Year 3 Science · The life cycle of a flowering plant · Summary

Year 3 Science The life cycle of a flowering plant: summary and key words

Part of the Year 3 Science the life cycle of a flowering plant chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page

Chapter summary

Skill	Method
Life cycle	Seed, germination, seedling, young plant, flowering plant, pollination, seed formation, seed dispersal, and back to a seed.
Pollination	Pollen moves from the male part of a flower to the female part, often carried by an insect or by the wind.
Seed formation	After pollination, seeds form inside the female part of the flower, which grows into a fruit.
Seed dispersal	Seeds are spread away from the parent plant by the wind, by water, by animals or by splitting pods.
Germination	A seed needs water, a suitable temperature and air to germinate. It uses its stored food at first.
Seedlings	A seedling uses its stored food first; then its leaves make food from light, and its roots take in water and nutrients.
Fair tests	Change only one thing, keep the rest the same, count or measure, and show the results in a table or bar chart.

I can put the stages of a flowering plant's life cycle in order, from a seed back to a seed
I can say what pollination is, and how insects and the wind carry pollen from flower to flower
I can explain how seeds form inside a fruit after pollination, and name a bean plant's fruit
I can name four ways that seeds are dispersed, and say why spreading seeds helps a plant
I can say what a seed needs to germinate, and read a table from a fair test on germination
I can describe a seedling, and use a table to show how a seedling grows

life cycle: the stages a living thing goes through, from its start until it makes new living things like itself
germination: when a seed begins to grow
seedling: a young plant that has grown from a seed
pollen: a powder made by the male part of a flower, often yellow
pollination: moving pollen from the male part of a flower to the female part
nectar: a sweet liquid made by flowers, which insects feed on
male part: the part of a flower that makes pollen
female part: the part of a flower where seeds form, which grows into the fruit
seed formation: the stage in which seeds form inside the female part of a flower, which grows into a fruit
fruit: the part of a flowering plant that contains seeds
seed dispersal: spreading seeds away from the parent plant
seed coat: the tough outer cover of a seed, which protects it
stored food: food inside a seed that helps the young plant to start growing
suitable temperature: a temperature that is warm enough for a seed to germinate