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Why are there so many different kinds of flowers?
Circle of Life Unit | Lesson 5 of 5
Back > Share

Why are there so many different kinds of flowers?

Circle of Life Unit | Lesson 5 of 5
Lesson narration:
English Spanish
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DISCUSS: What happens to these two plants as time goes by?
What’s different about how they grow? What’s the same?
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DISCUSS:
Imagine you see these three restaurant signs for PIZZA.
Which restaurant would you go to? Why?
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DISCUSS: Can you think of any reason why bees visiting flowers might be GOOD for the plant?
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DISCUSS:
How many ways can you think of to move pollen from one flower to another?
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DISCUSS: If you were planting a garden with different kinds of flowers, what would your garden need for those flowers to be pollinated?
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Step
01/18
You’ll work with a partner.
Decide who will be Gardener A and who will be Gardener B.
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Step
02/18
Get your supplies.
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Step
03/18
Gardener A: Cut along the thick, black line. Place the Card Station in
the center of the table. Both: Cut out all the Plant Cards.
You should have a total of 24 Plant Cards.
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04/18
Gardener A: Turn all 24 Plant Cards so they’re facedown on the table.
Gardener B: Shuffle all the Plant Cards and make one stack.
Place the shuffled Plant Cards facedown on the Card Station.
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Step
05/18
Gardener A: Cut out the Scorecards and the Bee Cards.
Gardener B: Shuffle the Bee Cards & place on the Card Station.
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Step
06/18
Both: Make sure all your game pieces are set up correctly.
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Step
07/18
Gardener A: Take a Plant Card & put it in your Plant Zone.
Gardener B: Take a Plant Card & put it in your Plant Zone.
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Step
08/18
Gardener A & Gardener B: Take another Plant Card.
Both: If the Plant Cards match, add them to your garden.
If they don’t match, keep them in the Plant Zone.
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Step
09/18
When you have plants in your garden, choose either a Plant Card or a
Bee Card. If the Bee Card pollinates plants in your garden, add the
Plant Cards to your basket. Keep the Bee Card in the Bee Zone.
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Step
10/18
Play the game. Look at the Rules sheet.
The game ends when you run out of Plant Cards and Bee Cards.
IMPORTANT: Don’t move any cards when the game ends!
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Step
11/18
During the winter every year when it gets very cold, all the adult
plants in your garden will die. The only way to grow plants next year
(Year 2) is if you have seeds. Look at your Tiny Garden. Discuss:
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12/18
Set up for Year 2. Remove any Plant Cards that are NOT in your Fruit
& Seed Basket. Those cards will not be used in Year 2 of the game.
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13/18
You get one point for each Plant Card in your Fruit & Seed Basket.
Write down your points on the Scorecard to see who wins for Year 1!
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Step
14/18
Gardener A: Shuffle ONLY the Plant Cards that were in the Fruit &
Seed Baskets. Gardener B: Shuffle all the Bee Cards. Place these on
the Card Station.
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Step
15/18
Play the game again! On your turn, choose a Plant Card or Bee Card.
Then, add plants to the garden, check your Bee Cards, pollinate Plant
Cards, & move them to your basket. Look at the Rules sheet.
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Step
16/18
You get one point for each Plant Card in your Fruit & Seed Basket.
Write down your points on the Scorecard to see who wins for Year 2!
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17/18
Discuss.
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If you removed all the Bee Cards from the game, you wouldn’t score
any points. But what about a REAL garden? Discuss. Answer question
#1 on your Scorecard.
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DISCUSS: How could smelling like garbage help the Corpse Flower?
Hint: can you think of any creature that actually LIKES trash or rotting meat?
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Anchor Connection Look at the "Wonder" column of your class See-Think-Wonder chart. Have any questions been answered by this lesson?
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In the past lesson, you saw that plants go through life cycles. Discuss. What do these pictures and arrows show us about plant life cycles?
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Seeds grow into young plants. Young plants grow into adult plants with flowers. Flowers turn into fruit with seeds. Then, those seeds can become new young plants, and start the cycle over again. Most plant life cycles go through these steps.
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Many flowers can only turn into fruit with the help of pollinators. Pollinators move pollen from one place to another on the flowers. In the past lesson, the bees were pollinators. They helped the flowers turn into fruit.
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This is a bee on a flower. It is covered in a yellow, dusty powder. That powder is the pollen.
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Saguaros grow flowers, too. Watch the video, then discuss. You already saw these images of the bats and flowers. Do you think the bats are pollinators? Why do you think that?
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Discuss. Given what you know about plant life cycles, what do you think happens after the bats pollinate the saguaro flowers?
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Step
01/03
Get your Spotting Cycles worksheet. Remember: on this sheet, we are listing all of the cycles we can find.
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Step
02/03
In the Saguaro Cycles box, add what you learned about the life cycles of plants. Be sure to mention anything general that you learned about the life cycles of all plants, or anything specific to saguaros. You can use words, drawings, or both.
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Step
03/03
You are done with your Spotting Cycles worksheet. Save it so you can review it at the end of the unit.
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flower


1 of 15

the reproductive part of some plants that can make seeds
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fruit


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the part of a plant that contains seeds inside a covering, like tomatoes
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seed


3 of 15

a part of a plant that can grow into a baby plant
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seedling


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a young plant that grows from a seed
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pollen


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a powder plants make that is involved in plant reproduction
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pollination


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the process of moving pollen from one part of a flower (the stamen) to another part of a flower (the stigma)
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pollinator


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a living thing that moves pollen from one part of a flower (the stamen) to another part of a flower (the stigma)
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nectar


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a sugary liquid that plants make
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attract


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to pull toward
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reproduction


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a stage in the life cycle of living things when they have offspring
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offspring


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babies
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cycle


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a set of events that repeats in the same order over and over
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life cycle


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the stages of life, including birth, growth, reproduction, and death
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life stage


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one of the steps of the life cycle
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pattern


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something that happens again and again and again in a way that can be predicted
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Lesson narration:
English Spanish

Grade 3

Life Cycles

Plant Life Cycles

3-LS1-1

1002 reviews

Activity Prep

Print Prep
In this lesson, students discover that while there is great diversity among flowering plants, they all share similar life cycles. They all start from seeds, grow, and eventually reproduce through the process of pollination. In the activity, Future Flowers, students observe and predict how changes to the pollinators affect plant reproduction, which affects the life cycles of those plants.
Preview activity
Number of students:

I have a Mystery Pack

Future Flowers Rules Sheet printout Print 15 copies
My Tiny Garden printout Print 30 copies
Plant Cards & Card Station printout Print 15 copies
Score Sheets & Bee Cards printout Print 15 copies
Scissors
30
Prep Instructions

We suggest students work in pairs. Homeschool students will need a partner to play the game.

Teacher Background

All the plants in the activity game are annuals, which means they die every winter and must be replanted every year from seed. We do not discuss annual versus perennial plant life cycles in this particular lesson.

Extend This Activity

In the extensions, we have another set of Plant Cards with different annual garden plants. Check out the Extensions for further instructions.

Exploration

17 mins

Hands-On Activity

35 mins

Grade 3

Life Cycles

Plant Life Cycles

3-LS1-1

1002 reviews
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