Lesson Planning

Teaching

• Understand what is meant by the terms habitat and ecosystem and know that these can be affected by the activities of humans.
• Undertake a habitat survey in the local environment.

Activities

1. Discover that wildlife can be affected by human activity (Yrs 3&4).
2. Understand the meaning of key scientific words like habitat, ecosystem, survey and evidence.
3. Undertake a habitat survey in the local environment (Yrs 3&4).
4. Review the findings of their survey and consider the interdependence of the living things that make up that particular ecosystem (Yrs 3&4).

Investigation - classify and identify
Show film clip http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zyx6wxs to introduce the problem and recruit the children’s help to put on a Habitat Helper’s Fair at the end of the block. Discover what a habitat is by exploring the local environment. Conduct a survey of plants and creatures in a micro habitat.
Year 3 - Create a tally chart from a template and use it to make a frequency table.
Year 4 - Draw a frequency table and use the data to create a frequency graph.

Vocabulary
Environment, habitat, ecosystem, pollution, climate change, human activity, survey, evidence, data