Y4 Wider Curriculum Home Learning Week Beginning Monday 8th June
Date: 3rd Jun 2020 @ 10:40am
This week's wider curriculum is continuing with our habitats topic that we started a while ago. During the week you will be grouping living things in different ways, exploring and creating classificiation keys, going on an invertebrate hunt, carrying out an environmental survey and also exploring different biomes.
Monday
LO: 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.
- Read the PowerPoint for this lesson (up to page 17) which discusses how living things can be classified in different ways.
- Try and answer the questions as you go along – either talk to someone about them or write them down.
- See Power Point p. 18. Print out Activity Sheet Vertebrates, and try to complete without much help.
- Read Power Point p.19-22. Print out Activity Sheet Key Questions, and complete (there are 3 differentiated sheets – choose the one you feel comfortable with).
- Read Power Point p. 23 and play the game. How many points did you get?
Tuesday
LO: To explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment
Today we would like you to take part in an invertebrate hunt. Invertebrates are animals that don't have a backbone. Some have soft bodies, like worms, slugs and jellyfish. Other invertebrates, like insects, spiders and crustaceans, have a hard outer casing called an exoskeleton. This protects their body a bit like a suit of armour.
- Read though the PowerPoint attached to find out more about invertebrates.
- Go out into your local area (garden/park) and hunt for invertebrates. To do this you will need ‘Invertebrate hunt’ sheet and the ‘Invertebrates Classification Key’ which will help you to identify different invertebrates.
- CAREFULLY capture an invertebrate so that you can further study it.
- Complete the ‘Invertebrate Identification’ sheet on your chosen invertebrate. You can you use ‘Invertebrate classification key’ and ‘Invertebrate word mat’ to help you complete this task.
Wednesday
To explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment
Today we are going to create our own branching keys to identify living things by looking at their characteristics.
The characteristics of a living thing are what make it similar or different to other living things.
All species of living things have a unique set of characteristics.
Species with similar characteristics are put into groups. This is how we classify living things.
- Read through the PowerPoint attached for more information about how we can classify living things.
- Choose either to create a classification key for Desert, Rainforest or Ocean animals.
(These sheets are differentiated 1* = easier 3* = harder)
All of these sheets are uploaded to the blog so you can do more if you wish.
- Fill in the table with ticks and crosses to show the characteristics of each living things.
- Use this information to create a classification key based on the animals on the sheet. Think carefully about appropriate questions you should ask. They should always be yes/no questions. E.g. Does it have wings? Is it an invertebrate?
- Have a go at arranging your living things into classification keys by choosing questions that let you split each group into two. Write your questions on sticky notes and draw arrows to show how you move down the key. Use the questions on your classification tables as a starting point if you need to.
- Once you have completed your classification key, ask a family member to check that it works.
Thursday
L.O. To recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things
Today we are going to be thinking about our local environment and how man-made changes to it (things that humans do to it, like build paths, cut down trees etc.) can have a negative effect on the living things that live there.
- Read through the PowerPoint attached up to page 11. Where there are questions, either talk to somebody about them, or write your thoughts down on a piece of paper.
- Choose a local habitat to survey. This might be your local park or wood or it could even be your garden! Print out the sheets ‘Local Habitat Survey’ and ‘Environmental Dangers Record’. On the first sheet, draw a map of the habitat you have chosen. Then label any environmental dangers you might see. Is there litter around? A road? Has the grass been cut and so destroying a habitat? On the second sheet, complete the table to show what environmental changes you can see, what risk they pose to living things and what can be done to help. E.g. a road could have destroyed an animal’s habitat and to help, some extra spaces could be created for these animals.
- Once you’re back home, print out the sheet ‘Helping the Local Habitat’. Continue reading pages 14-16 of the PowerPoint and then think of one idea you could do to help living things in the local environment. Draw and label your idea on the sheet.
Friday
L.O. To describe and understand key aspects of biomes
In this lesson you will find out what a biome is and what different types of biomes there are in the world. You will also get to create a poster about your favourite biome and draw and label the different types of plants and animals that live in that biome.
- Read the attached PowerPoint about biomes.
- Decide on which biome you would like to research: grassland, tundra, rainforest, forest, aquatic or dessert.
- Use the internet to research your chosen biome. Below are some websites you can use along with any others you might find.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/biome/
https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/index.php
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/experiments/biome
https://www.windows2universe.org/?page=/earth/Water/marine_ecology.html
- On a piece of paper, draw a picture of your chosen biome and include some of the animals and plants that can be found there, as well as the climate. Colour it in and label it. Attached is a support sheet to help you if you need it. There is also an extra CHALLENGE sheet which asks you to choose a second biome and write a comparison of the two.