Plants need water booklet
Plants need water booklet
- Unit 1: Living things
- Unit 2: Sound
- Unit 3: Materials in my world
- Unit 4: The Earth
- Unit 5: Humans
- Unit 6: Forces
Plants are living things — 1.4 Plants need water and the right temperature
In this lesson you will investigate how plants need water and the right temperature to be healthy. You will see how water moves through stems, practise measuring, interpret bar charts, and carry out fair tests.
We are going to
- investigate how plants need water to be healthy;
- see how plants need the right temperature to be healthy;
- see how water moves up through a plant stem;
- measure using standard units;
- make predictions and see if they are right;
- make a conclusion from results;
- read results from a bar chart and look for patterns in these results.
Key words
freezes • level • survive
Getting started
Why might the plants in both pictures not have enough water?
👀 show answer (sample)
All plants need water
Every part of a plant needs water. Roots absorb water from soil, stems transport water to leaves and flowers, and leaves use water to make food. Without enough water, plants wilt and die.
Think like a scientist 1 — How much water do plant stems use?
You will need: a narrow jar, five leafy stems, water, a ruler, sticky labels
- Place stems into the jar and use a ruler to measure the level of the water.
- Mark the water level daily for five days. Record changes.
- Decide which units are best (mm, cm, m, or simple marks).
- At the end, compare prediction and results: how much water did the stems use?
What kind of science enquiry was this?
Looking at a bar chart
Sofia measured how water levels dropped over 5 days. The bar chart shows the level of water.
Questions
- What happened to the water level on days 1–4?
- What changed on day 5?
- Why might this have happened?
- What happened over all five days?
Plants need the right temperature
Some plants grow in hot places, some in cold. If it is very hot or very cold, plants may not survive.
If too cold, leaves cannot make food because water freezes. If too hot, water is lost and roots, stems and leaves may dry and break.
Think like a scientist 2 — Plants need the right temperature
You will need: 15 seeds, three pots, soil, a thermometer
- Sow five seeds per pot. Water and cover lightly with soil.
- Put pots in three places: warm, room temperature, cold.
- Measure temperature in each place, keep watered, don’t let soil dry out.
- Predict and record growth in each pot daily. Draw, measure, or graph results.
What kind of science enquiry was this?
Water can move up tall trees
Some trees grow over 80 metres tall! Water travels in narrow tubes in stems to every leaf.
Think like a scientist 3 — How does water move up a plant stem?
You will need: a cup of water, food colouring, a dropper, a white flower, celery, a clock
- Place celery and flower in coloured water.
- Predict what will happen.
- Observe pots every hour over a day. Draw or photograph changes.
- Explain how this shows water transport inside plants.
How am I doing?
A friend asks you to water a small potted plant for a week. How much water would you give? How do you know this?
Reflection
In this topic you used mathematics. How does maths help you in science?
Look what I can do!
- I can investigate how plants need water to be healthy.
- I know that plants need the right temperature to be healthy.
- I know how water moves up through a stem.
- I can measure using standard units.
- I can make predictions and see if they are right.
- I can make a conclusion from results.
- I can read bar charts and look for patterns in results.