Year 5: Living things and their habitats
This list consists of lesson plans, activities and video clips to support the teaching of Living things and their habitats at Year Five. It contains tips on using the resources, suggestions for further use and background subject knowledge. Possible misconceptions are highlighted so that teachers may plan lessons to facilitate correct conceptual understanding. Designed to support the new curriculum programme of study it aims to cover many of the requirements for knowledge and understanding and working scientifically. The statutory requirements are that children are taught to:
• 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
Visit the primary science webpage to access all lists.
Turtle Life Cycle
A lifecycle is the different stages a plant or animal goes through during its life. This presentation is a great way of showing children the distinct stages of lifecycles with the summary table showing the similarities and differences between mammals, amphibians, reptiles and flowering plants. The table could even be extended to include insects and birds so they might also be compared.
Playing the Turtle lifecycle game helps children see distinct stages of lifecycles and how they may be affected by environmental factors.
One of the Crowd *suitable for home teaching*
Making a lifecycle wheel is a good way of showing the stages of a lifecycle. Templates are provided for the lifecycle of a locust and a butterfly but children could make their own wheels for different species. This would be a great way of comparing similarities and differences between different animals and would also make a great display!
The resource also includes a wealth of information and activity ideas relating to locusts including: identification, adaptation and food chains.
Life Cycles
Starting with an engaging video clip highlighting the stages in the life cycle a human, frog and poppy. Teacher’s notes provide a detailed lesson plan which incorporate subject knowledge, classroom activities, film clips, possible misconceptions and questions which check understanding.
Module 1: Life Cycles
These materials help children to understand about life cycles, food chains, interdependence and adaptation. Children look at the growth of cabbages and the life cycles of two insects, the cabbage white butterfly and the Ichneumon wasp.
Life Cycles Activity Pack
Activities link to work on comparing things that are living, dead and that have never been alive and exploring the life cycles of flowering plants and different animals. They are designed to help children develop scientific research and communication skills and provide opportunities for cross-curricular work.
Year 5 - stage 4
This resource allows pupils to explore ways in which plants reproduce without seeds. Through this lesson plan and supporting PowerPoint pupils learn about asexual reproduction in plants, have the opportunity to research different ways that this can be artificially used by growers and can consider the advantages and disadvantages of sexual and asexual reproduction in plants.
Pressure in the deep
Pressure in the deep has been designed to help pupils understand the effects of water pressure on animals that live in the deep sea. To complete the activity, pupils put a mini marshmallow into a plastic syringe and cover the tip with their finger. Air pressure inside can be decreased by pulling the plunger up, and air pressure can be increased by pushing the plunger down. The marshmallow will expand or shrink depending on how much air pressure it is subjected to.
Across the depths
Across the depths has been designed to help pupils understand the range of different creatures that are found across different depths of the ocean. To complete the activity, pupils need to cut out 14 different species and assign them to different depths of the ocean across four different zones: the sunlight, twilight, midnight and abyssal zones, considering environmental differences and physical adaptations the animals might need.
Earth observation - STEM Clubs Hour 2024 activities
Earth observation contains five different activities themed around the applications of satellite technology to help scientists monitor changes to environments and wildlife across the world, including mapping species migration, counting elephants, losing habitats, detecting forest fires and identifying hurricane formation.