Years 3 & 4

Years 3 and 4 Curriculum Overview

Next term our new topic is PREDATOR!!

It’s time to take a walk on the wild side!

Find out who’s coming to visit…. Is it a bug-munching lizard or an eagle- eyed bird of prey? Whatever it is, do you think you can handle it?

Learn about creepy crocs and amazing alligators, the deadly assassin bug and the voracious Venus flytrap. Be inspired to write an informative leaflet all about your favourite predator and compose a poem about a predator or its prey. Write a dilemma story about a disaster involving a predator- will you escape the danger?

Then use what you know about the best of the beasts to create the ultimate predator; the apex of the chain. Cross a Tiger with a Peregrine Falcon or a Lion with a Great White Shark! What incredible species can you create?

Feeling peckish? Let’s jump aboard the food chain!

What will you choose to do at home?

• Visit the local library to find non-fiction books about predators. Look for information using contents, glossaries and index pages. Write down any new facts you have learnt and bring them in to share with the class.

• Learn how to spell the names of some of the weird and wonderful predators of the world – the weirder the better!

• Research and record a predator from each of the subgroups: mammals, birds, insects, arachnids, reptiles, fish and plants.

• Make a mini fact file or short digital presentation about your favourite predators and bring it to school to share with the class.

• Make a non-fiction book about a predatory animal – maybe your pet cat?

• Make a predator glossary to explain all the specialist vocabulary from this topic.

• If you could be a predator for the day, what kind of predator would you be, and why? Where would you live? What features would help you hunt, catch and kill your prey? Record your ideas on paper and bring them in to share with the class.

• Use sources to research what different predators eat. Create food chains for a variety of different predators using materials and tools of your choice.

• Devise a ‘What am I?’ quiz about predators and try it out on your friends and family. How many questions does it take for them to get to the right answer?

• Write a short, imaginative story or poem from the point of view of either a predator or its prey.

• Write a set of instructions for how to care for your ultimate predator!