Year 4 Science Scheme of Work

States of Matter

• –Compare and group materials together according to whether they are solids, liquids, or gases.
• –Observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens.
• –Identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.

• –Sort everyday substances into solid, liquid, and gas and discuss border cases such as cornflour slime.
• –Investigate the melting points of chocolate, butter, and ice, and draw a temperature-change graph.
• –Explore evaporation by leaving water in different conditions and measuring how quickly it disappears.
• –Trace the water cycle using a diagram and link evaporation and condensation to weather patterns.

Sound

• –Identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating.
• –Recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear.
• –Find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it.
• –Find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it.
• –Recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases.

• –Observe vibrating tuning forks touching water to see and feel vibrations, and link these to sound production.
• –Investigate how pitch changes with the length of a string or column of air using rubber bands and bottles.
• –Test how sound travels through different materials (solid, liquid, air) using a string telephone.
• –Investigate how volume decreases with distance from the source and represent data as a line graph.

Electricity

• –Identify common appliances that run on electricity.
• –Construct a simple series circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches, and buzzers.
• –Identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery.
• –Recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit.
• –Recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors.

• –Build and test a simple series circuit using a battery, bulb, and wires, then draw the circuit.
• –Add a switch to a circuit and explain what is happening when the bulb lights and goes out.
• –Test a range of materials in a circuit to identify conductors and insulators.
• –Troubleshoot broken circuits and identify faults using logical reasoning.

Living Things and Classification

• –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.

• –Create and use branching dichotomous keys to identify a set of unfamiliar minibeasts or leaves.
• –Classify a set of organisms using observable features and discuss why classification systems are useful.
• –Research an endangered habitat and present the threats it faces and the impact on the organisms within it.
• –Survey the school grounds biodiversity and compare results with a different season or habitat.

Digestion and Teeth

• –Describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans.
• –Identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions.
• –Construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators, and prey.

• –Create a model digestive system using a plastic bag, tights, and water to simulate digestion from mouth to large intestine.
• –Examine and compare the four types of human teeth (incisors, canines, premolars, molars) and match each to its function.
• –Conduct an experiment on the effect of sugar and acid on eggshells as a model for tooth enamel erosion.
• –Build food chains for three different ecosystems and explain the role of producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers.