Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Stages of Plant Growth
Caption: Look carefully at this bean (seed) that has sprouted (and has been dug up). You can see the roots, stem, and cotyledon.
Most plants start their lives as a tiny seed. Every seed is a tiny baby plant embryo. It has leaf, stem, and root parts inside waiting for the right time to grow. Seeds have food stored for the new plant until it can make its own food from sunlight. A seed coat protects the tiny embryo. It keeps it from drying out until the seed can grow into a new plant.
Seeds fall to the ground. Animals, water, or wind may carry them far from their parent plant. When the seed lands in a place with soil, sunlight, and water, it can grow. When the temperature and other conditions are just right, it will germinate or sprout. The tiny plant inside the seed begins to grow. It breaks through the tough seed coat.
