Lesson Plan: Plant Structure

Subject:  Science

Grade: 4

Lesson Objective: To explore plant structure

Next Gen Science Standard:  4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

Starter:

Say:

• What are the different parts of a plant?  (Allow the students to answer.)

Main:

Say:

• The cells in plants are always moving water, nutrients and waste through the plant.
• The parts of the plant that do this are called the transport system.
• The transport system is made of the roots, stem and leaves.
• The roots move nutrients and water up to the leaves.
• The food that the leaves make is moved from the leaves to all the other parts of the plant.
• We know that the roots spread out and down into the soil.  Each root has thousands of tiny root hairs. 
• The cells that make up the roots and each root hair carry water and nutrients up into the stem.
• The stem is the main part of the plant that holds it up. 
• The stem is also where the buds and shoots grow from above the ground.
• The stem moves water and nutrients up to the leaves from the roots and moves food down from the leaves to the roots.
• Leaves grow from the stem of the plant.  Leaves have parts called veins, which are the lines that you see on the leaf.
• The veins of the leaf are what carry the water and nutrients through it.
• Leaves take in gases from the air.  They use the carbon dioxide from the air and water to make food. 
• The food is called glucose, which is sugar.  After the food is made, it is carried down to the rest of the plant by the leaf veins.
• You are now going to write about the different parts of the plant.  You should identify which part helps to support the survival of the plant, which part helps to support the growth of the plant and which part helps to support the reproduction of the plant.
•  Make sure that you explain why you chose the part of the plant that you did.

Feedback:

Say:

• Who would like to share what you wrote about which part of the plants helps to support its survival, which part helps to support its growth and which part helps to support its reproduction?  (Allow the students to share.) 

Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer

Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.

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