Welcome to 4th Grade Science

Essential Question: How many ways can you classify plants?

Standards:• Classify plants as flowering and non flowering

ActivitiesEngage-What types of observations can we make in order to classify plants as flowering and non flowering?Explore-Using illustrations, can we find details that help us to classify plants?Explain-Read for informationElaborate-Fill in the Venn diagram to describe the differences and similarities of flowering and non flowering plants

Living Things Classification Chart

Plants

Let’s focus this lesson on the different types of plants.If we were to break down the categories of plants to two, what would you think they were?

Fern

What characteristics do you notice about these plants?

What do you notice about these plants?

What makes a plant a plant?

• Plants are living organisms that are made from many parts.

• They make their own food from carbon dioxide and water using energy from the Sun.

• Please read for information on the next few pages.

Which words give you details about flowering plants?

Compare and contrast: Look over the flowering plants. How are they alike and different?

Evaluate: Think: What is an advantage of a thin stem?

So far, does this information make sense?

Why do plants have different types of leaves, roots, stems, or cones?

What are some of the structures and characteristics we can use to classify plants?

Essential Knowledge- Notes Pages

Plants are organisms that are made of many parts and are capable of producing their own food.

Some plants produce flowers while other plants do not produce flowers.

Flowering plants ● Flowering plants make seeds within their flowers ● Examples are fruit trees (apples, plums), tomatoes, or beans.

Essential Knowledge- Notes Pages

Non-flowering plants ● Non-flowering plants are those plants that make seeds within cones or produce spores instead of seeds.

● Some examples of non-flowering plants can be pines, spruce, or cedar trees that produce cones. Ferns and mosses produce spores.

What’s Next?

Make sure you have your notes in your science notebook. I have copied them onto blank sheets, saved on our school website.

Make some observations of plants in your environment with your new knowledge of flowering and non flowering plants. Remember, you may not see the flowers on many plants that actually do flower.