Year 4 · Autumn 1.1 · Step 4

Earth & Space

Group plants

Sorting plants by their features — flowering and non-flowering, deciduous and evergreen.

Arrival Starter I do We do Independent Exit ticket

🌱 Seedling · Working towards 🌿 Sapling · Expected 🌳 Oak · Greater depth

⏱ Whole lesson ≈ 44 min · pick a tier in the bar, or leave on "All"

Arrival 4 min

Recap of last lesson: classification keys for animals.

Recap: keys

🌱 Seedling

Working towards

A key uses yes/____ questions.

🌿 Sapling

Expected

Give a good key question.
Why must questions be closed?

🌳 Oak

Greater depth

Could we use a key for plants too? What might we ask?

Bridge into todayLiving things aren't only animals. Today we group plants — starting with flowering and non-flowering.

Starter 5 min

Flowering vs non-flowering; deciduous vs evergreen.

Grouping plants

Flowering plants make flowers and fruit/seeds; non-flowering plants (like ferns and mosses) don't — they use spores. Trees can be deciduous (drop their leaves) or evergreen (keep them).

🌱 Seedling

Working towards

Flowering plants make ____.

🌿 Sapling

Expected

Name a flowering and a non-flowering plant.

🌳 Oak

Greater depth

What's the difference between deciduous and evergreen trees?

I do · 1 6 min

Teacher models. Watch, then sort plants by their features.

Ways to group plants

▶ Can't see it? Watch "Classifying and grouping plants — Primary Biology" on YouTube

Swap the clip: change the ID after /embed/ (now cgVlrtGnG6s).

Say thisThe first big split is flowering vs non-flowering. Flowering plants make flowers, then fruit and seeds. Non-flowering plants like ferns and mosses spread by spores. We can also group by leaves, size or shape.

🌻

Floweringflowers + seeds

🌿

Fern/mossspores

🌲

Evergreenkeeps leaves

We do · 1 6 min

Sort plants into flowering / non-flowering together.

Flowering or not?

🌹 rose 🌿 fern 🍎 apple tree 🌱 moss 🌻 sunflower 🌲 pine tree

Two groups

Does it make flowers (and then fruit/seeds)? Yes → flowering. No → non-flowering.

A pine tree makes cones, not flowers — non-flowering.

I do · 2 4 min

Play the animation. Bust: all plants have flowers / plants aren't living.

Flowers, or spores?

A flowering plant makes flowers and fruit; a fern has no flowers and spreads by spores.

Model the ideaNot every plant has flowers — ferns and mosses never do, yet they're still plants. And plants are living things: they grow, make their own food using light, and reproduce.

Watch for: "all plants have flowers / are green" and "plants aren't living things".

We do · 2 5 min

Decide together with a reason.

Flowering or non-flowering?

Reason it out

"A daisy — has flowers." "A fern — fronds and spores." "An oak — flowers then acorns."

Which are flowering, and which are non-flowering?

Independent 10 min

On your own. Sort each plant, then write at your tier.

Plant group sorter

🌸 Flowering

🌿 Non-flowering

🚫 Myth to bust

Tap a card to sort it…

🌱 Seedling

Working towards

Sort the cards. Then finish: Flowering plants make ____.

🌿 Sapling

Expected

Sort them, then write how flowering and non-flowering plants are different.

🌳 Oak

Greater depth

Sort them, then explain why a fern is still a plant even with no flowers.

Exit ticket 4 min

Answer at your tier, then hand it in.

Show what you know

🌱 Seedling

Working towards

Name a flowering plant.
Name a non-flowering plant.

🌿 Sapling

Expected

How do flowering and non-flowering plants differ?
Deciduous or evergreen — which drops its leaves?

🌳 Oak

Greater depth

Are plants living things? Explain how you know.