REPRODUCTION AND LIFE CYCLES - Part 1: Parts of a flower

'Reproduction and Life Cycles' is part of a series of booklets, CDs and online resources for primary classes, written to support the Primary Curriculum. In part 1, children are introduced to the basic parts of a flower and their functions, through a range of learning activities that are both fun and challenging, from card games to dissecting and modelling plants.

This website section is part of a series written to support work that must be undertaken with plants as part of the Primary Curriculum in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Material on this website can be downloaded freely for use by teachers with their classes, subject to the copyright restrictions given below. It is also available as a published booklet, together with a CD, from FSC publications. For the website version, the complete booklet is presented as pdf files, in five parts (parts A to E, see Contents). Items on the CD are given as Part F. These include templates required for certain activities and also some additional information for teachers. Some of the templates are also given as Word files so that you may download these and adapt them as you wish for your class.

This is the second theme in the series. It is published in two separate booklets: Part 1 (Parts of a flower) and Part 2 (Pollination, fertilisation, fruits and seed dispersal). A CD accompanies each booklet. The CDs carry full-sized templates for preparation of some items required for the activities together with some further background information for teachers. The CD for Part 2 also contains a PowerPoint presentation entitled ‘Pollination’ for use independently or as part of the learning strategy for pollination.

In Part 1, the topic starts by introducing children to the basic parts of a flower and their functions, helping to build on their understanding of the parts of a plant, covered in booklet 1 of the series. It provides a range of activities that include dissection of a flower to see its parts – the sepals, petals, stamens and stigma, style and ovary – and how they are arranged, ways of making simple models of a plant and card games that are fun but at the same time reinforce children’s learning and help them to be ready to move on to the next stage.

In addition to the type of activities used in the first booklet (Parts of a plant and their functions), this second booklet offers a wider range of approaches. Children are encouraged to develop greater independence, for example, in carrying out investigative work, in devising tables to record results or using IT to draw a graph. Teachers should also be aware of opportunities offered in the different activities for development of skills in literacy, numeracy, investigative work and strategies for assessment.

The activities in this booklet can be used to support the pupils’ development in literacy, numeracy and investigative science, as defined in the relevant sections of the National Curriculum for Science and the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy Frameworks in England, and also in the 5-14 guidelines in Scotland.

You will find detailed curriculum links at the end of each activity or set of notes.

Please read the sections on Copyright and Safety before using the activities in this booklet.

Acknowledgements are given after the list of Contents.

Contents

Parts A to F are available as separate pdf files. Some items in Part F are also available as Word files.

Click on your chosen part to make your selection for the teaching programme for your class.

Part A

• Safety
• Copyright information and acknowledgements
• Contents
• Looking at plant life cycles - a seasonal teaching planner
• Introduction

Reproduction and life cycles
Reference to literacy, numeracy, assessment and investigative skills
Using the CD (part 1)

Part B

• Introducing the parts of a flower
• Dissecting a flower
• Finding out more about flower parts

Finding out about the number of flower parts
Whole-parts relationship – using a graphic organiser

Part C

Create a flower
Building a flowering plant game
Colouring a flowering plant game

Part D

Games with cards
Matching pairs
Loop cards – flower part dominoes, with pictures
Loop cards – flower part dominoes, with definitions
Traditional game of bingo
Flower splat
Plant taboo

Part E

Background information for teachers
Reproduction and life cycles – the flower, fruits and seeds
Reproduction in flowering plants
The structure of the flower
The numbers of flower parts

• Flowers to study – some suggestions
• Examples of dissected flowers

1. Cultivated perennial geranium (Crane’s-bill)
2. Star gazer lily

• Definitions

Part F (CD for Part 1)

• Introduction to this CD

Introducing this CD
Acknowledgements
Safety
Contents
Using this CD

• Templates

Flower parts for ‘Building a flowering plant game’
Card sets 1, 2 and 3
Grids for bingo and splat
Cards for taboo

• Additional background information for teachers

Asexual reproduction – some notes and drawings
Examples of dissected flowers
Wallflower, sugar snap pea

Templates - for grids (bingo and splat) and cards for taboo are also available as Word rtf documents

Acknowledgements

Science and Plants for Schools and the Field Studies Council are grateful for permission to include the following copyright material:

Photographs: All photographs are by John Bebbington FRPS

Artwork: All artwork, including cartoons, is by Anne Bebbington, with the exception of Figure 8. Illustrations used in Figure 8 are reproduced by courtesy of The Cavendish School, London.

Cover artwork: Anne Bebbington

The members of the writing group would like to thank Maggie Bolt for her skilful efforts in converting their work into a format suitable for design and printing.

We are grateful to the following who reviewed the text and activities during the development of this booklet: Rosemary Boaz, Mary Haworth, Judy Vincent, Paul Warwick.

Members of the Writing Group: Anne Bebbington (FSC and SAPS), Colin Bielby (Manchester Metropolitan University), Janette Kean (Westfield Primary School, West Lothian), Ruth Thomas (Cavendish School) and Erica Clark (editor, SAPS)