Activities

1. Which structures help plants gather water and nutrients?
   
   
2. What is the job of the plant’s stem?
   
   
3. Explain the job of a plant’s leaves.

4. A plant’s leaves and roots help it get the food, water, and nutrients it needs to survive.  You also have structures that help you get food, water, and nutrients.  How are these structures in a plant like the structures you have?  How are they different?
   
   
5. Predict what would happen if a plant lost all of its leaves.  Explain why you think this would happen.

6. Which one of a plant’s structures do you think is the most important?  Explain your reasoning using at least two facts.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Roots help plants gather water and nutrients.
   
   
2. The job of the plant’s stem is to provide support.
   
   
3. The job of the plant’s leaves is to gather energy from the sun to help make food.

4. Similarities include, but are not limited to:

• Both have a transport system that delivers water and nutrients to different parts of the plants or human.
• Both gather food and water from the environment.

       Differences include, but are not limited to:

• Humans eat and drink through the mouth.  Plants gather nutrients and water through roots.
• Humans must eat other plants or animals.  Plants create their own food.

5. Acceptable responses might include, but are not limited to:

• Some plants rely on their leaves to provide food; if a plant lost all of its leaves, it would die because it would not have a way to make its food.
• Many plants lose their leaves in autumn.  These plants are dormant during the winter and are unharmed by the loss of their leaves.

6. Acceptable responses might include, but are not limited to:

• Roots – pull water and minerals from the soil; provide support
• Stem – transport food and water; support
• Leaves – absorb carbon dioxide; create food molecules