Creating a buzz for our new science topic!

Lesson: Science

Class: Year 4 Year: 2017 - 2018

A lovely sunny day enabled us to start our new science topic-Living things and their habitats- by exploring our school grounds. We began the lesson by finding out, what characteristics determine living things and used the acronym, MRS GREN to support this. Some of us initially thought that trees and flowers were not living things and we also thought carefully about how these livings move (one misconception was that the wind caused movement).

We thought about resources we may need and the children gathered them together- tubs, magnifying glasses, paper etc. Before we left, we discussed the importance of being gentle and to make sure that we didn't damage any habitats. We had a quick prediction about what we might find and some suggestions were: daffodils, many types of trees, ladybirds, worms, small birds and ants.

We were delighted to actually find all of the above and also frogs, centipede, woodlouse and butterflies. We also discovered lots of different habitats.

Once back into class, we tried to sort the living things into different groups using carroll diagrams. This generated new questions such as, If a ladybird is an insect, why is it called a lady-bird? Does a ladybird lay eggs? Where do butterflies go in the winter months?  What is the life cycle of a millipede? 

This has certainly created a buzz around our new topic!