Generated on 11/11/2026 at 9:57 AM
The webpage this document was printed/exported from can be found at the following URL:
https://www.cpalms.org/PreviewStandard/Preview/1657

Benchmark #: SC.3.L.14.1

Describe structures in plants and their roles in food production, support, water and nutrient transport, and reproduction.

Information

General Information

Subject Area: Science
Grade: 3
Body of Knowledge: Life Science
Big Idea: Organization and Development of Living Organisms -

A. All plants and animals, including humans, are alike in some ways and different in others.

B. All plants and animals, including humans, have internal parts and external structures that function to keep them alive and help them grow and reproduce.

C. Humans can better understand the natural world through careful observation.
Date Adopted or Revised: 02/08
Content Complexity Rating: Level 2: Basic Application of Skills & Concepts - More Information
Date of Last Rating: 05/08
Status: State Board Approved
Assessed: Yes
  • SC.3.L.14.In.1 Identify the major parts of a plant, including seed, root, stem, leaf, and flower, and their functions.
  • SC.3.L.14.Su.1 Identify the major parts of a plant, such as the root, stem, leaf, and flower.
  • SC.3.L.14.Pa.1 Recognize the leaf and flower of a plant.

Lesson Plans

  • We All Need Trees Students are often surprised to learn how many different products we get from trees. Use this activity to help your students learn just how much we depend on trees in our daily lives.
  • Parts of a Plant In this lesson, third grade students learn the basic functions of a plant and recognize their importance (flower, stem, seed, leaf, and roots). The lesson will provide students the opportunity to review parts of a plant with a five flap activity.
  • Fertilizing Fun! In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students are selected to develop procedures for conducting a study on plant fertilizers. They are given data to determine which fertilizer is best for school gardens based on growth rate, size of vegetables, amount of vegetables, taste, and color. They will reassess these fertilizers during the twist incorporating safety ratings. Students may arrange the criteria based on their team's interpretation of most important to least important. Students may have to make trade-offs based on these interpretations. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/resource/mea.aspx
  • Plants: To Eat or Not to Eat In this lesson, students will explore the structure of plants in ways never before. Through observations about plant parts related to everyday food, students will gain a further understanding of humans and plants being interdependent. This lesson integrates Science, Reading, Writing and even some Math practices if choosing to complete the extension activities.
  • Plant Package The Plant Package MEA provides students with an engineering problem in which they are asked to rank different plant containers using recycled materials. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/resource/mea.aspx
  • A-maze-ing Plants This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of flowering plants, plant structures, and plant responses to stimuli as they build mazes to demonstrate a plant"s response to light. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark.

Original Student Tutorial

  • Plant Parts Explore the parts that make up many of the plants around you in this interactive tutorial.

Text Resource

  • Parts of a Plant This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes the function of the different parts of a plant.

Unit/Lesson Sequence

Collections

STEM Lessons - Model Eliciting Activity

  • Fertilizing Fun! In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students are selected to develop procedures for conducting a study on plant fertilizers. They are given data to determine which fertilizer is best for school gardens based on growth rate, size of vegetables, amount of vegetables, taste, and color. They will reassess these fertilizers during the twist incorporating safety ratings. Students may arrange the criteria based on their team's interpretation of most important to least important. Students may have to make trade-offs based on these interpretations. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/resource/mea.aspx
  • Plant Package The Plant Package MEA provides students with an engineering problem in which they are asked to rank different plant containers using recycled materials. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/resource/mea.aspx

Original Student Tutorials Science - Grades K-8

  • Plant Parts Explore the parts that make up many of the plants around you in this interactive tutorial.
Printed On: 11/11/2026 2:57:18 PM
Print Page | Close this window