Living Things and their Habitats Year 5 and 6 Planning and Resources

Living Things and Their Habitats Year 5 and 6 planning and resources. Part of Creative Curriculum Topic: The Cycle of Life (Living Things and Habitats). Ideal for teaching a mixed age range.

Planning includes success criteria, key skills and questions, and links to other resources.
Each lesson includes an introduction presentation and a Creative Learning Challenge. These are designed to allow all children to show you what they have learnt, by allowing the children to choose how they show their learning (written, drawing, drama, using technology).

Driving Question: How can I, as a visual artist, demonstrate the life cycle story of plants and animals.
On 24 May 1948, Agnes Arber became the first woman to receive the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society, a world-famous institution dedicated to the study of natural history. Agnes was a botanist, and she researched and drew beautiful illustrations of plants. In 2024, The Linnean Society wants to create a new, modern collection of scientific illustrations on the theme of animal and plant life cycles. The Society wishes the collection to reflect a more modern and diverse view of art in the 21st century, incorporating all areas of the visual arts. Can you create accurate and eye-catching pieces of work that tell the life cycle story of a range of nature’s wonders?

Lesson 1: How do plants spread their seeds? Parts of a flowering plant (pollination) and seed dispersal.

Lesson 2: Who will win The Great Plant Debate? Advantages and disadvantages of sexual and asexual reproduction in plants and the life cycle of a plant that reproduces asexually.

Lesson 3: Are the life cycles of all mammals the same? The life cycles of mammals (monotreme (for example a platypus,) a marsupial (for example a kangaroo) and a placental (rabbit).

Lesson 4: What is metamorphosis? The life cycles of insects and amphibians.

Lesson 5: Are all living things the same? Similarities and difference between the life cycles of plants, mammals, birds, amphibians and insects.

Lesson 6: Who was Carl Linnaeus and why is he famous? Who is Carl Linnaeus was and how living things are classified using the Linnaean system and classify things using the system.

Lesson 7: Can you solve the classification conundrum? Sorting, grouping and classifying animals.

Lesson 8: Can you identify the evil microorganisms in the police line up? Identifying different types of microorganisms and which are helpful and harmful.

Lesson 9: Bacterium, virus, or fungus? Which will you choose? Describe the characteristics of different microorganisms, and using this information to design and make your own microorganism.

There is a PDF and an editable version of each file (PowerPoint).