Warden Park Primary

Y4

National Curriculum for Year 4

Living Things and their Habitats:

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

Animals including humans:

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.

States of Matter:

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)
identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.

Sound:

identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating
recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it
find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it
recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases.

Electricity:

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.

Home challenge ideas:

Living Things and their Habitats

Survey – How many different animals can we find in the wildlife area?

Allow the children to explore different habitats in the local area, recording the number of each animal that they find.

Identifying - Can you use the flower to identify the plant?

www.shootgardening.co.uk/plant/identify will help you to identify some of the plants.

Allow the children to explore different plants in the local area.

Encourage children to look for: colours, number of petals, shape of petals and the parts inside the petal.

Identifying – Can you use the leaves to identify the name of the tree?

The easiest way to identify trees is by looking at their leaves.

Use free identification charts from Woodland Trust, or buy some from Gatekeeper.

Deep thinking time – How does a change in the environment affect the things that live there?

Take children outside to look at particular habitats and microhabitats.

Look for evidence as to how the environment can affect (positively and negatively) the animals that live there). Give children a made-up piece of news and they have to think what might happen next.

1. The factory in the next town has started making something new. As a result, dark smoke is often seen coming out their large chimneys.

2. A new road has been built next to the wildlife area. This road is very busy.

3. An all-weather sports pitch has been built next to the wildlife area. The pitch has large floodlights.

Research – What changes have affected environments throughout the world?

This is a great opportunity for children to find out more about how environments are changing and have changed throughout the world. Remember that there are often positive benefits as well as the negative results.

The following videos may initiate discussion:

Foxes at a landfill site - http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/how-a-landfill-habitat-provides-for-a-fox-family/13973.html

Red tailed bumblebees at a wasteland - http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/how-wasteland-acts-as-a-supportive-habitat-for-red-tailed-bumblebees/13974.html

Problems facing sea birds - http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-problems-facing-seabirds/6124.html

Threat to water vole habitats - http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/water-vole-habitats/2311.html

Animals including humans

Simple test – What happens when we chew food?

Each of the children can begin to chew some bread (do not swallow).

Chew for a minute and observe how it changes. Stop chewing and think about what is the liquid that has mixed in with the food. Leave the ball of food in mouth for three minute and then observe its taste.

Modelling - The stomach

Give each child a ziploc bag and a piece of bread.

The bag is like the stomach - a muscle that squeezes the food. First have them pour a little orange juice or coke into the bag to act as the "digestive juices." Observe what begins to happen to the bread.

Then have them squeeze the bag for two minutes. Note changes in the bread.

Introducing the whole digestive system

The video below is animation of the digestive system; explaining the processes with the correct scientific terminology:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-digestive-system/4180.html

The children could each write a diary for a piece of food being eaten. To make things a little bit more interesting, they can write the story as if they were the food!

Deep thinking time – What are food-chains?

Begin by asking the children to list some of the things that we eat.

Explain that we are part of a food-chain; the food has come from somewhere else and we have eaten it.

Children to create a range of food chains. The children should identify that each originates with plants.

Further research

The children could be challenged to find out more about food-chains of animals and plants all around the world.

States of Matter

Identifying and classifying – Solid, liquid and gas balloon

Fill some balloons with water and freeze. In other balloons fill with liquid water. Just fill the remaining balloons with gas by blowing into them.

Ask the children to feel each of the balloons and decide what a solid is, a liquid and a gas is.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/properties-of-solids-liquids-and-gases/10587.html

The video above shows some clear models of solids, liquids and gases.

http://www.brainpop.com/science/matterandchemistry/statesofmatter/

The video above shows an animation explaining the three states of matter.

Simple test - Can gas be made from a solid and a liquid?

Provide children with a small plastic bottle, water, an effervescent tablet and a balloon.

The children should place the water and tablet in the bottle.

The balloon can be fitted over the neck of the bottle in order to capture the gas (carbon dioxide) created.

Simple test - What happens to gas when it is heated?

Gather a balloon, a small plastic bottle and a bowl of warm water.

Children should place the balloon over the neck of the bottle and then place the bottle into the warm water.

They could investigate this further by changing the size of the bottle, or changing the temperature of the water

Simple test – Do all liquids freeze?

Children can plan and carry out their own investigation to find out whether all liquids will freeze.

Illustrative fair test investigation– ‘Will the location of a puddle affect how well it evaporates?’

Firstly, create small puddles in trays and place them in different places inside the home.

You would need to measure how much water there is in the tray each time.

Compare the speed of evaporation.

Sound

Survey – What different sounds can be heard?

Go into an open space. Close your eyes and listen for the different sounds.

Recording

Draw yourselves as a cross in the middle of a sheet of paper. Show where you heard the different sounds; i.e. the relative distance of the thing, and the direction from you.

Illustrative fair-test – How does the height from which a tube is dropped affect the loudness of the sound produced?

The children could help to plan an investigation where they must drop an object (e.g. a tube of tablets) into a metal bowl.

They could score the loudness each time the tube is dropped into it..

You might find you need to place a soft material into the metal trays in order that the sound is muffled.

Comparative Test·

Fill identical jars with different volumes of water. Which one creates the highest pitch?

Investigate

Which material would make the best sound defender? How can you investigate this?

Electricity

Classifying – What can electricity do?

Take children on an electricity hunt around the home.

Ask the child to observe all the different effects that electricity has on the various appliances that they encounter– i.e. make them warm/cold, cause movement, produce light, and create sounds.

The following video shows the effects that electricity has - http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-use-of-electricity-no-narration/2407.html

Recording

Ask children to share ideas about how they could record their sorting of electrical appliances according to the effect that electricity has on them.

Observation – What can we find inside a torch?

Allow children the opportunity to take torches apart in order to discover the components that are contained within them.

Recording –

The children could draw each of the parts and explain what it does in order for the torch as a whole to function properly.

Working Scientifically:

During years 3 and 4, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content: :

asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them
setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests
making systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, taking accurate measurements using standard units, using a range of equipment, including thermometers and data loggers
gathering, recording, classifying and presenting data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions
recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables
reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions
using results to draw simple conclusions, make predictions for new values, suggest improvements and raise further questions identifying differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes
using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings.