This week, we have begun to study different habitats. We learnt more about the different habitats, such as urban, woodland and coastal, and then thought more about which animals may live in each habitat. We also learnt more about microhabitats and discussed animals that have their habitat within another. We compared human habitats with other animals, commenting that humans can move around easily in order to find a habitat that best suits them. Next week, we will be learning more about how animals adapt in order to survive in their habitats and will be completing an experiment to understand further! 

This lesson, we have recapped our understanding of different habitats and then moved on to thinking deeper about how animals are suited and adapted to their habitat. We discussed a few different examples and then studied the polar bear in more depth, learning more about the fur and fat that it uses in order to keep itself warm in icy conditions. For our experiment, we had to feel the icy water with our bare hands - it was cold! We discussed how we would hurt ourselves if we left our hands in there for a long period of time. Then, we used a glove as a layer of fur, which kept us warm when it was dry but got cold as soon as it was wet. Then, we used vegetable oil in bags to represent the fat layers that a polar bear has, putting our hands between these bags. This meant that, even when our hands were wet, they were kept warm by the oil. This showed us how polar bears use their fat to keep them warm when they are in the icy water. 

We have learnt more about things that are living or dead and those that have never been alive. We looked at the properties of living things and how they are able to grow, move, breathe and use their senses. We went out into the playground to find evidence of things that would go in each of our categories, discussing the reasoning behind our ideas. 

For our lesson this week, we have been learning about different sources of food. We discussed how some food is grown, some is reared and some is caught. We talked about the different places our food comes from and how it is seasonal in the UK. We learnt more about food miles and how this impacts the environment too. 

We have used our understanding of food sources to think about where plants and animals get their food from. We used this knowledge to then create different food chains! We discussed what different animals eat and how plants create their own food using the sunlight. Can you explain this food chain to your grown ups? 
 

algae —> plankton —> fish —> seal —> orca