Year 3 Science Scheme of Work

Plants

• –Identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves, and flowers.
• –Explore the requirements of plants for life and growth and investigate the way in which water is transported within plants.
• –Explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation, and seed dispersal.

• –Use celery stalks and coloured water to observe how water is transported from roots to leaves.
• –Dissect a flower and label its parts (sepal, petal, stamen, pistil), linking each to its function in reproduction.
• –Carry out a fair test investigating whether roots grow toward water (using damp and dry sides of a pot).
• –Create a life cycle diagram for a flowering plant showing pollination, seed formation, dispersal, germination, and growth.

Nutrition and Skeletons

• –Identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food.
• –Identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection, and movement.

• –Investigate the food groups using real food labels, sorting into carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals.
• –Compare the skeletons of a human, a bird, a fish, and an insect and discuss the differences in structure and function.
• –Model the action of muscles and bones using elastic bands and card to create an arm joint.
• –Discuss the importance of a balanced diet and create a weekly meal plan that meets nutritional needs.

Light and Shadows

• –Recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light.
• –Notice that light is reflected from surfaces.
• –Recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes.
• –Recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object.
• –Find patterns in the way that the size of shadows changes.

• –Explore a darkened space to understand that dark is the absence of light, then introduce light sources progressively.
• –Investigate which materials are transparent, translucent, or opaque using torches and a light box.
• –Carry out a shadow investigation outdoors, measuring how the length and direction of shadows change throughout the day.
• –Experiment with mirror tiles to explore reflection and the idea that light travels in straight lines.

Rocks and Soils

• –Compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties.
• –Describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock.
• –Recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.

• –Carry out scratch and acid tests on a range of rock samples to classify them as sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic.
• –Make model fossils using plaster of Paris and shell/leaf imprints to understand the fossilisation process.
• –Examine soil samples through a magnifying glass and identify components (grit, clay, humus, living organisms).
• –Compare the permeability of different soils by measuring how quickly water drains through them.

Forces and Magnets

• –Compare how things move on different surfaces.
• –Notice that some forces need contact between two objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance.
• –Observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others.
• –Compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet.
• –Describe magnets as having two poles.
• –Predict whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing.

• –Test a range of materials to identify which are magnetic and which are not, and spot a pattern about magnetic materials.
• –Investigate how friction affects the distance a toy car travels on different surfaces.
• –Explore how magnets attract and repel using bar magnets and floating magnets to demonstrate poles.
• –Design a simple magnetic game and explain how it works, using correct vocabulary.