we're thinking about how to investigate what plants need.

So my first question is thinking about that word investigate.

What does that word mean? So does it mean to work wearing a vest? Is that true or is that false? What do you think? Have you made up your mind? To investigate means to work wearing a vest.

True or false? The answer is false.

Although it has got the word vest in the word.

Have you noticed, investigate, in-vest-igate? But I'm afraid it doesn't mean to work wearing a vest.

If you want to, you could write your ideas down or you could talk about them with somebody else or you could just think about it.

What do you think investigate does mean? So the answer that I'm going to share with you is that investigate means to find out more about things.

So when you investigate, you observe and you try to explain why things happen.

Were you thinking something similar to this or do you have some different ideas? My second check is for you to think about how scientists ask lots of questions.

And we've been asking questions about plants, haven't we? So when you're asking a question or when you're writing a question, which word would you not use to start a question? So our choices are what, how, because, and why.

Have you decided? Well, the word that you wouldn't start a sentence that's a question is because and we usually use the word because when we're giving an answer to a question, when we're giving a reason why.

And my third and final check is, why is it important to grow plants with light as well as growing plants without light? Is it because it's just fun to grow lots of plants? Or is it a good idea to have a spare plant in case something goes wrong? Or do we do this to compare what happens when light is taken away from a plant? Have you decided? Well, the answer is C.

And if you can remember when I talked about it before, we're growing plants and we're taking things away from these plants to see what happens, but it's also a good idea to keep the plants growing with everything that they need so that we can compare what happens when plants have everything to what happens when plants have something taken away.

I've got some more things for you to think about now.

And my question is, when we're setting up our plant investigation, you've got to think about how are you going to take something away from your plants? So my first thing is I want you to think about how can we take away warmth from a plant? So how can we make sure that a plant still has water and still has light but the one thing that we're taking away is warmth? Now, our first idea here is maybe we could put the plant somewhere cold.

How about we put the plant in the fridge? It's cold in the fridge.

Make sure that we still water it every day.

Have a think about that.

Might there be any problems? So the plant is having warmth taken away.

It's still having water.

Is it still having light in the fridge? Hmm.

But there's not any light when the fridge is closed.

Have you noticed that when you open and close the fridge? When you open the fridge, usually the light comes on, and when you close the fridge, usually the light goes off.

So would that work? If you're putting your plant in the fridge, there's not going to be any light in the fridge.

And don't forget, we only have to take one thing away.

In this case, it's taking away warmth.

So how could we do that? I'm not sure whether putting it in the fridge is going to work, unless you've got any better scientific ideas.

It would be great if you could talk about your ideas with somebody or just have a think about how you would set up this part of the investigation.

Would you like to hear some children's ideas? So our first idea is you could put it in the fridge but you could put a torch in the fridge switched on and the torch would give the plant light while it was in the fridge.

When the fridge light goes out, the torch light would stay on.

How about that for an idea? We have another idea.

You could actually put the plant outside, so you could put it in a cold place.

If it was autumn or winter, then the plant is still going to get light from the sun 'cause it's outside and you could still remember to water it.

So the only thing that you're taking away is the warmth.

But I guess you could only do that one when it was cold, so in the autumn or in the winter.

It's a great idea, though, isn't it? And my third idea is that you could still keep the plant in the classroom.

So it's still got light if you've got it on a window spot and you can still water it, but how are you gonna make it cold in the classroom? So maybe you could blow a cold fan over it or maybe you could wrap it with cold ice every day.

Do you have any different ideas to this? So we're thinking about when we set up our investigation, if we're really thinking about the plants in the no warmth group, how could we make sure that we're still giving them water and we're still giving them light but the only thing we're taking away is warmth? Have a really good think about it.

I bet you've got some brilliant ideas.

Okay, we're going to keep thinking about this.

So this time we're thinking about taking away light from our plant.

And if we're taking away light, remember this plant still needs to have water and it still needs to have warmth.

So we've got this first idea here that maybe we could put the plant in a dark cupboard so that we're taking away light but we must remember to water it every day.

Is the plant in a dark cupboard still going to have warmth? There's one thing that you might just need to check, the temperature of the cupboard, because remember, we're only changing one thing.

So just check that the cupboard isn't particularly cold in there.

Make sure it's the same temperature as the room where your other plants are growing.

Have a think about, have you got any other ways of taking away light? You could talk about your ideas or you could just have a think about how you might set up this part of the investigation.

Now, we've got some children's ideas here.

So our first ideas is you don't put it in a cupboard just in case it's a different temperature in the cupboard.

You could keep the plant where it's growing somewhere warm and sunny, but you take away the light by putting the plant under a box, under a cardboard box.

So we're taking away the light.

It's still got the warmth of the room that it's in.

And don't forget you need to water the plant.

Have we got any other ideas? Yeah, so you could still put it in a dark cupboard, but like I said earlier, you've just got to check that the cupboard is the same temperature as the room that you're in.

Do you have any other ideas? So how else might you take away light from your plant but still make sure that it's getting water and it's getting warmth? So now we've thought a bit more about how to take certain things away from our plants, it would be a great idea if you could draw some pictures of how you're going to set your investigations up ir you might just want to write about how you're going to take water away or how you're going to take light or how you're going to take warmth away.

So this is all important things that scientists do in the planning stage of an investigation.

Don't forget, we've now got to think about what we're giving our plants and what we're taking away from our plants.

So plants in group A are having just the water taken away.

Plants in group B are having just the warmth taken away.

Plants in group C are only having light taken away.

And then finally, don't forget, we've got our plants growing, continuing to grow with everything they need, the water, the warmth, and the light that they need to grow well and stay healthy.

I've got some ideas here that might show you how to write about what one of the groups might do when they're setting up their investigation, and this group is in the plants group A and they're going to be growing their plant without water.

So I am in group A.

I am growing my plant without water.

I will keep my plant next to the window in our classroom where it is warm and light.

I will not water my plant at all.

Remember, this is the group that's taking away water.

And what they're going to do is they're going to observe their plant every week to see if it's beginning to look unhealthy or maybe it's just going to grow just as well as the plants that still have everything.

We don't know.

This is the exciting bit of the science investigation.

We're going to be finding out.

Now, finally, after all this planning and talking and thinking about it, it's time to actually set up your investigation.

So get your plants.

Think about, where are you going to put them? What are you going to do with them? How are you going to take away light? How are you going to take away warmth? How are you going to take away water? And actually get setting up ready for us to find out over the next couple of weeks what's actually going to happen to these plants.

I have one final tip for you.

When you've set up your investigation, it would be a brilliant idea if you could take some photographs of all the plants.

So it's a really good idea.

You might think that you can remember what the plants look like now, but in a few weeks time when we're further on down the line with this investigation, you might just want to remember exactly what they look like today.

So take some photographs of your plants and we can use these to compare what's happening to our plants over the next couple of weeks.

This is the final part of the lesson where you get to think about all the things that you know and all the new things that you understand.

I'm starting you off with our first thing, which is that plants are living things.

Can you remember that part? Plants and animals are living things.

What else can you remember from the lesson today? I'm hoping that you're going to remember that plants need certain things to grow and stay healthy.

And the three things in particular that we've learned about today is that plants need water and warmth and light.

I've got one more thing to share with you.

So we've been investigating, haven't we, in our lesson today, like scientists? Can you remember the name of the scientist that investigates plants? I hope you can.

Yes, you've got it, botanist.

So scientists like botanists investigate to find out more about plants and what they need.

It's time for you to have a go at the exit quiz now.

Remember to think like a scientist, and I will see you in the next lesson.