Grouping Plants: Flowering and Non-Flowering — Answers
Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 4 living things & life cycles worksheet.
Success TutoringWorksheetsAnswer sheetYear 4 · Science · Living Things & Life CyclesGrouping Plants: Flowering and Non-Flowering — Answers
Part A: Sorting the plant world
Read the passage. Then circle the best answer.
Scientists sort plants into groups by their features. One big question is: does it make flowers?
Flowering plants make flowers. The flowers make seeds, usually inside a fruit. Grasses, roses, sunflowers, beans and most trees with broad leaves are flowering plants.
Non-flowering plants do not make flowers. Conifers, such as pine and fir trees, make seeds inside cones and usually have needle-shaped leaves. Ferns and mosses do not make seeds at all. They grow from tiny spores and usually live in damp, shady places.
- Ain cones
- Bin spores
- Cinside fruits
- Dunder its leaves
Answer: inside fruits
Flowers make seeds, and the seeds are usually inside a fruit.
- Aan apple tree
- Ba fern
- Ca sunflower
- Da pine tree
Answer: a fern
Ferns make tiny spores, often in brown dots under their fronds.
- Aflowers
- Bcones
- Cspores
- Dberries
Answer: cones
Pine trees are conifers. Conifers make seeds in cones.
- Ahow many people like them
- Bwhether they have flowers
- Cwhat pot they are in
- Dhow old the gardener is
Answer: whether they have flowers
Scientists group plants by features of the plant itself, such as flowers, cones or spores.
- AThey have flowers.
- BThey make cones.
- CThey grow from spores and like damp places.
- DThey have woody trunks.
Answer: They grow from spores and like damp places.
Mosses have no flowers or seeds. They grow from spores, usually in damp, shady places.
Part B: Match and explain
- sunflower
- pine tree
- fern
- seeds in cones
- spores
- seeds in flowers
Answer: sunflower → seeds in flowers; pine tree → seeds in cones; fern → spores
Answer: spores
Answer: conifers
Answer: Yes. Grass makes small, plain flowers that make seeds, so it is a flowering plant.
Part C: True or false?
Write True or False.
Answer: False
Conifers, ferns and mosses do not make flowers.
Answer: True
Fruits grow from flowers and hold seeds, so a tomato is a fruit.
Answer: False
Mosses usually grow in damp, shady places.
Answer: True
Their seeds form in cones.
Part D: Working scientifically: plant detective
Look closely but do not pick wild plants. Wash your hands afterwards.
Model answer: I looked at a lemon tree. It has shiny green leaves, white flowers and lemons with seeds inside. It is a flowering plant because it makes flowers and its seeds are inside fruit.
Success criteria:
- Describes at least two features
- Names a group
- Uses a feature (flowers, cones, spores) as evidence
Marking tips
- Give credit for correct method even when the final answer slips — the working shows where the thinking went right.
- For open-ended tasks, use the success criteria as a checklist rather than looking for one "right" answer.
- Celebrate what went well first, then pick one thing to work on next.
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