In Science this week, year 5 began a new topic on the life cycles of animals and plants. This topic builds on lots of previous learning about the characteristics of different living things, how they are classified, their habitats and needs for survival. The children grouped animals by their similar characteristics, named the groups they are classified by and identified their common features. Using what they know about mammals and their own development, the children ordered pictures of the different stages in the life cycle of a human and labelled them. Each stage is distinguished by the milestones in human development: from a foetus to a baby, child, adolescent and adult. The cycle stops at adulthood as this is where the cycle begins again with reproduction. They will continue to compare the lifecycles of other animals including birds, insects and amphibians, and explain the relationship between the life cycle and the characteristics and needs of the animal.
