After learning about the life cycle of a bird, we looked at the life cycle of a butterfly. During the lesson, we compared the two life cycles - specifically what was the same (both species laying an egg, life starting again at the beginning of the cycle, both species being able to fly when fully grown and the animal having different stages of their life) and what was different.

In the next lesson, we continued to draw comparisons. This time, we compared the life cycles of birds to mammals. We recorded the information using a comparison table, highlighting the similarities and differences.

This is an explanation that talks about the difference in animals gestation periods and how it relates to the size of the animal. Gestation is the period of time in which an animal is pregnant.

For our final lesson, we looked at how bees assist the life cycle of some flowers. We used the key vocabulary that we generated throughout the lesson (stigma, pollen etc.) to write explanations in our books.

We started our topic by completing the 'dancing raisins' investigation. The children wrote a prediction before completing the investigation, after completing the hands on task, the children wrote a short observation, explaining what they observed and where possible, provided reasons for any observations.

In the next lesson, Year 5 studied how states of matter can change (solid to liquid etc.) and discussed irrevelisble changes. Year 5 then completed another hands on investigation, exploring how sugar changes when added to water.

After lots of critical discussion, Year 5 decided to explore how changing the water's temperature may affect the rate at which the sugar dissolved in the previous lesson. The children completed a prediction, method and observation for this investigation. We concluded that the hotter the water, the quicker the sugar dissolves.