Science

Y6 - Evolution (Biology)

 

What I already know:

Year 4:

·        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

·        recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things

Year 5:

·        Describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird

·        Describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals.

What I am learning in this unit:

·        Recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago.

·        Recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents

·        Identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution.

Knowledge Organiser

Biology Year 6.jpg

 
Lesson 1 - Fossilisation

Today we learned that fossils provide evidence of living things that lived millions of years ago and help scientists understand how animals and plants have changed over time. We carefully observed different fossils and discussed what they could tell us about prehistoric life. We compared ancient crocodile relatives with modern crocodiles and noticed similarities and differences. We also learnt about the process of fossilisation by creating flow diagrams. The highlight for many children was making our own fossil models using Plasticine and plaster. Juwel said, "I really enjoyed making the fossils because it felt like being a real scientist discovering something new."

 

Fossil pic Year 6.jpg

 

Lesson 2 - Inheritance and Variation

In this lesson, we learned that offspring inherit characteristics from their parents through genes. We explored key vocabulary including DNA, chromosomes, cells, inheritance, variation, parents and offspring. The children discussed how siblings can share many features but are not usually identical. We sorted characteristics into inherited and non-inherited groups and investigated how traits such as eye colour, hair colour and height can be passed down through families. We also created family or inheritance trees to identify inherited features and understand how variation occurs within a species.

Benedict said, "I learned that genes from our parents help decide what we look like, but everyone is still different."

Jaiden said, "I didn't know that brothers and sisters could have different features even though they have the same parents. That was really interesting."

Follow this link to learn more about makes us unique - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNXPIX7O5TQ