MODULE 1

CIRCLE OF LIFE

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National curriculum links:Explain the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird

Learning intention:To defi ne what a mammal is and describe its life cycle

Scientific enquiry type:Using a wide range of secondary sources of information

Working scientifically links:Reporting and presenting fi ndings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations

Success criteria:• I can defi ne what a mammal is. • I can describe the common characteristics of

different types of mammal.

• I can sequence the life cycle stages of a hedgehog, a bat, a polar bear or a mountain gorilla.

• I can ask questions to fi nd out more about mammals and identify how to answer these questions.

LESSON SUMMARY:In this lesson children deepen their knowledge from Year 3 about the group of animals called mammals. By the end of the lesson they will have found out about the life cycles of a variety of mammals, identifying some common characteristics.

LESSON 2: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE LIFE CYCLES OF MAMMALS?

EXPLORE: Display the fi rst part of Different life cycles? (Interactive 1). Show children the images of the four animals that they learned about during the last lesson: toad, bumblebee, blue tit and elephant. Check whether children can remember the name and type of each animal by looking at and discussing them in sequence and then matching them to their correct type on screen.

Ask: What is this animal called? Which type of animal is it? What did you learn about its life cycle during the last lesson?

Then move on to the second part of Interactive 1.

Ask: Are their young born live? How do they change as they grow? Which of the animals changes the most during its life cycle? How do they reproduce when they become adults? How long do they live?

Drag and drop answers into the boxes on screen. Ensure that children are beginning to build up a clearer picture of the differences between the life cycles of the different types of animals. This understanding will develop further and become more detailed over the course of the next four lessons, as children explore the four types of animals more closely.

ENQUIRE: Explain to children that during this lesson they are going to learn about the life cycle of some mammals in much greater detail.

Show children Marvellous mammals (Video 1), which features the four mammals that they are going to fi nd out about during the lesson: hedgehog, bat, polar bear and mountain gorilla.

Ask children whether they know the names of any or all of the four animals. Stick Mug shots (use Set 1 from Resource sheet 1) of each of the mammals, and their names, where children can see them.

In Challenges 1 and 2 children use secondary sources to fi nd out more about either a hedgehog, the Pipistrelle bat, a polar bear or a mountain gorilla. They are provided with a differentiated resource asset on which to record the evidence that they collect. In Challenge 3, children use secondary sources to fi nd out about the life cycle of a mammal of their choice, from a selection, and use the information to develop a ‘Whose life cycle is it anyway?’ game.

Key vocabulary: life cycle, hedgehog, bat, polar bear, mountain gorilla, cubs, pups, hibernate, nocturnal, marsupial

Resources: Mini whiteboards, secondary sources for research, including quality non-fi ction books, web-based resources, educational CDs, smartphone and tablet Apps, identifi cation guides and leafl ets

Key information:Mammal mothers give birth to live young and produce milk to feed their babies. Most mammals have four legs or two arms and two legs, but not all mammals live on land: mammals that spend their whole life cycle in aquatic environments have developed fi ns and fl ippers. Dogs, cows, elephants, mice, whales and humans are all mammals.

Key information:Mammals have been selected – hedgehog and Pipistrelle bat because they should be relatively familiar British mammals, while the polar bear and mountain gorilla are mammals from further afi eld that children may have some knowledge about.

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LESSON 2: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE LIFE CYCLES OF MAMMALS?

The challenges are presented on the Challenge slides to be displayed on the board, or printed out and placed in the centre of the table.

Challenge 1: Children work in pairs and use secondary sources to fi nd out information about the life cycle of one of the mammals

Give children a copy of Life cycle table (Resource sheet 2), which asks key questions that they should research using secondary sources and on which they should record their answers.

Challenge 2: Children work in pairs and use secondary sources to fi nd out information about the life cycle of one of the mammals, using the KWLH table (Resource sheet 3) to record their research

Give the children in pairs the KWLH Life cycle grid, which asks key questions that they should research using secondary sources. They should record their answers on the grid.

Challenge 3: Children work in pairs to research the life cycle of a mammal and use the information they discover to develop a ‘Whose life cycle is it anyway?’ game

Show the children Set 2 of the Mug shots from Resource sheet 1 and ask each pair of children to choose an animal to research. Ask the children to use the information they collect through their research to develop a ‘Whose life cycle is it anyway?’ game. They will need to write statements that are correct (but that don’t make the mammal too easy to identify). The aim is to say as many true facts as possible about the life cycle of the mammal, before the class can guess what it is. The quicker the class identifi es the mammal, the more points they gain.

REFLECT AND REVIEW: Encourage some children who have completed Challenge 3 to each lead a round of the ‘Whose life cycle is it anyway?’ game.

Ask children to fi nd a partner to work with who has researched a different mammal from them and work together to complete a Compare and contrast grid (Resource sheet 4).

Explain to children that you are going to introduce them to a mammal with some different stages in its life cycle.

Show an image of a kangaroo (Slideshow 1). Explain that a kangaroo is a special type of mammal called a marsupial. Ask them whether they know anything about kangaroos already. If a child mentions the pouch, ask them what the pouch is for. If necessary, explain to children that marsupial young are born long before they can survive away from their mother and that they spend anything up to six months in their mother’s pouch drinking her milk, until they are developed enough to come out. Children might like to fi nd out more about marsupials as part of a homework project.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING: Listen to children as they carry out research and refl ect on what they have learned about the life cycles of mammals. Look at their written work. Can they defi ne a mammal? Can they describe the common characteristics of mammals? Can they describe the life cycle of the mammal that they have studied in detail, referring to each stage of the life cycle? Did children frame appropriate questions to fi nd out more about mammals? Can they explain how the life cycle of a marsupial is different from that of other mammal types?

CROSS-CURRICULAR OPPORTUNITIES: This lesson can be linked to English, through reading comprehension, research skills, and non-chronological writing.

Key information: At birth, marsupial babies are not fully developed. The baby’s hind legs are just nubs. The baby lives and continues to develop in the mother’s pouch until it is developed enough to move around independently.The pouch, or marsupium, is also where the mother’s mammary glands are, for feeding the baby. A baby kangaroo may live in its mother’s pouch for six months.

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