SCIENCE

Grade 3/4s 

This term the Grade 3/4 students will work through two units in science. The first unit is ‘Living and not living’ which will run from week 1 to 7. The second unit will be ‘Colour’ and will start in week 7 and run until the end of term. 

The Grade 3/4 students have started their unit ‘Living and not living’. Over the past few weeks, the students have been learning about how to classify organisms as living. The students have been using the acronym 'MRS GREN’ to help them remember the 7 characteristics of living things. It would be great if families could help reinforce this acronym at home. 

Movement 

Respiration: 

Stimuli 

Growth 

Reproduction 

Excretion 

Nutrition 

Over the next few weeks, the students will turn their focus to learning about the stages of growth for different species and investigating life cycles. 

Focus vocabulary for this fortnight: 

Biology: The study of living things, including how they interact with other living things and where they live. 

Cell: The smallest part of a living thing. All living things are made up of cells. 

Continuum: A scale you can use to place characteristics on and shows the range of this characteristic. It does not have distinct groups. 

Grade 5/6s 

This term the Grade 5/6 students will work through three units in science. The first unit is ‘Plant survival’ which will run from week 1 to 3. The second unit will be ‘Natural disaster’ and will start in week 4 until week 8. The final unit will be ‘Making shadows’ which will run from week 8 until the end of term. 

The Grade 5/6 students have completed their unit on ‘Plant survival’ yesterday. During this unit, the students learned about the features of plants and their adaptations that enable them to survive in different environments, such as plants having smaller leaves in hot climates to reduce the effects of the sun. They also investigated the effects of sunlight on plant growth. 

Next week, the students will start their unit ‘Natural disaster’. The students will start the unit looking at the layers of the earth and its atmosphere, extreme weather, earthquakes and volcanoes. 

Focus vocabulary for this fortnight: 

Photosynthesis: The process by which green plants make their own food from carbon dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight. 

Pollinator: An insect or other agent that conveys pollen to a plant and so allows fertilisation. 

Seed: Found in flowering plants and develop into a new plant.