UNIT 4: PLANTS

   1    Plants

Characteristics of plants 

The living things in the plant kingdom have these characteristics:

·         They are multicellular organisms.

·         They cannot move around.

·         They make their own food from the nutrients they get from the air, water, soil and sunlight.

·         They have three parts: roots, stem and leaves.  Their roots hold them in the ground and give them water and mineral salts.  Their stems give them shape and their leaves make their food.

·         Almost all plants live on land.  Some are aquatic.

Plants are classified into two groups:  plants with flowers and plants without flowers.

Groups of plants

There are two groups of plants:

• Plants with flowers.  These plants reproduce with seeds.  Some seeds come from a fruit and other seeds come from cones.

We can classify these plants into three groups: trees, shrubs and grasses.

• Plants without flowers.  These plants do not have flowers or seeds.  They reproduce with spores. 

Trees, shrubs and grasses 

We classify plants with flowers according to their size:

• Trees.  They are very large.  They have woody stems called trunks.  These trunks have branches.  Trees grow slowly and live many years.
• Shrubs.   They are medium-sized.  They have woody stems, but they do not have trunks because they are softer and thinner.  Their branches come from the ground.  Some grow very quickly and others grow slowly.  They also live many years.
• Grasses.  They are smaller.  They have non-woody stems that are soft and flexible.  Most grow very quickly, but they only live a few months.
  
  
  Activities:

1.- Answer these questions:

What are the three parts of plants? 

What do each of the three parts do?

Name and describe the two groups of plants.

How do we classify plants with flowers?

What are trunks?

2.- Complete the sentences using:

Grasses

Shrubs

Trees

 

_______________________________are very large and have woody stems called trunks.

______________________________are medium sized and have woody stems but no trunks.

____________________________ are small and have non-woody stems that are soft and flexible.