Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you doing?

I hope you're feeling really good.

My name is Ms. Afzal, and I'll be your teacher for this lesson.

I'm feeling very pleased about that because I love teaching and I'm particularly interested in our topic today.

Today, we're looking at plant life cycles.

That's the title of our lesson, Plant Life Cycles.

It comes from the unit of work Reproduction and Life Cycles: Plants.

I wonder how much you know about this topic, if you've studied plant life cycles before, if you have much knowledge of this.

Don't worry whether you have or not, we are going to be getting right into it today.

So, if you're ready with some energy, focus and enthusiasm, we'll begin our lesson now.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can research and present the life cycles of different plants.

I hope that sounds of interest to you.

We have some keywords in our lesson.

I'd like us to go through them one at a time.

My turn, your turn.

Life cycle.

Germination.

Pollination.

Fertilization.

Seed dispersal.

Great to hear those words loud and clear.

Let's find out what these keywords mean.

A life cycle is the way in which a living thing changes throughout its life.

Germination is when a plant starts to grow from a seed.

Pollination is when pollen from a male anther is transferred to the female stigma of a flower.

Fertilization happens when pollen from a male anther reaches a female ovary in a flower.

Seed dispersal is the way seeds are spread out from their parent plant.

So, these are our keywords: life cycle, germination, pollination, fertilization, and seed dispersal.

Pause here and share with someone, had you heard of any of these words before?

Thanks for sharing.

And don't worry if you've heard of them or if you haven't, they are all words that we'll be learning more about in our lesson today.

Our lesson is called Plant Life Cycles, and it has two learning cycles to it.

First of all, flowering plant life cycles, and next, finding out more about plant life cycles.

Let's begin with exploring flowering plant life cycles.

Laura has been learning about plants.

"I know that animals have life cycles; do plants have life cycles, too?

" What do you think?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Plants are living things that grow and reproduce.

All living things, including plants, have life cycles.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of these statements is incorrect?

A, plants are living things, B, plants are all either carnivores or herbivores, C, plants are all able to grow and reproduce, or D, plants have life cycles?

Pause here and decide which of these statements is incorrect.

Well done if you selected statement B.

Indeed, plants are all either carnivores or herbivores is incorrect, and all of the other statements are correct.

Different types of plants have different life cycles, but many have similar stages.

There are five stages in the life cycle of most flowering plants.

Pause here and share with someone if you know what any of those stages are.

Thanks for sharing.

And there we can see on this diagram a flowering plant life cycle.

Let's explore these five stages in more detail.

First, seeds germinate and begin to grow, and we can see a germination diagram there where that seed is beginning to grow.

And we can see a photograph of a germinating seed on the right-hand side.

Let's have a check for understanding.

What is the name for the life cycle stage when the plant first begins to grow from a seed?

Is it A, pollination, B, germination, or C, fertilization?

Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected answer B.

Indeed, the name for the life cycle when the plant first begins to grow from a seed is germination.

The next stage in the flowering plant life cycle is growing and flowering.

During this stage, the plants get larger and grow leaves and flowers.

And here we can see a growing and flowering diagram on the left and some growing and flowering plants in a photograph on the right.

Pollination comes next; this is when pollen from a flower's anther is transferred to the stigma of another flower of the same type.

Pollination can happen by animals or the wind.

Here is a picture of animal pollination and a wind-pollinated plant.

Let's have a check for understanding.

When pollen from an anther of one flower lands on the stigma of another flower, it is called, A, germination, B, fertilization, C, pollination, or D, seed dispersal?

Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected an answer C.

Indeed, when pollen from an anther of one flower lands on the stigma of another flower, it is called pollination.

Well done if you completed the sentence in this way.

Then, fertilization happens.

This is when the pollen moves down from the stigma to the ovary of a flower.

Once the flower has been fertilized, seeds form inside the ovaries.

And we can see some seed formation in the ovary in this image on the screen.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of the following shows the correct order of events in a plant's life cycle?

A, pollination, fertilization, seed formation, B, pollination, seed formation, fertilization, C, fertilization, pollination, seed formation, or D, fertilization, seed formation, pollination?

Pause here while you choose which of these shows the correct order of events in a plant's life cycle.

Well done if you selected answer A.

Indeed, it's pollination then fertilization and then seed formation.

In most plants, the ovary of the flower becomes a fruit as seeds form.

Now, we can see some fruits containing seeds.

The fruit helps to protect the growing seeds from damage.

Here's Jacob, "These foods all have seeds inside, but they aren't sweet and juicy.

I don't think they're fruits.

" Here's some foods containing seeds.

Do you agree?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

If something has developed from a flower and can contained seeds, it is a fruit.

Some fruits are things that we don't consider to be fruits in our everyday lives, such as cucumbers, peppers and pumpkins.

There are also many fruits that we can't eat, such as rosehips and horse chestnut fruit.

Seed dispersal is the next stage in the flowering plant life cycle.

When the seeds are fully formed, they're dispersed away from the plant.

Seeds can be dispersed by wind, water, animals or explosion.

We can see here some wind-dispersed seeds, water-dispersed seeds, and animal-disperse seeds.

After the seeds have been dispersed, they may germinate and the life cycle starts all over again.

So, there we have germination, growing and flowering, pollination, fertilization and seed formation, and seed dispersal, which takes us right back to germination, and so the cycle continues.

Scientific diagrams like this one are often used to show life cycles.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which diagram would be best to represent a life cycle?

Pause here and decide, would it be diagram A, B or C?

Well done if you selected diagram A, this would be a great diagram to represent a life cycle.

Let's have another check for understanding.

Which plant life cycle diagram is correct?

Is it A, B or C?

Take a good look at these three diagrams and then decide.

Well done if you selected answer B.

So we have germination, which then turns into growing and flowering, which leads us to pollination.

Next comes fertilization, fruits and seeds growing, then we have seed dispersal, in this case through an animal, and then we're back to germination, and the life cycle continues.

Well done if you selected diagram B.

And now it's time for your task.

I would like you to explain what happens at each stage in a flowering plant's life cycle.

So, here are the stages: germination, growing and flowering, pollination, fertilization and seed formation, and seed dispersal.

Pause here while you have a go at this task explaining what happens at each stage in a flowering plant's life cycle.

I'll see you when you're finished.

It's great to be back with you.

So, how did you get on with that task, explaining what happens at each stage in a flowering plant's life cycle?

So, perhaps you said something like this.

Germination, the seed begins to grow.

Growing and flowering, the plant becomes larger and grows flowers.

Pollination, pollen is transferred from the anthers to the stigma of a flower either by animals or the wind.

Fertilization and seed formation, pollen moves from the stigma to the ovaries where seeds are made.

And seed dispersal, seeds are spread away from the parent plant.

Well done if you explained what happens at each stage in a flowering plant's life cycle like this.

And now we're onto our next learning cycle, finding out more about plant life cycles.

Most flowering plants have similar life cycle stages, but there are some differences between different species.

For example, some seeds, like cress seeds, can germinate very quickly after only a few days of being in the right conditions.

Some seeds can take much longer to germinate.

Some types of palm seeds can take three to six months to sprout.

Oh, these are two of my favorite things on the screen, cress and coconut.

Different types of plants take different lengths of time to grow and flower and can be pollinated in different ways.

Here's an animal-pollinated flower, and here are some wind-pollinated flowers.

After they are formed, seeds are dispersed in different ways.

Pause here and share with someone, can you remember three of the different ways in which seeds are dispersed?

Thanks for sharing.

Let's have a look.

I wonder if you came up with this one, seeds dispersed by wind.

This one, seed dispersed by animals, and seed dispersed by water.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which statement is correct?

A, all plants have completely different life cycles, B, flowering plants have some similarities and some differences in their life cycles, or C, all plants have exactly the same life cycle.

Pause here while you decide which statement about plant life cycles is correct.

Well done if you chose answer B.

Indeed, flowering plants have some similarities and some differences in their life cycles.

Here's Sofia, "There are so many different types of plants.

How can we find out about their different life cycles?

" What do you think?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

We can find out about the life cycles of different plants by observing them over time.

We can make careful observations and measurements of plants as they germinate, grow and disperse their seeds to learn more about them.

And Sofia again, "Plants can take a really long time to grow; how can I find out more about their life cycles if I don't have a long time to observe them changing myself?

" What do you think?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

We can also learn more about plant life cycles by carrying out research using secondary sources of information such as books, websites and videos.

Here we can see someone reading secondary sources.

I love how they're reading about plants and surrounded by them as well in their room on their desk.

Let's have a check for understanding.

We can find out more about plant life cycles by (pauses).

Complete the sentence by choosing for one of the following, A, carrying out a fair test, B, making observations over time, C, carrying out research using secondary sources, or D, planning a comparative test?

Pause here while you decide which of these completes our sentence.

Well done if you selected answers B and C.

Indeed, we can find out more about plant life cycles by making observations over time and by carrying out research using secondary sources.

And now it's time for your next task.

I would like you to carry out research using secondary sources to find out more about the life cycles of these plants and complete the table.

So, we have a watermelon plant and some okra.

Oh my, again these are two of my very favorite plants.

So, pause here while you carry out some research using secondary sources to find out more about the life cycles of the watermelon plant and the okra plant.

And complete this table.

So I'd like you to record the time taken for the plant to germinate.

What is the flower's appearance like?

Write about the pollination method and the seed dispersal method.

Pause here while you carry out your research and complete the table.

I'll see you when you're finished.

It is good to be back with you.

How did you get on with that task, carrying out your research to complete the table?

Let's have a look at this completed table.

So, time taken to germinate, watermelon plant, 4-12 days, okra plant, 7-14 days.

Flower appearance for the watermelon plant, yellow with five petals, and okra, pale yellow flowers with five petals and a dark purple center.

Pollination method for the watermelon plant it's animals, and for the okra, it's also animals.

Seed dispersal method for the watermelon plant, its animals, for the okra, its explosion.

Well done, everyone, for having a go at this task and finding out all this fascinating information about the life cycles of the watermelon plant and the okra plant.

For the next part of your task, I would like you to draw a life cycle diagram for one of the plants you researched, so you could choose the watermelon plant or the okra plant.

Pause here while you have a go at this task.

It's great to be back with you.

How did you get on with that task, drawing a life cycle diagram for one of the plants you researched?

Here's Sofia, "Here's my life cycle diagram.

Is it similar to yours?

" So let's take a look at Sofia's diagram.

She has got the watermelon life cycle, there's germination there at the top, and then an arrow taking us to the next stage, crowing and flowering.

Oh, some beautiful illustrations here.

Next stage we are taken to pollination, including little pollinators there.

The next stage is seed formation and then we're onto seed dispersal and creature dispersing those seeds, and that takes us all the way back to germination.

Pause here and share with someone, is your diagram similar to this one or were there any differences?

Thanks for sharing.

In our lesson Plant Life Cycles, we've covered the following.

Plants are living things that grow and reproduce.

Flowering plant life cycle stages include: germination, growing and flowering, pollination, fertilization and seed formation, and seed dispersal.

We can find out more about plant life cycles by observing them over time or carrying out research using secondary sources.

Well done, everyone, for joining in with this lesson.

It was so interesting to explore plant life cycles together, going through those five stages of the flowering plant life cycle.

And I loved how you created your own plant life cycles, especially because watermelon plants and okra are two of my very favorite plants.

Perhaps you might like to research a plant life cycle of one of your favorite plants.

I really hope you've enjoyed this lesson.

I certainly enjoyed teaching you, and I'm looking forward to seeing you at another lesson soon.

Until then, stay curious.