Throckley Primary School Science Overview Early Years
Autumn
Children experience art and design through EY Curriculum ‘World’ strand: ‘Understanding the World. Use all their senses in hands-on exploration of natural materials. Explore collections of natural & human-made materials with similar and/or different properties. Talk about the differences between materials, and changes they notice: cooking & melting, changing state, sinking or floating, letting or preventing light passing.
Spring
Explore how things work via cogs, pulleys & toys. Explore and talk about different forces they can feel (water pushing up on a boat, elastic, magnets).
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Uses of everyday materials
Light
Living things & their habitats
Living things & their habitats
Living things & their habitats
Observe the seasons change; associated weather; day length
Compare use; rate as effective against function; change of shape
Light & shadow; dark as absence of light
Classification keys Human impact on the environment
Life cycles of animals Sexual & asexual reproduction
Binomial classification
Seasonal change (Y1) Objects, materials & properties (Y1) Everyday materials (Y1)
Classification (Y4) Plant life cycle (Y3)
Classification (Y4) Plant life cycle (Y3)
Seasonal changes (Y1)
Plants (Y3)
Living things & their habitats (Y4)
Living things & their habitats (Y5)
Everyday materials
Living things & their habitats
Rocks
Animals, including humans
Animals, including humans
Animals, including humans
Materials/ objects; name everyday materials; group by property
Living, once living & never alive; habitats provide for needs; simple food chains
Group/ compare rocks fossil formation
Teeth types; digestive system; food chains
Ageing in humans Adolescence, puberty & menstruation
Cardiovascular system
Habitats (Living things - Y2)
Human nutrition (Y3) Parts of the body (Y1)
Human body (Y1) Human offspring (Y2)
Digestive system (Y4) Need for exercise (Y2) Muscles (Y3)
Living things & their habitats (Y2) Forces & magnets
Animals, including humans (Y3)
Animals, including humans (Y4)
Animals, including humans (Y5)
States of matter
Forces
Light Properties of light
Daily weather chart (Reception). Wearing coats or sun cream based on weather (EYFS)
Different textures of materials; features of classroom environment (EYFS)
Identify animals and plants (Y1)
Animals, including humans
Animals, including humans
Identify common vertebrates; carnivores, herbivores and omnivores; structure of animals; link human body parts to senses
Offspring grow into adults; basic needs of animals: nutrition, hygiene, exercise; oxygen
Objects & surfaces magnetic poles & attraction
Classify solids, liquids & gases. Ordering change. Water cycle.
Gravity; mechanisms Air & water resistance
Materials (KS1)
Everyday materials (Y1) Use of materials (Y2)
Forces act between objects & surfaces (Y3)
Names of common animals (EYFS); life cycle of a butterfly (Reception)
Describe animals (Y1) herbivores, carnivores, omnivores (Y1)
Uses of everyday materials (Y2)
Rocks (Y3)
Electricity (Y4)
Animals, including humans
Electricity
Earth & space
Weather and seasons (Y1)
Animals, including humans (Y1)
Animal nutrition; skeleton & muscles
Appliances; series circuits; conductors & insulators
Movement of the Earth, Sun & Moon. Night & Day; Moon phases.
Human nutrition (Y3) Parts of the body (Y1)
Uses of materials (Y2)
Seasonal change (Y1) Light (Y3)
Seasonal Change (Y1)
Plant seeds and care for growing bulbs to observe growth and decay.
Summer
Recognise some environments that are different from the one in which they live (both natural & human made, local & national). Understand the effect of changing seasons on the natural world (noting & recording the weather over the seasons, witnessing the effect on animals and plants).
Food chains (Y4)
Light & shadow (Y4)
Earth & Space (Y5)
Forces & Magnets (Y3)
Understand the key features of the life cycle of an animal, nurturing caterpillars while they metamorphosise.
Year 6
Seasonal changes
Working scientifically investigations Assessment & consolidation of prior knowledge.
Sound (Y4) Plants
Plants
Identify and name plants; different trees structure of plants
Seeds & bulbs; germination and survival needs
Names of common plants; planting a seed (EYFS)
Different trees (Y1) Plant structure (Y1)
Weather and seasons (Y1)
Animals, including humans (Y2) Plants Function of plant parts; water transportation; needs & pollination Bulbs/germination (Y2) Plant structure (Y1)
Plants (Y1)
Sound
Properties & changes of materials
Evolution & inheritance
Formation of sound Volume & pitch
Reversible and irreversible change
Conceptualising evolution via adaptation
Linking parts of the body to senses (Y1)
Materials (KS1) Magnets (Y3) Electricity (Y4)
Light (Y3)
States of matter (Y4)
Living things change over time (Y4) Fossils (Y3) Forces (Y5)
Plants (Y2)
Electricity
Working scientifically investigations Assessment & consolidation of prior knowledge.
Linking component output to voltage Electricity (Y4) Properties & changes of materials (Y5)