Y3/4/5 |
Theme | Cycle A - States of Matter |
NC Links | - Compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases. (Y4)
- 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). (Y4)
- Identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature. (Y4)
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Knowledge | - Create a concept map, including arrows linking the key vocabulary
- Name properties of solids, liquids and gases
- Give everyday examples of melting and freezing
- Give everyday examples of evaporation and condensation
- Describe the water cycle
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Theme | Changes of materials |
NC Links | - Compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets. (Y5)
- Know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution and describe how to recover a substance from a solution. (Y5)
- Use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating. (Y5)
- Give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic. (Y5)
- Demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes. (Y5)
- Explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda. (Y5)
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Knowledge | - Use understanding of properties to explain everyday uses of materials, for example, how bricks, wood, glass and metals are used in buildings
- Explain what dissolving means, giving examples
- Name equipment used for filtering and sieving
- Use knowledge of liquids, gases and solids to suggest how materials can be recovered from solutions or mixtures by evaporation, filtering or sieving
- Describe some simple reversible and non-reversible changes to materials, giving examples
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Theme | Earth and Space |
NC Links | - Describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system. (Y5)
- Describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth. (Y5)
- Describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies. (Y5)
- Use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the Sun across the sky (Y5)
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Knowledge | - Create a voice over for a video clip or animation
- Show, using diagrams, the movement of the Earth and Moon
- Explain the movement of the Earth and Moon
- Show using diagrams the rotation of the Earth and how this causes day and night
- Explain what causes day and nigh
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Theme | Electricity |
NC Links | - Identify common appliances that run on electricity. (Y4)
- Construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers. (Y4)
- 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. (Y4)
- Recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit. (Y4)
- Recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors. (Y4)
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Knowledge | - Name the components in a circuit
- Make electric circuits
- Control a circuit using a switch
- Name some metals that are conductors
- Name materials that are insulators
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Theme | Sound |
NC Link | - Identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating. (Y4)
- Recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear. (Y4)
- Find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it. (Y4)
- Find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it. (Y4)
- Recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases. (Y4)
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Knowledge | - Can name sound sources and state that sounds are produced by the vibration of the object
- Can state that sounds travel through different mediums such as air, water, metal
- Can give examples to demonstrate how the pitch of a sound are linked to the features of the object that produced it
- Can give examples of how to change the volume of a sound e.g. increase the size of vibrations by hitting or blowing harder
- Can give examples to demonstrate that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases
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Theme | Cycle B - Plants |
NC Links | - Identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots; stem/trunk; leaves; and flowers. (Y3)
- 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. (Y3)
- Investigate the way in which water is transported within plants. (Y3)
- Explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal (Y3)
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Knowledge | - Explain the function of the parts of a flowering plant
- Describe the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation, seed dispersal, and germination
- Give different methods of pollination and seed dispersal, including examples
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Theme | Living things and their habitats |
NC Links | - Recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways. (Y4)
- Explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment. (Y4)
- Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things. (Y4)
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Knowledge | - Name living things living in a range of habitats, giving the key features that helped them to identify them
- Give examples of how an environment may change both naturally and due to human impact
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Theme | Forces and Magnets |
NC Links | - Compare how things move on different surfaces. (Y3)
- Notice that some forces need contact between two objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance. (Y3)
- Observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others. (Y3)
- 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. (Y3)
- Describe magnets as having two poles. (Y3)
- Predict whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing. (Y3)
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Knowledge | - Give examples of forces in everyday life
- Give examples of objects moving differently on different surfaces
- Name a range of types of magnets and show how the poles attract and repel
- Draw diagrams using arrows to show the attraction and repulsion between the poles of magnets
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Theme | Forces |
NC Links | - Explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object. (Y5)
- Identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction that act between moving surfaces. (Y5)
- Recognise that some mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and gears, allow a smaller force to have a greater effect. (Y5)
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Knowledge | - Demonstrate the effect of gravity acting on an unsupported object
- Give examples of friction, water resistance and air resistance
- Give examples of when it is beneficial to have high or low friction, water resistance and air resistance
- Demonstrate how pulleys, levers and gears work
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Theme | Living things and their habitats |
NC Link | - Describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird. (Y5)
- Describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals. (Y5)
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Knowledge | - draw the life cycle of a range of animals identifying similarities and differences between the life cycles
- Explain the difference between sexual and asexual reproduction and give examples of how plants reproduce in both ways
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Theme | Human changes - age. (Taught in PSHE) |
NC Links | - Describe the changes as humans develop to old age (Y5)
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Knowledge | - Explain the changes that takes place in boys and girls during puberty
- Explain how a baby changes physically as it grows, and also what it is able to do
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Theme | Cycle C - Rocks |
NC Link | - Compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties. (Y3)
- Describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock. (Y3)
- Recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter. (Y3)
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Knowledge | - Name some types of rock and give physical features of each
- Explain how a fossil is formed
- Explain that soils are made from rocks and also contain living/dead matter
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Theme | Nutrition/Skeletons |
NC Link | - 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. (y3)
- Identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement (y3)
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Knowledge | - Name the nutrients found in food
- State that to be healthy we need to eat the right types of food to give us the correct amount of these nutrients
- Can name some bones that make up their skeleton, giving examples that support, help them move or provide protection
- Can describe how muscles and joints help them to move
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Theme | Digestion and teeth |
NC Link | - Describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans.(Y4)
- Identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions. .(Y4)
- Construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey. (Y4)
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Knowledge | - Sequence the main parts of the digestive system
- Draw the main parts of the digestive system onto a human outline
- Describe what happens in each part of the digestive system
- Point to the three different types of teeth in their mouth and talk about their shape and what they are used for
- Name producers, predators and prey within a habitat
- Construct food chains
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Theme | light |
NC Links | - Recognise that they need light in order to see things, and that dark is the absence of light. (Y3)
- Notice that light is reflected from surfaces. (Y3)
- 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. (Y3)
- Find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change. (Y3)
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Knowledge | - Describe how we see objects in light and can describe dark as the absence of light
- State that it is dangerous to view the sun directly and state precautions used to view the sun, for example in eclipses
- Define transparent, translucent and opaque
- Describe how shadows are formed
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