In science, year 4 have been exploring how living things can be identified and grouped according to their characteristics. The children were asked to think of their own criteria, such as living on land or in water, to group different plants and animals using a Carrol diagram or Venn diagram. They then looked more closely at the characteristics that are unique to different groups of animals, which builds on their learning from KS1. They identified the unique characteristics of vertebrates, such as mammals and reptiles, and invertebrates, such as insects and arachnids. The children were able to make distinctions between the animals by their body parts, number of legs, skin or outer layers, how they reproduce and breath.
