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3rd grade · Science · Unit 1 of 8

How Plants Grow & Change

Life cycles, seeds, and making food from sunlight

What your child practices

From seed to flower and back to seed, how seeds travel, how plants react to light and seasons, and how they use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make food and release oxygen.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: 3-LS1-1 · the life cycle of flowering plants

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Life cycle: seed, sprout, seedling, flowering plant, new seeds.
  2. Seeds travel by wind, water and animals, like burrs stuck in fur.
  3. Plants take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen, which we breathe.

Example: Fluffy seeds float away on a breeze. How do they travel? Fluff catches moving air. They travel by wind. Answer: by wind

How Plants Grow & Change in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 1 of 8 in 3rd grade Science, before Pushes, Pulls & Forces.

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: Maine Department of Education

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

    What is the first stage in the life cycle of most plants?

    🌰
    • a fruit
    • a flower
    • a leaf
    • a seed

  2. Question 2

    A cactus has a thick stem. How does that help it survive?

    🌵
    • it stores water for dry times
    • it catches rain from the clouds
    • it keeps the cactus cold
    • it holds the seeds

  3. Question 3

    A sunflower turns to face the Sun during the day. This is an example of a plant…

    🌻
    • changing its life cycle
    • being pollinated
    • reacting to its environment
    • making seeds

  4. Question 4

    Chlorophyll gives leaves their green color. What else does it do?

    🍃
    • helps the leaf capture sunlight
    • makes the leaf smell sweet
    • pulls water up from the roots
    • stops the leaf from falling

  5. Question 5

    Most plants make their food using energy from…

    ☀️
    • the Sun
    • the soil
    • the rain
    • the Moon

  6. Question 6

    Put the life cycle of a bean plant in order. Tap the first stage first.

    • 🌰seed
    • 🌱seed sprouts
    • 🌼plant with flowers
    • 🫘pods with new seeds
    • 🌿seedling with leaves

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