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How Muscles Move Bones
The Human Body
Understand that muscles work in pairs to move bones: when one muscle contracts (gets shorter and pulls), the opposite muscle relaxes, and that some muscles are voluntary (we choose to use them) while others like the heart are involuntary (they work automatically)
How Plant Parts Work
Organisms & Life Processes
Identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots absorb water and nutrients, stems transport materials, leaves make food, flowers enable reproduction
How Shadows Form
Waves, Light & Sound
Recognise that shadows are formed when light from a source is blocked by an opaque object, and find patterns in how shadow size changes
How Telescopes Work
Space Exploration
Know that telescopes are instruments that help us see distant objects in space, and that space telescopes like Hubble and James Webb orbit above Earth’s atmosphere to get clearer views of the universe
How the Eye Works
The Human Body
Describe how the eye works: light enters through the pupil, the lens focuses it onto the retina at the back of the eye, and the retina sends signals along the optic nerve to the brain, which interprets the image
Ice & States of Matter
Polar Regions
Understand ice in different forms and states of matter — sea ice forms when ocean water freezes (it's salty and relatively thin), glacial ice forms from compacted snow over centuries (fresh water, very thick), and icebergs break off from glaciers and float in the sea; know that water exists as solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (water vapour), and that salt lowers the freezing point of water
Incredible insects: record-breakers
Insects & Minibeasts
Incredible insects — record-breakers and superpowers. Dung beetles are the strongest animals relative to body weight. Dragonflies are among the fastest flying insects. Fleas can jump over 150 times their own body length. Bombardier beetles spray boiling chemicals. The 'wow factor' of the insect world.
Indigenous Ecological Knowledge
Rainforests
Understand that indigenous peoples of the rainforest have developed deep ecological knowledge over thousands of years — using plants for medicine, food, and building materials, practising sustainable farming methods like shifting cultivation, and understanding animal behaviour and forest ecology in ways that modern science is only beginning to appreciate
Insect life cycles: complete metamorphosis
Insects & Minibeasts
Insect life cycles — complete metamorphosis in detail. Egg → larva → pupa → adult. The larva (caterpillar, grub, maggot) looks completely different from the adult. Inside the pupa the body is rebuilt. Butterflies, beetles, flies, and ladybirds all undergo complete metamorphosis.
Inside a Volcano
Volcanoes & Earthquakes
Understand the inside of a volcano: magma is hot melted rock underground, lava is the same material after it reaches the surface, and volcanoes have a magma chamber, vent, and crater
Inuit & Sami Peoples
Polar Regions
Know that indigenous peoples have lived in the Arctic for thousands of years — the Inuit across Canada, Alaska, and Greenland, and the Sami in northern Scandinavia — developing remarkable knowledge of the environment, using dog sleds and kayaks for transport, wearing animal-skin clothing for warmth, and building igloos as temporary shelters, with a deep respect for the animals and land they depend on
Life Cycles of Organisms
Organisms & Life Processes
Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all share the common stages of birth, growth, reproduction, and death
Magnetic Materials
Forces & Motion
Observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others
Magnetic Poles
Forces & Motion
Describe magnets as having two poles (north and south) and predict whether two magnets will attract or repel based on which poles face each other
Mary Anning, Fossil Hunter
Dinosaurs & Paleontology
Know who Mary Anning was — a pioneering fossil hunter from Lyme Regis, England, who discovered ichthyosaur and plesiosaur skeletons in the early 1800s and contributed to our understanding of prehistoric life
Measuring accurately
Scientific Inquiry
Make systematic and careful observations, take accurate measurements using standard units and equipment including thermometers and data loggers
Naming Major Bones
The Human Body
Identify major bones of the human skeleton by name (skull, spine/vertebrae, ribcage, pelvis, femur, humerus) and explain the skeleton’s three jobs: supporting the body’s shape, protecting organs, and enabling movement with muscles
Naming types of energy
Energy
Name and use vocabulary for types of energy and energy transfer — kinetic energy, potential energy, heat energy, light energy, sound energy, electrical energy, chemical energy, stored energy, energy transfer, energy transformation — and describe energy changes in familiar situations using these terms
Not all minibeasts are insects
Insects & Minibeasts
Not all minibeasts are insects: distinguishing insects from other minibeasts. Spiders have 8 legs and 2 body parts (arachnids), woodlice have 14 legs (crustaceans), worms have no legs, snails have a shell and one foot. The 'Is it an insect?' sorting game.
Ocean Animal Adaptations
Ocean Life
Understand that ocean animals have special adaptations for their environment: streamlined bodies for fast swimming, camouflage to hide from predators, blubber to keep warm in cold seas, and tentacles or suckers to catch prey
Ocean Depth Zones
Ocean Life
Understand that the ocean has different zones depending on depth and light: the sunlight zone near the surface where most life lives, the twilight zone where light fades, and the midnight zone of total darkness
Ocean Food Webs
Ocean Life
Understand ocean food webs: multiple interconnected food chains where energy flows from phytoplankton (producers) through zooplankton, small fish, and large predators, and that removing one species affects the whole web
Planet Features
Space Exploration
Describe a key feature of each planet: Mercury is smallest and closest, Venus is the hottest, Mars is red with rust, Jupiter is the largest with a Great Red Spot, Saturn has rings, Uranus tilts on its side, Neptune is the farthest and very cold
Polar Animals
Animals of the World
Explore animals of the Arctic and Antarctic — polar bears, Arctic foxes, and walruses in the north; penguins, seals, and albatrosses in the south — and understand how polar animals survive extreme cold through thick fur or blubber, huddling behaviour, and seasonal changes like white winter coats