82 Plants: Supplemental Guide 3A | The Life Cycle of a Plant
The very first picture shows a seed that is just beginning to sprout. If
you look very carefully, you can see that it is just starting to grow its
first root.[Point to the first picture and the plant’s first root.]
The next several pictures show the same plant several days later. As
the plant grows, more thin roots grow deeper into the soil. The roots
absorb water and nutrients and push them up through the plant’s
stem, which grows above ground.[Point to the thin roots growing deeper into the soil. Point to the stem beginning
to grow above the ground.]
Show image 3A-4: Seedling
It takes time for a seedling to grow into a full-grown, mature, adult
plant. How long does it take for a seedling to grow into a mature
plant?[Call on three students to answer.]- Answers may vary.
The time it takes for a seeding to grow into a mature plant is different
for different types of plants. If you plant a sunflower seed, it will take
about a month for the plant to look like a mature sunflower plant. If
you plant an apple seed, it will take several years for the seedling to
grow into a full-grown, mature tree!
Seedlings need the right amount of nutrients, water, air, and light for
them to continue to grow. Show image 3A-1: Sunflower
Sooner or later, the seeding will grow into an adult sunflower plant.
The adult plant will make more seeds. New plants can grow from the
seeds.When the sunflower dies and decays, it breaks down into little pieces
and goes back into the ground to become nutrients in the soil so that
seeds might germinate into new plants.^ A new life cycle of a plant
begins!