Autumn

Topic: Animals including humans

Knowledge:

• identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat

• identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement

Skills: All working scientifically skills with a focus on asking questions and making predictions

Topic: Rocks

Knowledge:

• compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties

• describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock

• recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter

Skills: All working scientifically skills with a focus on asking questions and recording data

Spring

Topic: Forces and Magnets

Knowledge:

• compare how things move on different surfaces

• notice that some forces need contact between 2 objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance

• observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others

• compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials

• describe magnets as having 2 poles and predict whether 2 magnets will attract or repel each other

Skills: All working scientifically skills with a focus on making predictions and observing and measuring

Topic: Plants

Knowledge:

• identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers

• explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant

• investigate the way in which water is transported within plants

• explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal

Skills: All working scientifically skills with a focus on setting up tests, interpreting and communicating results, and evaluating

Summer

Topic: Light

Knowledge:

• recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light

• notice that light is reflected from surfaces

• recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes

• recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object

• find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change

Skills: All working scientifically skills with a focus on making predictions and observing and measuring

Autumn

Topic: Forces

Knowledge:

• explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object

• identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces

• recognise that some mechanisms including levers, pulleys and gears allow a smaller force to have a greater effect

Skills:

All working scientifically skills with a focus on observing and measuring, and interpreting and communicating results

Topic: Earth and space

Knowledge:

• describe the movement of the Earth and other planets relative to the sun in the solar system

• describe the movement of the moon relative to the Earth

• describe the sun, Earth and moon as approximately spherical bodies

• use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the sun across the sky

Skills:

All working scientifically skills with a focus on asking questions and making predictions

Spring

Topic: Properties and changes to materials

Knowledge:

• compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties

• know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution

• use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating

• give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials

• demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes

• explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible

Skills:

All working scientifically skills with a focus on setting up data, recording data and evaluating

Summer

Topic: Living things and their habitats

Knowledge:

• describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird

• describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals

Skills:

All working scientifically skills with a focus on observing and measuring, and interpreting and communicating results

Topic: Animals including humans

Knowledge:

• describe the changes as humans develop to old age

Skills:

All working scientifically skills with a focus on making predictions and recording data

Autumn 

Topic: States of Matter

Knowledge: 
• 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
Skills 
All working scientifically skills with a focus on making predictions, setting up tests and recording data


Spring
 
Topic: Sound

Knowledge: 
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

Skills 
All working scientifically skills with a focus on asking questions and observing and measuring

 
Topic: Living things and their habitats

Knowledge:
• 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

Skills:
All working scientifically skills with a focus on asking questions and interpreting and communicating results

 
Summer 

Topic: Animals including humans

Knowledge:
• 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

Skills:
All working scientifically skills with a focus on making predictions and interpreting and communicating results

Topic: Electricity

Knowledge:
•identify common appliances that run on electricity
• construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts
• identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit
• recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit 
• recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors

Skills:
All working scientifically skills with a focus on making predictions and evaluating
 

Autumn

Topic: Electricity

Knowledge:
• associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit
• compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches
• use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram

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Skills:
All working scientifically skills with a focus on making predictions and observing and measuring

Topic: Light

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Knowledge:
• recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines
• use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eye
• explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or from light sources to objects and then to our eyes
• use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them

Skills: 
All working scientifically skills with a focus on setting up tests and interpreting and communicating

Spring

Topic: Animals including humans

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Knowledge:
• identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood
• recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function
• describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans

Skills:
All working scientifically skills with a focus on recording data and evaluating

Topic: Living things and their habitats

Knowledge:
• describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including micro-organisms, plants and animals
• give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics

Skills:
All working scientifically skills with a focus on asking questions and interpreting and communicating results

Summer

Topic: Evolution and inheritance

Knowledge:
• recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago
• recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents
• identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution

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Skills:
All working scientifically skills with a focus on asking questions, making predictions and interpreting and communicating results

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