Background information for teachers 
SAPS Plants in their natural environment PartA 
Plants in their Natural Environment - Number 5 in an online version of a series of booklets written to support plant science in the Primary Curriculum. In this final booklet, children are encouraged to look beyond a single plant to consider habitats, ecology and adaptations.
You can download this booklet, divided into shorter PDF files, from the links on the right. A published copy of this booklet was sent to every UK primary school, but additional copies are available from FSC publications.
You will find detailed curriculum links at the end of each activity or set of notes.
This is the fifth and final theme in the series. In looking at the natural environment and more closely at plants in their habitats, children are encouraged to look beyond a single plant, its life cycle and what it needs to grow, and to consider groups of different plants living together in an area, known as the habitat. Children begin to notice that different plants grow in different habitats – that a sand dune looks different from a wet heathland, from an old apple orchard or a grassy roadside verge. Children have opportunities to compare two or more habitats and note differences in the plants in each and how they grow. They may start to ask questions as to how and why the habitats are different and the factors that influence the plants that are able to grow there. The children may look at features that help plants to grow in a particular habitat and they begin to understand how certain adaptations contribute to making a plant suitable for the habitat. Finally, children consider the feeding relationships between plants and animals and the other ways that they are linked with each other in the habitat.
This booklet is linked directly to a stand-alone activity: ‘A gift to the school’, available on CD (see page 36 for further details). ‘A gift to the school’ is an extended cross-curricular environmental activity that could be used across a particular year group or be adapted as appropriate for use with children of different ages and abilities. The activity brings together their understanding of science in living organisms and draws on a range of skills, including literacy, numeracy, ICT, communication, strategic planning, negotiation, research and group work. The children are required to debate how best to utilise an old established garden that has been bequeathed to the school. They are expected to develop the garden for the benefit of the school and to maintain an area of it to encourage a diversity of wildlife. They undertake research as necessary to back up their proposals and could involve parents or other members of the community in their attempts to resolve the various conflicts that may arise in considering the area of land. It is likely that the activity will culminate in a presentation to others in the school or a wider ‘public’ audience.
As in earlier booklets in the series, this final booklet includes a range of approaches to encourage learning. Several activities rely on observations and then children are encouraged to seek explanations for differences that they have seen or other observations they have made. There are card games that are fun, but at the same time help development of vocabulary and matching written clues with their visual observations. There is an opportunity for creativity in the now familiar ‘Design a plant’ activity... on this occasion showing adaptations for a particular habitat. Teachers should also be aware of opportunities offered in the different activities for development of skills in literacy and numeracy.
The activities in this booklet can be used to support the pupils’ development in literacy, numeracy and investigative science, as defined in the relevant sections of the National Curriculum for Science and the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy Frameworks in England, and also in the Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland.
You can download this booklet, divided into shorter PDF files, from the links on the right. A published copy of this booklet was sent to every UK primary school, but additional copies are available from FSC publications.
You will find detailed curriculum links at the end of each activity or set of notes.
Please read the sections on Copyright and Safety before using the activities in this booklet.
Contents
Part A
- Front page
- Safety
- Copyright information and acknowledgements
- Contents
- Introduction
Part B
- Plants in their habitats
- Activity 1: The fight for survival – will it grow?
- Activity 2: Why so many seeds?
- Activity 3: How are plants suited to their habitat?
- Activity 4: Design and make a plant ... suitable for a particular habitat
- Activity 5: Comparing two habitats
- Activity 6: What happens if we cut the grass?
- Activity 7: Where does this plant live? – a card game
Part C
- Soil, microorganisms and recycling
- Activity 1: Finding out about soil
- Activity 2: Making compost in a bottle
- Activity 3: Oh what a waste ... but can we reduce, reuse and recycle?
Part D
- Feeding relationships
- Activity 1: Yummy – a food chain card game
Part E
- Background information for teachers
- Factors that influence organisms in their environment
- Feeding relationships – food chains, food webs and energy transfer
- Secrets of the soil – how soil is formed
- A gift to the school – what shall we do with the garden? (Coming soon)
Supporting Materials
Download the Zip files from the links on the right.
Converting templates into cards and other items
In this supporting material, templates are provided for certain items required for several of the activities in the booklet. The teacher can then make these up into the required form for use with children in the class. These items are listed above. In the booklet, reduced versions are given so that you can see at a glance what is available. The full-sized templates (A4) are provided on the SAPS website, usually as both pdf and Word files. You can download the pdf files and use them as they are, or you may prefer to adapt the Word files to your particular version of the game or activity.
Usually it would be appropriate to make your sheets out of lightweight card. To do this, print out the template and photocopy onto appropriately coloured card or paper. Alternatively you may be able to print directly onto the card. You can then make good durable sets by laminating the pages. When you have your whole page, you then cut out the cards or parts for use with your class.
Plants in their habitats
Activity 3: How are plants suited to their habitat?
- Adaptation - PowerPoint (page 8 & 9)
- How are plants suited to their habitat? (page 10) - Pupil Sheet (as Word file or as pdf)
- Extension activity - teacher guidance (page 8 & 9) - More information
Activity 5: Comparing two habitats
- Cartoons for comparing two habitats activity (pages 12 & 13)
- Cartoon - with text and without text (as Word file or as pdf)
- Using photographs of pairs of habitats (page 12) - Images
Activity 7: Where does this plant live? - a card game
- Make your set of cards (pages 18 & 19) - Templates
Soil, microorganisms and recycling
Activity 1: Finding out about soil
- I spy in the soil (page 22) - Pupil Sheet (as Word file or as pdf)
- How soil is formed (page 23)
- Pupil Sheet (1) (as Word file or as pdf)
- Pupil Sheet (2) - with word clues (as Word file or as pdf)
Activity 2: Making compost in a bottle
- Springtails in a garden compost bin, feeding on red cabbage (page 24) - Video
- How to make a compost column (page 25) - Pupil Sheet
- Taking temperatures in a compost heap (page 24) - More information
Feeding relationships
Activity 1: Yummy - a food chain card game
- Make your set of cards (pages 29 & 30) - Templates
- Food chain - extension activities (page 29)
- Completing a food chain - Pupil Sheet (1) (as Word file or as pdf
- Making food chains into a food web - Pupil Sheet (2) (as Word file or as pdf)
Background information for teachers
Factors that influence organisms in their environment
- Where should our plants go? (page 31) - Cartoon (as Word file or as pdf)
- A gift to the school - what shall we do with the garden?
- A cross-curricular environmental project, available on CD (page 36) - More information
Acknowledgements
Science and Plants for Schools and the Field Studies Council are grateful for permission to include the following copyright material:
All photographs are by John Bebbington FRPS. All artwork, including cartoons, is by Anne Bebbington.The cartoons used in ‘Comparing two habitats’ (page 13), and Background information ‘Where should our plants go?’ (page 31) were inspired by the Concept Cartoons™ used by Brenda Keogh and Stuart Naylor (Millgate House Publishing; www.conceptcartoons.com). Illustrations used in Figure 3 are reproduced by courtesy of The Cavendish School, London.
Members of the Writing Group: Anne Bebbington (SAPS and formerly of FSC), Ruth Thomas (The Cavendish School), Judy Vincent (formerly of Hartest Primary School) and Erica Clark, editor (SAPS) with contributions from Colin Bielby (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Chris Millican (Orielton Field Centre).The members of the writing group would like to thank Maggie Bolt for her skilful efforts in converting their work into a format suitable for design and printing.SAPS would also like to thank the following people for reviewing the draft text and offering a variety of comments, many of which were then incorporated into the final version of the booklet: Jenny Clarke and Teresa McErlean.