In Science we have been learning all about hygiene. We found out that germs are so tiny that we can’t see them with our eyes. The French Scientist Louis Pasteur discovered that germs travel from person to person through touch. To test this out, we covered our hands in germs (herbs) and saw how quickly they spread when we touched someone else or an object. It was messy and super fun!

Today, Year 6 continued their learning about classification by putting their classification key skills to the test!

We began with a rather tasty-looking challenge: Dolly Mixtures! 🍬 The children carefully observed the different characteristics of the sweets, considering features such as shape, colour and layers, before using these differences to create and follow classification keys.

We then transferred these skills to the natural world, examining a variety of leaves. 🍃 The children looked closely at features including shape, edges, veins and structure to identify similarities and differences and classify them accurately.

This practical lesson built on our previous learning about invertebrates and vertebrates and the different groups within the animal kingdom. We are now extending our classification knowledge further as we explore plants and microorganisms, thinking about how scientists use observable characteristics to organise and identify living things.

A brilliant day of observing, questioning, comparing and classifying! 🔍🌱

As part of our learning about living things and their habitats, the children recapped their previous knowledge of vertebrates and invertebrates, remembering that vertebrates have a backbone while invertebrates do not.

We then revisited the five main groups of vertebrates: mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians. The children discussed the key characteristics of each group before completing a hands-on classification activity. Working together, they examined different animals, considered their features and sorted them into the correct groups.

There was lots of brilliant scientific discussion as the children explained their choices and used key vocabulary to justify how they had classified each animal.

A fantastic recap of previous learning and a great start to our Year 6 classification work! 🐸🐍🐟🦅🐯