Year 4 Science

 Scientific enquiry

 Throughout the following topics the children will have the opportunities to suggest questions that can be tested and make predictions based on scientific knowledge. They will design a fair test and plan how to collect sufficient evidence. They will make increasingly accurate measurements of length, temperature and volume and make observations and comparisons of relevant features in a variety of contexts. Equipment such as thermometers, measuring cylinders and beakers will be used and techniques such as sieving and filtering will be introduced. Observations and measurements will be recorded in tables and bar charts and the pupils will draw conclusions and suggest explanations for their results. 

 Life processes and living things

 Moving and growing

• The main functions of the skeleton
• Muscle contraction and movement

 Habitats

      ·   Identification of local habitats and organisms that live there

Feeding relationships and food chains

• Use of keys to identify plants and animals

Materials and their properties

 Keeping warm

• Thermometers and the measurement of temperature
• Thermal insulators and their everyday uses

Solids, liquids and how they can be separated

• Differences between solids and liquids
• Melting, freezing and dissolving
• Separation of mixtures by sieving and filtering

Physicals processes

Light and shadow formation

•     Light sources and shadow formation

•        Opaque, translucent and transparent material

Earth, Sun and Moon

•  The spin of the Earth and the apparent movement of the Sun

• Daytime and night-time and the rotation of the Earth