KS2 Life in water
Pupils use the amazing variety of life collected from the Wakehurst ponds to explore life cycles, food chains and adaptations to life in water. This is currently available as an indoor session only.
Level
Duration
Allocated space
Recommended dates
Pupils are amazed by the variety of life in ponds. They explore how these creatures are connected and how they are adapted to life in water.
Working scientifically they identify and name carnivores, herbivores and omnivores to enable them to construct simple food chains and webs.
Learning outcomes
We design our sessions to match the learning outcomes in the national curriculum. All our sessions have a cross-curricular approach and are tailored to suit the educational needs of your group.
We aim to give pupils opportunities to work scientifically in areas that are difficult or impossible to create in the school environment.
This session offers pupils the opportunity to:
- Identify and compare pond creatures using keys.
- Understand the importance of plants to life in ponds.
- Classify the creatures into groups based on specific characteristics.
- Compare different stages of life cycles in some of the creatures found.
- Construct a simple food chain.
Curriculum links
This KS2 visit supports and enhances the Science curriculum offered in schools
Lower KS2
Year 3 – Animals, including humans
- Identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat.
- Identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement.
Year 4 – Living things and their habitats
- Recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
- Explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment
Year 4 – Animals including humans
- Construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.
Upper KS2
Year 5 - Living things and their habitats
- Describe the differences in the life cycles of an amphibian and an insect
- Describe the life process of reproduction in some animals.
Year 6 - Living things and their habitats
- Describe how living things/plants/animals are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences.
- Give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics.
