WATER  CYCLE
The water cycle is the circulation of water on Earth. It takes some steps:

1. The Sun heats up water from rivers, oceans, lakes and seas.
2. The water transforms into water vapour.
3. The water vapor cools and forms droplets in the atmosphere.
4. The droplets become clouds.
5. The clouds release the droplets as rain, snow or hail.
6. Water from rain or snow flow over the surface and return to rivers, oceans, seas, and lakes.

Here you have a lesson and interactive game:

Click here for more information:

PLANT  INTERACTION

Plants are living organisms so they perform the vital function of interaction.

Interaction involves some ideas:

• REACTION to the changes in the environment.
• ADAPTATION to the conditions of the environment.
• MOVEMENT
• COMMUNICATION via a language, sound, gesture...

We know that plants don´t talk or make sounds but they can move in a specific way and of course they react and adapt to the environment.

Here you have some videos about interaction.

 

The first one is for secondary school but the pictures are important and you can read the text below the images.

The second one is a lovely tomato plant growing from the very beginning. Look at the stems and leaves when they have water and when they haven´t. Amazing!!

These two videos below are beautiful too. Mimosa plant moving when it is touched and Venus fly trap catching insects.

PLANTS: NUTRITION

Plants are living things.

Nutrition is one of the basic life processes to all living things. The nutrients that living things obtain provide energy to the organism.
Remember that nutrition includes to breathe and to eat.

• to BREATHE: exchange of gases in an organism, it is also called RESPIRATION. Plants take oxigen (O2) from the air and release carbon dioxide (CO2), exactly like people do. Plants need to breathe all day and night, exactly like people do.

• to EAT: plants are autotrophos, this means that they can make their own food. The process in which plants make their food is called PHOTOSYNTESIS. Photosyntesis only occurs during the day because it is necessary sunlight.

 

Here you have some videos about this process:

 

PLANTS: REPRODUCTION

Flowering plants are those which reproduce by flowers. Plants that have flowers reproduce from seeds.

FLOWERS are the reproductive organs in the plant; they can be female or male:

• female organ: it is called carpel and it is formed by the stigma and the ovary; inside the ovary there are ovules.
• male organ: it is called stamen and it produces pollen.

 

POLLINATION is the movement of pollen from the stamens to the ovary. It usually takes place in the same plant. However, wind and insects also carry pollen to other plants.

This is a simple video about pollination:

 

FERTILIZATION is when the pollen reaches the ovule inside the ovary. The fertilized ovule transforms into a seed. The petals fall off the flower and the ovary develops into a fruit.

Let´s see an interesting video about fruit development:
 

 

GERMINATION is the process by which a seed landed on the ground can grow into a new plant. For a seed to germinate, the ground must be wet and the temperature must be warm.

 

The REPRODUCTION PROCESS is a cycle (no beginning no end).
Flowers are the reproductive organs in which pollen and ovules are formed. Polen and ovules mix in an act called pollination and the flower transforms into a fruit. Fruits contain the seeds. Seeds fall to the soil and germinate that is, a new plant can grow.

Let´s see a video that summarizes all these concepts:

TYPES OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Living organisms are very different. We need to classify them into groups to study them.

• animals.
• plants.
• fungi.
• algae and protozoa.
• bacteria.

ANIMALS: from vertebates to invertebrates we can find many groups.

PLANTS: a very important group. There are also a classification.

FUNGI: a strange group that has similarities to both animals and plants.

ALGAE AND PROTOZOA: a very diverse group that includes three categories.

BACTERIA: they are organisms that haven´t got internal structure. They can live in every environment on Earth.