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4th grade · Science · Unit 7 of 14

Built to Survive: Plants

Waxy leaves, deep roots, spines and other plant structures that help plants survive.

What your child practices

Practices how the structures and functions of plants help them survive in their environment: waxy leaves and spines that save water, deep or wide roots, thick stems that store water, and leaves shaped for sun or shade, with Texas plants such as prickly pear, mesquite, live oak and bald cypress.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 4.8 · plant structures that support growth and survival

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Roots take in water and hold the plant in place.
  2. Stems carry water and hold up leaves. Some, like cactus pads, store water.
  3. Small, waxy or spiny leaves help desert plants lose less water.
  4. Seeds spread by wind, water or animals.

Example: Why do many desert plants have waxy leaves? Desert plants need to save water. A waxy coat keeps water in. Answer: to lose less water

Built to Survive: Plants in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 7 of 14 in 4th grade Science, after Light and before Adaptations & Habitats.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Deep roots help a mesquite tree…

    • reach water far underground
    • fly away
    • make flowers
    • catch insects

  2. Question 2

    Bald cypress trees grow in swamps. Their knobby 'knees' may help them…

    • make fruit
    • store snow
    • stay steady in wet, soft soil
    • catch insects

  3. Question 3

    Spines on a cactus help protect it from…

    • rain
    • sunlight
    • wind
    • animals that want to eat it

  4. Question 4

    Wide, shallow roots help a cactus…

    • hold onto rocks in rivers
    • reach deep caves
    • soak up rain quickly before it dries
    • make food

  5. Question 5

    A Venus flytrap catches insects because it grows in soil that…

    • has too many nutrients
    • is frozen
    • has few nutrients
    • is always dry

  6. Question 6

    Pine needles are thin and waxy. This helps pines…

    • grow fruit
    • catch more insects
    • float
    • lose less water in cold or dry weather

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