Ahhhh … smell that fresh air. That’s the smell of you on a walk in a park with your kids, naming the trees and flowers you pass, then explaining sexual versus asexual reproduction.
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: BOTANY
Leaf: The part of a plant that makes food, which usually have veins and holes on their undersides to let in water and air
Stem: The part of a plant that supports it and move nutrients between the roots and leaves
Roots: The part of a plant that absorbs water and nutrients from the ground and anchors the plant.They have four parts: the primary root, the secondary roots, root hairs, and the root cap. The five types are: taproots (one main root with small offshoots, like a carrot has); fibrous roots (many equal-sized primary roots, like grasses have); adventitious roots (roots that grow from an unusual part of a plant, like the hairs on an onion bulb); aerial roots (roots that grow aboveground, like ivy has); and prop roots (roots that grow aboveground to provide additional support, like mangroves have).
Bark: The dead protective tissue on the outside of a tree, which is formed in a living layer underneath the current layer after that layer gets pushed out by the new rings that are forming. It provides oxygen and CO2 exchange; protects the tree from disease; insulates the tree; and helps hold in moisture.
Heartwood: The older, central rings of the tree which can no longer transport water and nutrients
Sapwood: The newer, outer rings of the tree which can still transport water
Annual ring: A single layer of thickening of a tree trunk, which takes one year to form
Fruit: The part of the flowering plant that holds the seeds. They include nuts, succulent fruits, berries, pods (like pea pods), kernels (like wheat kernels) and more.
Cone: The part of a conifer tree that holds the seeds. They start out open, then after pollination, close up. When the seeds are ripe and the weather is warm and dry, the scales open and drop the fertilized seeds so they can find dirt to grow in.
Seed: The part of a plant that holds the embryo, a food supply (to help the seed grow before photosynthesis is possible) and a protective coat. They are dispersed through animal excrement, wind, water and catching on animal fur.
Seedling: A small, newly-grown plant
Flower: The part of the plant that produces sex cells and enables reproduction. It can be either male or female. Plants that contain both types don’t need to cross-pollinate with other plants.
Petal: The part of the plant that protects the reproductive parts of the flower and attracts insects needed for pollination
Stamen: The male part of the flower, which contains pollen
Anthers: The top part of the stamen
Pistil/carpel: The female part of the flower, which contains ovules and can trap pollen. After ovules are pollinated they grow into seeds, which grow into fruit, which in turn produce more seeds.
Deciduous plant: A plant that loses its leaves each year
Evergreen plant: A plant that does not shed its leaves all at once, including conifers and some broadleaf trees and shrubs
Conifer: An evergreen with cone-shaped reproductive structures and tough, waxy needles that don’t lose as much water as regular leaves do
Angiosperm: A plant that produce flowers
Gymnosperm: A plant that does not produce flowers, whose seeds are located on its leaves instead
Hydrophyte: A plant that grows in water or waterlogged soil, such as algae, seaweed and lily pads
Pollination: The transfer of pollen from the male part of a plant to the female part of the plant
Photosynthesis: The process green plants use to make food from sunlight, water and air. This happens when chloroplasts in chlorophyll absorb sun energy, which the plant uses to combine water and carbon dioxide to make glucose and oxygen. The glucose is stored as energy for growth, while the oxygen is released into the environment.
Plant respiration: The process green plants use to break down stored energy for growth, in which they take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide and water vapor. Though plants release carbon dioxide, they store more than they use and therefore serve as a CO2 sink, which reduces greenhouse gases in the air.
Dormant: Still alive but not actively growing; for example, a seed in a package
Germination: The waking up of a dormant seed
Growth season: The period of time during which a plant is actively growing and developing, which varies by plant
Annuals: Plants that die after a one-year life cycle
Biennials: Plants that die after a two-year life cycle
Herbaceous perennials: Plants whose roots live many years but whose above ground parts die back each year
Woody perennials: Plants whose roots and aboveground parts continue to live year after year
Ephemerals: Plants with very short lifecycles
Autotrophy: The ability of a plant to make one’s own food
Tropism: The ability of a plant to respond to external stimuli
Geotropism: The ability of a plant to sense gravity and grow away from it in order to seek light
Phototropism: The ability of a plant to sense light and grow toward it
Thigmotropism: The ability of a plant to sense touch
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE: ZOOLOGY
Biped: An animal with two legs
Quadruped: An animal with four legs
Vertebrate: An animal with a backbone
Invertebrate: An animal with no backbone, such as a snail)
Arthropod: An animal with an external skeleton/ exoskeleton, such as a grasshopper
Warm-blooded: Having the ability to regulate one’s body temperature
Cold-blooded: Having a body whose temperature changes with the environment
Herbivore: An animal that eats primarily or only plants
Carnivore: An animal that eats primarily or only meat
Omnivore: An animal that eats both plants and meat
Larva: The form some animals take before beginning metamorphosis
Pupa: The form some animals take during metamophosis
Metamorphosis: The total restructuring of an animal’s body, which sometimes happens inside a cocoon or chrysalis
Hibernation: A period of inactivity in some animals that includes the slowing of the metabolism
Migration: The large-scale movement of a species from one place to another
Echolocation: The ability of some animals, such as bats, to locate solid objects by emitting sound and hearing the echo come back to them
The main body structures of most animals: A fluid-filled cavity and a skeleton to hold the cavity in place and allow for movement; an outer layer to enclose the body, which can be skin, an exoskeleton, a cuticle, scales, shells, prickles, fur and more; and a part or parts of the body to provide for locomotion, such as fins, flippers, wings, legs, etc.
Animal senses: Sight; smell; taste; balance; touch (including through whiskers and tentacles); a sense of gravity; a sense of water pressure and currents (as some fish have); a sense of electric pulses (as sharks have); and possibly, a sense of Earth’s magnetic fields (as birds may have)
Types of animal communication: Body language, such as preening or dancing; making noises, such as using vocal cords or rubbing body parts together; sending out chemical messages through pheromones or by spraying; and changing color
Two types of animal reproduction: Laying eggs (before or after fertilization) and giving birth to live young
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