Throughout Key Stage 1 Science lessons your child will be learning about the importance of asking questions, gathering evidence, carrying out experiments and looking at different ways of presenting their results. Lessons are practical and focus on the world around them. Speaking and listening is highly valued throughout science lessons, as this not only encourages children to explore scientific vocabulary but also share and develop their ideas with others.
In the National Curriculum (2014) children in Year 1 will learn about:
· Plants, identifying and naming plants and looking at their basic structure
· Animals including humans, identifying and naming a range of animals and understanding how and why they are grouped (e.g. mammals, birds, amphibians etc)
· Everyday materials, looking at their properties
· Seasonal changes, observing changes across the four seasons and looking at different types of weather
In the National Curriculum (2014) children in Year 2 will learn about:
· Living things and their habitats, including dependence within habitats and micro-habitats
· Plants, observing how seeds and bulbs grow into plants and what plants need to stay healthy
· Animals including humans, focusing on reproduction, nutrition and exercise
· Everyday materials, comparing their uses and looking at how they can be changed by exerting force
Click below on the topics to find out more and have a go at some activities related to the topics.
Note for parents: The main focus of science teaching in key stage 1 is to enable pupils to experience and observe things, and to look at the natural and human-made world around them. Encourage your child to be curious and ask questions about what they notice, and help them to use different methods to answer their questions, such as observing changes over time, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple tests, and finding things out using books and the internet. Talk to your child about what they are doing and encourage them to use simple scientific language to explain their ideas to you. Most science learning should take place through first-hand, practical experiences.