Aims | Outline | Curriculum Relevance | Background | Activities |
The Blue Dragon
Programme 4: Roots and Fruits
The aim of this programme is for the teacher to
explore with children ideas about parts of plants, what plants need
to grow and safety issues related to the idea that children should
not eat parts of plants from the garden or other places outside and
in the home.
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The characters find themselves walking through what
looks to be a desert. It is very hot, and they are thirsty and
hungry. They realise that they need to find some food and suggest
that they look for some plants, because plants can make their own
food. They come across an oasis where there is water, air and
sunlight, the things that plants need to make their own food and
grow.
They search around and find roots, but they are not
sure whether they can eat them, so decide that they had better not,
just to be safe. Then the characters find a very tall plant, a
coconut tree. Naughty monkeys at the top of the tree throw coconuts
at them that break, and the animals realise that they can drink the
coconut milk and eat the white coconut. After eating coconuts the
friends fall asleep and the naughty monkeys take Cinders away. When
she is found she is pink because she has eaten a flower that has
made her ill. The naughty monkeys refuse to say what will make her
better unless Cinders gives them fire, but she is too poorly.
Finally they give her a leaf from a medicine plant, she turns back
to her blue colour and gives the naughty monkeys fire.
The friends continue on their journey.
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The programme
explores:
- plants as living things;
- different parts of a plant;
- different parts of vegetable and fruit plants: the
roots, shoots, stem, flowers and fruit;
- the idea that some plants can be dangerous and
should not be eaten;
- how seeds can grow into plants;
- how different seeds grow into different plants;
- why plants need air, water and light to grow.
There are many curriculum
links, including:
- Geography – desert lands.
- Literacy – sequencing events, eg growing
plants, putting cookery cards in order.
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A plant is a living thing
and possesses the characteristics of living things. Plants do the
following things, even though it is difficult for us to see them
doing it:
- respire;
- move (plants will turn towards the light);
- are sensitive to stimuli (Venus flytrap is sensitive
to touch);
- excrete;
- reproduce;
- get energy – from sunlight;
- take up water.
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Before watching this programme the teacher could take
a digital camera sequence of planting seeds, placing them on
separate cards. Jumble them up, and ask children to sort them so
that they can then use them as a set of instructions to plant and
grow some seeds.
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