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Why do seeds have so many different shapes?

Why do seeds have so many different shapes?

Lesson narration:
Scroll for prep
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DISCUSS:
How are these seeds different from each other?
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DISCUSS: (1 of 2)
What’s similar about these structures?
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DISCUSS: (2 of 2)
Do these shapes remind you of any objects you use in your daily life?
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DISCUSS:
Why might spiky, fuzzy seeds stick to some animals and not others?
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DISCUSS:
Which material would you choose as a model for an animal’s fur? Why?
Step
01/18
Get your supplies.
Step
02/18
Hold your cup sideways over your plate.
Squeeze glue on top of your sideways cup.
Then put 6 cotton balls on top (2 rows of 3).
Step
03/18
Gently press your cotton balls together so that they are touching.
Step
04/18
Draw a face on the bottom of your cup.
Step
05/18
Practice moving like a fluffadoo! Hold your fluffadoo with both hands
in front of you and with your elbows bent by your sides. Hop in place
while keeping your upper body still.
Step
06/18
You’ll work with a partner.
Choose who will be HOPPER and who will be COUNTER first.
Step
07/18
Get more supplies.
Step
08/18
Put Seed A on your fluffadoo. HOPPER: Hop in place until your seed
falls off your fluffadoo. COUNTER: Count the number of times your
partner hops.
Step
09/18
COUNTER: Tell your partner the number of hops it took for Seed A
to fall off their fluffadoo. HOPPER: Circle that number in the “Test 1”
row of your worksheet.
Step
10/18
Partners switch jobs. Then do test 1 for Seed A again.
Step
11/18
Do the rest of your Seed A tests. Circle the number of hops your
partner counted on your worksheet. Switch jobs after each test.
Step
12/18
Discuss:
Step
13/18
Here’s what we noticed.
Step
14/18
Get the rest of your supplies.
Step
15/18
Do test 1 for Seed B. HOPPER: Hop in place until your seed falls off
your fluffadoo. COUNTER: Count the number of times your partner
hops. HOPPER: Record your results.
Step
16/18
Do the rest of your Seed B tests.
Switch jobs between HOPPER and COUNTER after each test.
Step
17/18
Discuss:
Step
18/18
Discuss:
CHALLENGE:
What are some other ways that your fluffadoo could help Seed B move?
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DISCUSS:
What problems might there be if all of these seeds tried to grow in one place?
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Anchor Connection Discuss. Look at the "Wonder" column of your class See-Think-Wonder chart. Have any questions been answered by the past lesson?
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Step
01/10
In the past lesson, you dispersed seeds with your fluffadoo. Discuss. What does it mean to disperse seeds?
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Step
02/10
For seeds to grow into plants, they need a few different things. One thing plants need is room to grow. That’s one reason why dispersal helps plants: the seeds go to new places where they have room to grow.
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Step
03/10
In Death Valley, there’s plenty of room to grow. But many seeds still sit here for years and years without growing. Discuss. Why do you think the seeds sit without growing? And what makes the seeds suddenly start to grow?
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Step
04/10
It almost never rains in Death Valley—almost never. Discuss. What do you think needs to happen before there can be a superbloom?
Step
05/10
Before there can be a superbloom, there needs to be rain. One rainstorm isn’t enough. There have to be many gentle rainstorms for the seeds to get the water they need.
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Step
06/10
Most years, it does not rain enough for a superbloom. When it does, though, the seeds get the water that they need to grow!
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Step
07/10
Discuss. We know that water is important for superblooms. What should these students add to their sheets? How should they do it?
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Step
08/10
Get your Superbloom Cycle worksheet.
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Step
09/10
If you didn’t write or draw about rain yet, do so now. You can write words or draw pictures.
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Step
10/10
Put your sheet somewhere safe. We still have more to learn about the superbloom!
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seed


1 of 7

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


2 of 7

the specific form and shape of something
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disperse


3 of 7

to move and spread out

animal dispersal


4 of 7

when an animal moves a seed from one place to another

survive


5 of 7

to stay alive
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pattern


6 of 7

something that happens again and again and again in a way that can be predicted
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model


7 of 7

a pretend version of something that scientists use when the real thing is too big, small, or complicated to work with
Lesson narration:

Activity Prep

Print Prep
In this lesson, students explore how the structures of seeds enable them to disperse, with a focus on seeds that utilize animal structures to aid in their dispersal. In the activity, Seed Travelers, students develop a model of a furry animal (“fluffadoo”) and then use it to test how far seed models with different structures can travel.
Preview activity

Exploration

15 mins

Extend this lesson

Vocabulary

Unit Reading

 
Plants Lesson 2: Why do seeds have so many different shapes?

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