Lesson 3
What Are the Parts of a
Flower?
STUDENT SKILLS:
observing, identifying insect and plant parts, using tools, following procedures,
describing plants
Lesson 3: What Are the Parts of a Flower?
Activity 3A:
How Does Pollination Occur?
SUMMARY: Students explore the structure of a bee. Students explore the structure of a flower.
Students observe and pollinate Fast Plant® flowers. Students create a flower that includes all the major
parts.
KIT MATERIALS:
Tissue paper
Pipe cleaners
Pom poms
Bees (1 per pair of students) OR
Bee alternatives (pipe cleaners, 1 per
pair of students)
Toothpicks (1 per pair of students)
Hand lenses
Silk flowers
What Is Pollination? video
TEACHER TO PROVIDE:
Copies of MySci™ Journal pages
Copies of MySci™ Activity Sheet 3A
Glue
Wisconsin Fast Plants® (in bloom 12–
19 days after planting)
NOTE TO TEACHER: To be completed before lesson: Prepare the bee-sticks
yourself or have students prepare them the day before you use them, so the
glue can dry overnight. To make a bee-stick, place a bee on its back and glue
the toothpick to its abdomen. If your kit did not include real bees to create
bee-sticks, 15 pipe cleaners are provided as an alternative. Cut pipe cleaners
in half, and use one-half pipe cleaner per child. Fold over the tip of the pipe
cleaner to create a bee-sized shape at one end.
ENGAGE
Create a KWL chart titled “Flowers” with 3 columns: What You Know, What You Want to
Know, and What You Learned. Ask students the following questions to help complete the
What You Know column:
What do you know about flowers?
What do flowers look like?
Why do plants have flowers?
Who visits flowers?
For now, take all responses down. As questions arise, add them to the What You Want to
Know column.
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TM
What Is a Plant?
Lesson 3: What Are the Parts of a Flower?
EXPLORE
Give students silk flowers to investigate. Ask them to look closely at the various parts of the
flower and to try and determine what these various parts might be for. Add any new
information or questions to the KWL chart.
EXPLAIN
Show the video What is Pollination?
Pull out silk flowers again and work with the students to identify the parts (pistil, stamen,
pollen, petals).
ELABORATE
Divide students into pairs. Distribute a bee-stick, hand lens, and copy of Activity Sheet 3A to
each student team. Encourage them to find all the parts of the bee’s body (including those
marked on the activity sheet).
Discuss all the parts of the bee that the students observed. Be sure to include the head with
antennae, the abdomen with three pairs of legs, the tube-like mouth parts for drinking nectar
from flowers, and pollen baskets on the rear pair of legs for carrying pollen (although these
may be too small to see).
As students look at Activity Sheet 3A ask the following questions:
What do you see about a bee’s body that makes it a good pollinator? (The pollen baskets;
pollen can be easily carried by a bee’s hairy body.)
Why do bees visit flowers? (For two foods—nectar provides the sugar that is the only food of
adult bees, and pollen provides protein and fat for developing larval bees.)
How does a bee find a flower? (The flower’s color and fragrance help attract bees.)
Set up stations around the room with a pot of Fast Plants® in bloom at each station. Use
Activity Sheet 3A to point out the parts of a Fast Plant® flower; direct students to see what
flower parts they can identify. Can they find the petals? Stamens? Pollen? Pistil? Then have
each student team take turns gently brushing a bee-stick or pipe cleaner tip against the stamen
of a flower to gather pollen, then move to another station to transfer the pollen to the pistil of a
different flower. Remind students to work gently and carefully; they may enjoy buzzing as
they pollinate the flowers. For best results, repeat the pollination of flowers for two more
days.
TM
What Is a Plant?
33
Lesson 3: What Are the Parts of a Flower?
NOTE TO TEACHER: The flowers that have been successfully pollinated will
wither as the pods begin to grow. By day 35, Fast Plants® can be removed
from the water source. Allow the plants to dry out and pick the fruits or pods
approximately five days later.
EVALUATE
Return to the KWL chart. Have students guide you in removing any inaccurate information
from the What We Know column and complete the What We Learned column.
Distribute flower-making supplies (colored tissue paper, pipe cleaners, pom poms, glue) and
direct each student to make a flower. Write on the board the parts of a flower that need to be
included (petals, pistil, stamen). As you move through the classroom, ask the students to
point out the flower parts.
34
TM
What Is a Plant?
Activity Sheet 3A
Name
Date
leg with pollen basket
hair collects pollen
petal
stamen with pollen
pistil
sepal
MySci™ Journal Drawing Page
Name
Date
MySci™ Journal Graph Page
Name
Date
MySci™ Journal Writing and Drawing Page
Name
Date
MySci™ Journal Writing Page
Name
Date