Ecosystem: Plant & Animal Adaptations

• There are many different kinds of plants, and they provide food, water, air, and shelter
• Plants and animals form biodiversity on Earth through their habitats

Plant Adaptations

• Water lilies live in water and have large, flat leaves that float
• Aloes live in dry areas and have thick, fleshy leaves for water storage
• Rooibos plants live in dry, sandy soil and have thin, small leaves to reduce water loss

Animal Adaptations

• Frogs live in water, with webbed fingers and toes for swimming
• Fish live in water, using fins to swim
• Zebras live in grasslands, with legs for running and stripes to confuse predators
• Loeries live in forests, with wings for flying and legs for hopping on branches

Animal and Plant Interdependence

• Plants and animals rely on each other in the same habitat
• Host plants give food, water, and shelter to other plants
• Bird's nest ferns receive water from host plants without needing roots
• Orchids have air roots that absorb moisture from the air
• Plants rely on insects and animals for reproduction
• Animals rely on plants for food
• Animals help each other stay clean
• Animals rely on plants for shelter
• Plants and animals rely on non-living things like air, water, and soil in their habitat to survive

Vertebrates (Mammals, birds, frogs, snakes)

• Vertebrates have a spine made of small bones
• They are covered with muscles and soft body tissue
• They can support larger bodies with more weight
• Skeletons support bodies from the inside
• Cartilage is flexible and strong, found in joints
• Joints are where bones meet

Invertebrates (Spiders, crabs, insects)

• Invertebrates lack bones and have hard shells protecting the body
• Exoskeletons are made of hard plates joined to form a hard shell

Advantages of Exoskeletons:

• Protects and supports soft, internal parts of the animal
• Waterproofing protects animals from drying out

Disadvantages of Exoskeletons:

• Limit growth
• Animals must molt
• New exoskeletons are soft
• Animals are vulnerable when newly molted

Two Types of Skeleton Structure:

• Shell structure
• Frame structure

Important Vocabulary:

• Habitats: Natural living places for plants and animals
• Biodiversity: Variety of all plants and animals
• Indigenous: Plants and animals always found in a specific place
• Interdependence: Two or more things rely on each other for survival
• Dispersal: Moving from one place to another
• Shelter: A place of protection
• Exoskeleton: Hard shell made of plates
• Invertebrates: Animals without a spine
• Molt: Shedding the outer layer of skin for new growth
• Endoskeleton: Bones inside the body
• Cartilage: Flexible, soft bone
• Traits: Important parts of something

Animal Skeletons

• Skeletons support the body
• They help give the body shape
• They protect soft organs

Cartilage

• Strong, flexible material allows bones to rub together without pain
• Found in joints

Skeleton structure

• Consists of bone
• Hard and inflexible
• Forms a frame structure

Skeleton Function

• Absorbs damages when body is injured
• Protects internal organs
• Bones heal from breaks more easily than damage to organs

Parts of the Skeleton

• Rib cage: Protects organs likethe heart and lungs
• Skull: All vertebrates have skulls that protect the brain and soft parts of teh face like the eye
• Limbs: Animals have 0, 2 or 4 limbs
• Joints: Limbs attach to the body to help with movement
• Girdles: Shock absorbers
• Joints: Occur when two or more bones meet and make the skeleton flexible; joints move easily where movement is more important than strength, like the shoulder
• Muscles: No movement possible without muscles, attached to the bones with tendons, usually work in pairs, one muscle contracts, one relaxes

How Animals Have Adapted:

• Birds: Hollow bones and strong muscles help them to fly
• Fish: Streamlined body and light bones help them swim easily
• Cheetah: Flexible spine, narrow shoulders, and long legs enable high speed

Plant Types, Habitats, and Adaptations:

• Water Lily Habitat: Water Adaptations: wide flat leaves because it floats
• Aloe Habitat: Dry areas Adaptations: thick, leathery leaves because it stores water
• Rooibos Plants Habitat: dry, sandy soil Adaptations: thin leaves to reduce water loss
• Padde Habitat: Water adapted to eat insects
• Visse Habitat: Water using Fins to swim
• Sebras Habitat: Gradvelde with adapted bones to help them run
• Loeries Habitat: Woude with adaptated Wings to help them fly

Photosynthesis Explained

• Process where plants create their own food using sunlight, water, and air in green parts like the leaves
• Sunlight is harnessed for energy
• Water is absorbed via the roots
• Carbon dioxide is absorbed from the air through the leaves, and help with making food

Photosynthesis Formula and Importance

• Light energy + Carbon dioxide + Water = Oxygen + Energy
• Plants create glucose (food) to grow, releasing oxygen into the air
• This oxygen is essential for human and animal respiration, photosynthesis supports plant growth and keeps our planet filled with life
• Plants make glucose usint the three things to help them thrive.

Food Chains

• Plants don't eat but make their own food using sunlight, water, nutrients from the soil, and carbon dioxide from the air
• Sunlight absorbed by leaves provide the energy.
• Water is absorbed by the roots.
• Carbon dioxide is absorbed by the leaves through the air and help with making food.

Food and Life Processes

• Animals cannot make their own food and need to eat in order to live

• Food provides energy for seven life processes including growing, moving, reproduction, feeding, sensing environment, removing waste, and breathing

• Animals get food by eating plants or other animals

• Herbivores eat only plants

• Carnivores eat only meat, sometimes other carnivores

• Omnivores eat both meat and plants

Food Chains and Energy Transfer

• All living things need food for energy
• Plants depend on the sun to make food, enabling growth; called producers
• Animals consume plants or other animals for energy

Geography Grade 5, Term 1

• Earth is a sphere
• The equator divides the Earth into North and South
• South Africa is in the Southern Hemisphere

Map Vocabulary

• Compass: Instrument used to show direction
• Equator: Imaginary line dividing the Earth from North to South
• Continent: Large landmass on Earth
• Border: A line dividing two countries or areas
• Coastline: Where the land meets the sea
• Capital: Most important city in a country or region

African Geography

• South Africa has six neighbouring countries: Botswana, Lesotho, Mosambiek, Namibië, Swaziland, Zimbabwe

• Africa is the second largest continent after Asia

• It contains 54 countries, many with coastlines (borders with the sea)

• Countries without coastlines are entirely surrounded by other countries, while island countries are surrounded by water

• Physical maps show natural features like rivers, water levels, mountains adn deserts including high and low levels are measured from sea level and color-coded to show land elevation, where high mountain peaks display altitude

• Some land shares the same physical traits as the borders like mountains

• Land Borders marks where land begin and ends because it is drawn up by people

History Grade 5, Term 1, Hunter Gatherers and Herders

San and Khoikhoi History

• They lack documentation, rely on what they were tell
• Information is uncovered through
• The stories they create
• What objects are formed through
• The rock and material form, this information is from older artifacts and documents of how others described their life styles

Stories

• Women often gather food through communal practices
• They would haul heavy pots on their backs which were harder than usual
• Children until the age of four were fed breast milk, during their lives

Observations

• San and Khoisan do not live like they use to in past
• Their land was stolen forcing them to abandon their traditions
• Some San still live in Southern Africa
• They are able to learn based on people who maintain their ancestors traditions

What Hunter Gatherers did.

• Living in small groups
• Gathering food from the environment
• Avoided domesticating animals or farming crops
• Minimal impact on the environment by hand selecting
• Creating tools from rock and bone

How San's Hunt

• Track the animals
• Shoot animals using poisoned arrows and bows
• Find paralyzed animal
• Kill with spears
• Slaughter animal, divide with family

San Bow and Arrows

• Bowstring – made using the muscle found in gemsbok
• Bow – made of straight and elastic branches
• Arrow – made of bone from the Klipper bird
• Poison – made from various ingredients

Herbal Medicine

• The San used herbs found in surrounding nature
• Those plants had different abilities
• They heal open wounds, kill disease'

The Hoodia

• When food was scarce it was eaten
• Hunters brought it with to eat on journeys

The Boegoeplant

• Used as a cure for stomach
• When food was scarce it was eaten

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• When food was scarce it was eaten

Sekelbos

• Roots were boiled for
• Snake bites
• Headaches
• Toothache