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Polar Food Chains
Polar Regions
Understand polar food chains — in the Antarctic, phytoplankton are eaten by krill, krill are eaten by fish and penguins, and penguins are eaten by leopard seals and orcas; in the Arctic, algae under ice feeds zooplankton, which feeds fish, which feeds seals, which feeds polar bears — and that tiny organisms like krill and plankton are the foundation of all polar life
Pollination & Seed Dispersal
Organisms & Life Processes
Understand the life cycle of flowering plants including pollination, seed formation, and seed dispersal
Pompeii & Vesuvius
Volcanoes & Earthquakes
Know the story of Pompeii: a Roman city buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, preserved under volcanic ash, and rediscovered by archaeologists centuries later
Predator Hunting Strategies
Animals of the World
Understand that predators have evolved hunting strategies — wolves hunt in packs, chameleons use their long tongues, spiders build webs, crocodiles ambush at water's edge — and prey animals have evolved defences — porcupine spines, skunk spray, poison dart frog toxins, zebra stripes confusing predators, playing dead
Preventing Erosion
Earth's Systems
Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land
Properties of materials
Earth's Systems
Compare and group different kinds of rocks based on their appearance and simple physical properties such as hardness, texture, and colour
Protecting Eyes from Sunlight
Waves, Light & Sound
Recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect eyes
Rainforest Animal Survival Tricks
Rainforests
Know how rainforest animals are adapted to their environment — camouflage helps leaf insects and tree frogs hide, bright warning colours (aposematism) signal that poison dart frogs are toxic, prehensile tails let monkeys grip branches, toucans' large beaks help reach distant fruit, and many animals are nocturnal to avoid daytime heat
Rainforest Animals
Animals of the World
Explore animals of the tropical rainforest — the most species-rich habitat on Earth — learning that the forest has layers (canopy, understory, forest floor) with different animals at each level: toucans and monkeys in the canopy, jaguars and frogs on the floor, and that rainforests are found near the equator
Rainforest Food Webs
Rainforests
Understand how energy and nutrients flow through a rainforest food web — from plants (producers) to herbivores (primary consumers) to predators (secondary consumers) — and that decomposers like fungi and insects break down dead material on the forest floor, recycling nutrients back into the soil for plants to use again
Rainforest Plant Adaptations
Rainforests
Know how rainforest plants are adapted to their environment — drip-tip leaves channel water off quickly to prevent rot, buttress roots spread wide to support tall trees in thin soil, epiphytes (like orchids and bromeliads) grow on tree branches to reach sunlight without needing soil, and lianas climb trunks to reach the canopy
Rainforest Water Cycle
Rainforests
Understand how the water cycle works in a rainforest — trees absorb water through their roots and release it through their leaves (transpiration), this moisture forms clouds above the canopy, and the clouds produce rain that falls back into the forest — creating a self-sustaining cycle that generates much of the rainforest's own rainfall
Rapid earth changes
Space Systems & Earth's History
Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions) or slowly (erosion, mountain building)
Reading Dinosaur Trackways
Dinosaurs & Paleontology
Use dinosaur trackways (fossilised footprints) to make inferences about a dinosaur's size, speed, and behaviour — widely spaced prints suggest running, closely spaced suggest walking
Reflecting Light
Waves, Light & Sound
Notice that light is reflected from surfaces, and that shiny smooth surfaces reflect light best
Ring of Fire
Volcanoes & Earthquakes
Recognise that volcanoes and earthquakes tend to happen in certain places — especially around the edges of the Pacific Ocean (Ring of Fire) — not randomly across the Earth
Rocks and soil
Earth's Systems
Recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter, and that different soils have different properties
Savanna & Grassland Animals
Animals of the World
Explore animals of the grasslands and savanna — lions, zebras, wildebeest, elephants, cheetahs in African savanna; bison and prairie dogs in American grasslands — understanding why large herds form on open grasslands and how predators and prey interact in these wide-open spaces
Shapes of land and water
Earth's Systems
Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land (mountains, valleys, plains) and bodies of water (rivers, lakes, oceans) in an area
Skeletons & Muscles
Organisms & Life Processes
Identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection, and movement
Social insects: ants and bees
Insects & Minibeasts
Social insects: how ants and bees live and work together in colonies. Queens, workers, and drones. Division of labour — some gather food, some build, some guard. Ant tunnels and bee hives as organised homes. Parallels to human teamwork.
Sorting and Identifying Minibeasts
Insects & Minibeasts
Using classification keys to identify minibeasts. Branching yes/no questions: 'Does it have legs?' → 'How many legs?' → 'Does it have wings?' Dichotomous keys as a systematic tool for sorting and identifying creatures.
Space Robots & Rovers
Space Exploration
Describe how robots and rovers have explored places humans cannot easily go — Mars rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance drive across Mars taking photos, collecting rock samples, and searching for signs of past water
Taking Apart & Rebuilding
Matter & Materials
Observe that an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object, understanding that the pieces still exist