Science Fenns K-5Grades K to 5
A sunny Texas sunflower field with one plant in close view, its leaves turned up to the light.

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Producers Make Food

Sunlight, water and carbon dioxide.

Lesson 34 of 40

Try this first

Before we start

Today’s story

Producers Make Food

A cow eats grass. You eat beans. A bird eats a seed. Somewhere along the line, a plant made the food first.

Plants make their own food. They use sunlight, water from the soil and carbon dioxide from the air. The green parts use light to turn these into sugar. This is called photosynthesis.

Plants are called producers because they produce food. Everything else depends on them. Follow the steps.

See it

Five steps. Every time.

    Hands on

    Plant in the Dark

    10 minutes now and a week of watching · Do this with a grown-up nearby

    You need

    • Two small plants or bean seedlings
    • Sunny window
    • Dark closet or box
    • Water
    • Ruler
    • Notebook

    Do this

    1. Put one plant in the window and one in a dark box.
    2. Give each the same water.
    3. Measure each plant every day.
    4. Look at leaf color.
    5. Draw both on day one and day seven.
    6. Write what changed.
    7. Say what the plant needed.
    Write or draw: A table of heights and drawings of both plants.

    Watch for: The plant in the dark turns pale and weak because it cannot make food without light.

    Safety: Wash hands after handling soil.

    Same every time

    Three rules

    Rule 1Producers make their own food.

    They need light.

    Rule 2Green leaves do the work.

    They hold the green stuff that catches light.

    Rule 3Other living things depend on producers.

    Directly or indirectly.

    Grandpa Fenn’s notebook

    Say it like a scientist

    producer
    A living thing that makes its own food.
    photosynthesis
    How plants use light to make sugar.
    carbon dioxide
    A gas in the air that plants take in.
    oxygen
    A gas plants give off.

    Poppy’s quiz

    Six questions

    Tap an answer. Green means right. You will see why.

    Talk about it

    Say it out loud

    • How do you know plants need light?
    • What plants grow near your home and what do they feed?
    Did you know

    Tiny ocean algae make a large share of the oxygen we breathe.

    Someone who does this

    A farmer grows crops that capture sunlight as food.

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