Life Science

Big Ideas Big Book Plants

Plants
by Gale Philips Kahn and
Allison Kahn Goedecke
Plants
by Gale Philips Kahn and
Allison Kahn Goedecke
2
Contents
Big Ideα Question

How Are Plants Alike and Different? .............................. 4

Living and Nonliving Things ............................................................ 6

What Plants Need .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Parts of a Plant ............................................................................................ 10

How Plants Grow .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Plants in the Seasons .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Where Plants Live .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Conclusion: All Kinds of Plants .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Glossary .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Index.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3
 Big Ideα Question

How Are
Plants Alike
and Different?

4
Plants are alike and different in
many ways.
Trees are big plants.
Dandelions are small plants.
But both grow in soil.
How are a cactus and a palm tree
alike and different?

Cactus Palm tree

5
 Living and Nonliving
Things
A plant is a  living  thing.
An animal is a living thing, too.
Living things are alive.
They grow and change.

6
A rock is a nonliving thing.
Water is a nonliving thing, too.
Nonliving things are not alive.
They do not grow and change like
living things do.

tree
water

bench
rock

duck

Name some living and nonliving things in this picture.

7
 What Plants Need
Living things must have certain things
to stay alive.
Plants are living things.
They must have air and water.

Air is all around this plant.

Water helps the plant grow.

8
They must have light.
They must also have space to grow.
Some plants must have soil to grow.

These plants get light from the sun.

This plant grows in soil.

9
 Parts of a Plant
Plants have parts.

flower

leaves

stem

roots

10
Find the parts of these plants.
How are they alike and different?

11
 Plant parts do different things.
Roots are part of a plant.
They take in water.
They also hold a plant in the ground.

roots

These roots take in water from the soil.

12
Some roots are strong.
Roots from a tree broke apart this
sidewalk.

13
 A stem is part of a plant.
The stem holds the plant up.
Water moves through the stem.

stem

stem

The stem of a tree

This plant has a thin stem. is called a trunk.

14
 Leaves  are part of a plant.
Leaves use sunlight to make food for
the plant.

leaves

15
 Flowers grow on some plants.
A  flower  is a part of a plant that
makes seeds.

flowers

seeds

16
Many seeds form in this sunflower.

seeds

17
 How Plants Grow
New plants can grow
from seeds.
The plants grow and
change.
The new plant looks like
the plant that the seed
came from.

flower

18
 seed

sprout

young plant

19
 Plants in the Seasons
Many plants change with the seasons.
Some plants begin to grow in spring.
They grow bigger in summer.
Then flowers bloom on some plants.

20
Fruits grow on some plants, too.
By summer or fall, many fruits are ripe
and ready to eat.

These apples are ready to pick.

21
 In some places, some trees change
with the seasons.
In spring, leaves form.
By summer, trees are full of leaves.

Spring

Summer

22
In fall, leaves change color and drop.
By winter, trees are bare.
This pattern repeats year after year.

Fall

Winter

23
 Where Plants Live
Plants live in different places.
Some plants live in deserts.
A  desert  is a dry place.
Very little rain falls.

24
Cactus plants have thick stems.
These stems help cactus plants live
in deserts.
When it does rain in the desert, the
stems store rainwater inside.

25
 Some plants live on prairies.
A  prairie  is a large area of flat land.
Prairies can be very windy.
Many grasses live on prairies.

26
Grasses have stems that bend in
the wind.
They do not break.
These special stems help grasses live
on prairies.

27
 Conclusion

All Kinds of Plants

Plants need air, water, light,
and space to live.
Roots, stems, leaves, and flowers are
parts of a plant.
Many plants grow from seeds.
Plants live in different places, including
deserts and prairies.

28
29
 Glossary
desert (page 26)
A desert is a very dry place.

flower (page 16)

A flower is a part of a plant. It makes seeds.

leaves (page 15)

Leaves are part of a plant. They make food
for the plant.

living (page 6)
A living thing is alive.

30
nonliving (page 7)
A nonliving thing is not alive.

prairie (page 26)

A prairie is a large area of flat land.

roots (page 12)

Roots are part of a plant. They take in water.

stem (page 14)

A stem is a part of a plant. It holds up the plant.

31
 Index
cactus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 25

desert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24–25, 30

flower. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 20–21, 25, 30

grasses.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26–27

leaves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 30

living.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–8, 31

nonliving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 31

prairie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26–27, 31

roots.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12–13, 28, 30

seed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16–18, 28

stem.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14, 27–28, 31

water.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7–8, 12, 14, 26, 28

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Program Authors
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Associate Professor of Early Childhood Science Education, The Ohio State University,
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University, East Lansing, Michigan; Judith Sweeney Lederman, Ph.D., Director of Teacher
Education and Associate Professor of Science Education, Department of Mathematics
and Science Education, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois; David W. Moore,
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State University, Tempe, Arizona
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