grade 3 plant functions pdf

📚 Grade 3 Plant Functions: A Teacher's Guide

This lesson plan explores the essential functions of plants, designed for Grade 3 students. It aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how plants obtain nutrients, transport water, and create their own food.

🎯 Objectives

• 🌱 Students will be able to identify and describe the main parts of a plant (roots, stem, leaves, flowers).
• 💧 Students will understand the function of roots in absorbing water and nutrients from the soil.
• ☀️ Students will explain how leaves use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to produce food through photosynthesis.
• 💨 Students will describe the function of stems in transporting water and nutrients.
• 🌸 Students will learn the role of flowers in plant reproduction.

📝 Materials

• 🪴 A live plant (with roots, stem, leaves, and optionally a flower).
• 🌱 Seeds (bean or pea seeds are ideal).
• 💧 Clear cups or containers.
• 🧪 Soil.
• 📊 Chart paper or whiteboard.
• 🖍️ Markers or colored pencils.
• 📄 Handout with plant diagram and function descriptions.

☀️ Warm-up (5 mins)

Plant Observation:

1. Ask students to share what they already know about plants.
2. Show the live plant and ask students to identify its parts.
3. Briefly discuss what each part might do for the plant.

🌱 Main Instruction

1. Roots: The Anchors and Absorbers

• 🌍 Discuss how roots anchor the plant in the ground.
• 💧 Explain that roots absorb water and nutrients from the soil, acting like a straw.
• 🧪 Show examples of different root systems (fibrous and taproot).

2. Stems: The Highways

• ⬆️ Explain that stems support the plant and hold up the leaves.
• 🚚 Describe the stem's function as a transport system for water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves and flowers.
• 🌳 Discuss different types of stems (e.g., woody, herbaceous).

3. Leaves: The Food Factories

• ☀️ Explain that leaves are where plants make their own food through photosynthesis.
• 💨 Discuss the role of sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide in photosynthesis.
• 🍃 Write the equation for photosynthesis on the board: $6CO_2 + 6H_2O + Sunlight \rightarrow C_6H_{12}O_6 + 6O_2$
• 🔬 Explain that chlorophyll (the green pigment in leaves) captures sunlight.

4. Flowers: The Reproduction Centers

• 🌸 Discuss that flowers are responsible for plant reproduction.
• 🐝 Explain how pollination works, involving the transfer of pollen from one flower to another.
• 🍎 Describe how flowers develop into fruits, which contain seeds.

✅ Assessment

Plant Part Matching:

1. Distribute the handout with a plant diagram.
2. Ask students to label the parts of the plant (roots, stem, leaves, flower).
3. Have students write a short description of the function of each part.

📝 Practice Quiz

1. 🌳 What part of the plant holds it in place and absorbs water?
2. ⬆️ Which part carries water and nutrients to the rest of the plant?
3. ☀️ What do leaves use to make food?
4. 🍎 What part of the plant helps make new plants?
5. 💨 What gas do plants take in from the air to make food?