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The first half of the summer term has been all about Plants in Year 3, with our main focus on transportation, parts and function of flowers and finally rounding up our study of plants by looking at artwork by Georgia O’keeffe.
During our investigation on how water is transported from the roots to the rest of the plant, students set up a number of experiments under different conditions and observed the rate at which leaves were dyed blue as coloured water moved up the stem to the leaves. At the end of our investigation students could explain how water is transported from the roots to the leaves of plants and understood that the rate of transportation will change depending on the conditions plants are exposed to. For example, they noted that plants kept in the fridge transported water up the plant slowly compared to the plants that were left outside (on a sunny and windy day).
Students also had lots of fun learning about parts of flowers with the help of BBC educational clips such as Ivy’s Flower shop. Aunt Ivy’s hip hop songs and dance moves about flowers were both entertaining and engaging. The class enjoyed the many hands on practical learning activities included in this unit. Students had great fun dissecting flowers and labelling the different parts. We also used actions and word play to help us remember the female parts (sticky stigma, style, ovaries oh so big).
In the Art element of this unit, the children learnt about Georgia O’Keeffe, an American artist who was known for her pictures of enlarged flowers. Inspired by O’Keeffe’s artwork, students drew close up pictures of a flower of their choice with some using real flowers. They used oil pastels to colour in small details on their petals and used water colours on the leaves and background to create vibrant images of pieces of art that they can all be proud of!