Cross-Pollination (First Step Nonfiction ― Pollination)

The big, bright sunflower plant is just waiting to be pollinated. A bee lands on the surface and “pollen will be taken from a flower.” When the bee flies off and lands on another flower the pollen goes with it and is dropped off. There are several sunflowers all lined up in a row and they need the pollen from the others. This “new pollen will help the flower to make seeds.” This process is called cross-pollination. Can you see the bee as it carries the pollen on its leg?A bee can be a pollinator as it moves pollen from one plant to another. Birds and other animals can be pollinators as well. The pollen can stick to feathers and to fur. Another pollinator is the wind. It’s easy to see the pollen floating in the air around some plants. Plants have a way to attract pollinators. You’ll learn how their smell attracts them, how the “nectar of flowers attracts butterflies,” how cactuses attract bats, and you’ll also learn about how “pollinators help plants.”This beginning nonfiction book will help young students learn about the concept of cross-pollination. Very young students will be able to easily see several different ways plants can be pollinated as insects, birds, animals, and the wind pollinate plants. The concept of pollination is quite easy to understand with the assistance of well-chosen, full color photographs above the text. This is a very basic nonfiction book set up with very short chapters, large print, and a few captions. In the back of the book is an index and a glossary, features that will help the newly independent reader to navigate a nonfiction text.POLLINATION: Animal Pollinators Cross-Pollination Insect Pollinators Parts of a Flower Self-Pollination This book courtesy of the publisher.