Science

Year 4

Module 1

Living things and their habitats

Pupils should be taught to:

recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment
recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things

Classifying and Grouping

We have begun to think about living things and the life processes that all living things must do. We used the term MRS GREN to help us remember these.

Using what we knew about different living things we then sorted them things about their characteristics. These could be based on their appearance, where they lived and how they gave birth to their young.

We considered if living things were vertebrates or invertebrates. We then chose a living thing from one of the main groups of vertebrates and wrote what we know about them. Some people even looked for the living things Latin name!

Classification keys

Once we had considered the characteristics of living things we began to identify a range of living things by asking questions about them using a classification key

Threats to living things

We have thought about how humans are creating threats to the habitats of living things.

We took a walk around the school environment o see threats that we have identified as a threat to living things.

We have wrote letters to Mr Etheridge to see if he can help us make the school a better place (Writing).

Endangered animals

We chose an animal from around the world and considered how humans are destroying their habitats.

Module 2

Animals inc Humans

Pupils should be taught to:

describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans
identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions
construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.

The Digestive System

We are learning about the body and the digestive system. This means from the moment our food enters our mouth to leaving our body as waste.

We have learnt some of the names of the digestive system.

We have thought about the function of these important organs.

The stomach has acids which turns our food to liquid - Evie

The digestive system

We used crackers, bananas and water and placed them in a bag. We scrunched them up into a paste and then placed into a tight.

We squeezed the tights to represent the different parts of the digestive system. We had one bowl with the nutrients absorbed into our body and one plate with the waste.

Teeth

We were learning about the names of our teeth. Some of them are canines, wisdom, molars and incisors. - Evie S

Using mirrors we were able to count the number of teeth we had. We thought about why some children had more than others.

Animals have different teeth, this is because they have different types of foods. Lions need more canines so they can rip and chew the meat. - Amelia

Food chains

We thought about living things and their diet. We looked at what is eaten by what and used these scientific words to help us.

producer - prey - predator

grass - rabbit - fox

omnivore, carnivore and herbivore

We considered what living things could be categorised into these groups. These helped us when thinking about our food chains.

Module 3

States of Matter

Pupils should be taught to:

compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases
observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C)

Grouping and classifying

We began our session by grouping pictures into solids, liquids and gases. SOme of the pictures were harder to sort than others such as ice.

IMG_3533.MOV

States of matter

Solid, liquid or gas?

IMG_3534.MOV

In our groups we acted like the particles in the different states of mater. The other groups had to explain what we were and why.

IMG_3535.MOV

IMG_3536.MOV

IMG_3537.MOV

IMG_3538.MOV

Cooling and Melting

We investigated what temperature of water would help to melt the chocolate the quickest. Despite being close to hot water for most of the day, we observed that only one bar of chocolate had begun to show signs that it was melting.

"It needed more heat, you did not use hot enough water." Mia

" We have four bowls so we can see the effects of the temperatures." Lily

"The chocolate will melt if the water is hotter." Jasmine

"It is still a solid." Margaret

"If it had melted we could pour it in our mouths." Oscar R

Module 4

Electricity

Pupils should be taught to:

identify common appliances that run on electricity
construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers
identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery
recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit
recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors.

Making circuits

We made simple circuits. These included bulb, battery and wires. These were simple because they made the bulb light up. They only had four parts. - Margaret

We also made circuits that included motors to move a propellor.

Making circuits

We have made circuits and made them more challenging bay adding additional bulbs, motors and buzzers. - Evie

Complete and Incomplete circuits

A complete circuit is everything is joined together and that everything works. An incomplete circuit is when the circuit is not working and the bulb isn't lit or the buzzer isn't buzzing. This can be because the wores aren't connected or the batteries are in the wrong place. - Oscar C

We made complete and incomplete circuits and asked the other tables to identify which was which.

Switches

We made switches will be used in our DT torches. They were made with a strip of card and paper clips. Paper clips were used as they are a conductor as they are made of metal.

Module 5 - Water Cycle (Liquids/Solids/Gases)