Year Topic No. Topic Name Lesson No.

Lesson Name
1 1 Living things 1 Animals are living things

Curriculum objectives B1.1A – Know that animals and plants are living things
ESE1.2 – Investigating: Make simple observations to compare objects and/or living things
ESE1.3 – Obtaining and presenting evidence: Use observations to suggest answers to simple questions
Learning focus What can living animals do?

Key vocabulary living things; alive; grow; food; eat; move; breathe; baby; senses; predict
Book references Textbook pages 4–5 Workbook pages 4–5
Resources supplied PIPS Y1 TP1 RS1: Animals – living or non-living?
Other resources needed Living animal(s) or a place to observe them
Toy animals, including some that can be pulled along or have moving parts
Sheets of A3 paper
Pens/coloured pencils
Optional: Vocabulary cards for support

Lesson Outline

Before you teach:

If possible, plan to have some living animals in the classroom or have somewhere to sit outside where animals, such as birds, snails or insects, can be
observed and discussed.

Keep away from the idea of non-living, which comes in a later lesson. The focus in this lesson is specifically on what living animals can do, not what
non-living animals cannot do.

Introduction:
Ask learners to name some animals. Compile a list on a whiteboard or flipchart. Discuss which animals live locally and which ones live in other parts
of the world. Ask: Have any of you seen any of these animals? Where were they? What were the animals doing?

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Main activity:
Look at some living animals. Watch what they are doing. Discuss different things that learners observe them doing. Bring key vocabulary into the
discussion and ask:
 Which animals are moving?
 Are any of the animals eating food?
 Are there any baby animals? Are they big or small?
 How do you know that the animals are alive?

Ask learners to compare (use this word so it becomes familiar) the living animals with the toy animals. Give learners time, working in pairs or small
groups, to look at pictures (you can use the resource sheet ‘Animals – living or non-living’) and/or objects to come up with some criteria for what a
living animal is like. Take some suggestions from each group and draw out the terms: ‘eat food’; ‘move’; ‘grow’; ‘breathe’; ‘have babies’; and ‘use
senses’. There are some examples in the textbook.

Give each group A3 paper and pens and ask them to draw one sheet of living animals and one sheet of animals that are not alive. Leave the latter
open to learners’ own interpretation at this stage – they may choose to include dead animals, or they may only include toy animals, etc. The focus
here is on what living animals are like; the concepts and definitions relating to non-living animals are for another lesson.

Workbook:
Complete workbook pages 4 and 5.

Plenary:
Now that learners know what living animals can do, see if they are able to use this knowledge to predict what an animal might do next. Use the cat
shown on textbook page 5 as an example. Ask: Can you predict what the cat might do next? Can you predict what the mouse might do? Can you
predict what might happen if a big bird flew past the cat?

Support Provide cue cards with key vocabulary words to assist descriptions.
Extension Suggest what the living animals you observed earlier are doing now. Suggest what they will be doing tomorrow.
Homework / Follow-up Finish any remaining workbook questions from pages 4 and 5.

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Year Topic No. Topic Name Lesson No. Lesson Name
1 1 Living things 2 Plants are living things

Curriculum objectives B1.1A – Know that animals and plants are living things
ESE1.2 – Investigating: Make simple observations to compare objects and/or living things
ESE1.3 – Obtaining and presenting evidence: Use observations to suggest answers to simple questions
Learning focus What can living plants do?

Key vocabulary living; growing; sunlight; green; air

Book references Textbook pages 6–7 Workbook pages 6–7
Resources supplied PIPS Y1 TP1 RS2: Plants are living things
Video: Plants
Other resources needed Variety of living plants or a place to observe them
Artificial plants, such as plastic houseplants or silk flowers
Sheets of A3 paper
Pens/coloured pencils
Optional: Vocabulary cards for support

Lesson Outline

Before you teach:

If possible, plan to have a variety of living plants in the classroom or have somewhere to sit outside where plants can be observed and discussed.

Again, keep away from the concept of non-living, which comes in a later lesson. The focus in this lesson is specifically on what living plants can do,
not what non-living ones cannot do.

When discussing how plants obtain food, here and as the course progresses, ensure that you refer to light or sunlight, not just the Sun.

Introduction:
Refer to the previous lesson on living animals. With the living plants visible, ask learners to put up their hand to show whether they think these plants
are living things. If there are any ‘no’ answers, ask someone who answered ‘yes’ and someone who answered ‘no’ to justify their choice by giving a
reason why they chose their answer. If no-one answered ‘no’, take this point of view yourself, just for now, and ask learners to justify to you why they
think that the plants are living things.

Main activity:
Look at the living plants in more detail. Discuss with learners why it is more difficult to observe plants doing things than it is with animals. Bring key
vocabulary into the discussion and ask:
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 Can plants move? How do you know?
 Can plants grow? Where have you seen plants doing this?
 Do plants have baby plants?
 What colour are most of the plants?
 Do you think plants eat? If so, how?

Ask learners to compare the living plants with the artificial plants. Give learners time, working in pairs or small groups, to look at living
plants/artificial plants/pictures of plants (see the resource sheet ‘Plants are living things’) to come up with some criteria to characterise living plants.
There are some examples to help them on the textbook pages.

Take some suggestions from each group and draw out these ideas: plants make food using light; they grow and move; they take in air; and they
make new plants.

Give each group A3 paper and pens to draw one sheet of living plants and one sheet of plants that are not alive. Again, leave the latter open to
learners’ own interpretation at this stage – they may choose to include dead plants, or they may only include artificial ones, etc. The focus here is on
what living plants are like; the concepts and definitions relating to non-living plants are for another lesson.

Workbook:
Complete workbook pages 6 and 7.

Plenary:
Now that learners know that plants can move, ask them to imagine what it would be like if plants moved more or moved faster.

Support Provide cue cards with key vocabulary words to assist descriptions.
Extension Investigate climbing plants – find one or more pictures of different climbing plants.
Homework / Follow-up Design a plant that can move. Draw the model.

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Year Topic No. Topic Name Lesson No. Lesson Name
1 1 Living things 3 Living or non-living

Curriculum objectives B1.1B – Distinguish between living and non-living things

ESE1.2 – Investigating: Identify and classify objects and/or living things
ESE1.3 – Obtaining and presenting evidence: Use observations to suggest answers to simple questions
Learning focus What are the differences between living and non-living things?

Key vocabulary non-living; dead; machines; robot

Book references Textbook pages 8–11 Workbook pages 8–11
Resources supplied PIPS Y1 TP1 RS3: Living or non-living?
Other resources needed Variety of living animals and plants
Variety of real and artificial plants; include one or two freshly picked flowers in a beaker of water
Sheets of paper for drawing
Pens/coloured pencils
Optional: Vocabulary cards for support

Lesson Outline

Before you teach:

Plan to have the most straightforward examples of the living and artificial/toy animals and plants used in previous lessons available (see the ‘Other
resources needed’ sections of the previous lessons). The aim is to challenge learners’ previous thinking, using a questioning approach, such as:
These are the things you told me were living … and these are the things you told me were not alive. Where is the boundary?

Introduction:
As your starting point for the lesson, and given the above approach, first ask learners to vote with a show of hands for each item you hold up to
indicate which item is a living animal or plant, and which item is not. Use very clear and obvious examples for which there will be no disagreement.

Main activity:
Allow approximately five minutes for pairs of learners to recap on what they expect a living thing to be able to do. Then, as a whole group, list the
ideas on a whiteboard or similar. This is the key list you are aiming for, so encourage learners until you have a complete list:

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 grow
 move
 have babies
 breathe or take in air
 feed in some way.
In addition, learners may include ‘responding to the world’, using senses or similar ideas that, as adults, we would classify as ‘responding to stimuli’.

Look at the flowers in the water, taking the opportunity to introduce the term ‘beaker’ here. Ask: Can you predict what will happen to the flowers if
you take them out of the water? You are looking for the idea that they will die. The flowers are currently living things, but without the water they will
become dead things. Clarify, using other pictures or dead insects, etc., that dead things were once living.

Now, introduce some harder examples, one at a time. If you have a Bunsen burner or another gas flame, it makes the perfect first example because
the flame moves; you can make it grow and you can make a Bunsen take in air too. Give necessary safety instructions about only using Bunsen
burners with adults. Another example is an interactive device, such as a personal assistant or mobile phone assistant. This gives a transition to
robots. Ask: Are robots alive? What can they do?

The key point is that all your borderline examples have needed a human to be involved to make the non-living thing move, speak, change shape,
etc. These items cannot do these actions of their own accord; they are all non-living things.

Regroup learners in pairs to look at the textbook examples together and to do the activities on textbook pages 8 to 11 inclusive.

Set the task of designing a robot, either individually or in pairs, as appropriate to the class. Encourage learners to decide on the tasks that their robot
is going to do first. For example: Is it a robot that works in a café? Is it a gardening robot? Is it a robot teacher?

Workbook:
Complete workbook pages 8 to 11.

Plenary:
As a whole group, summarise the differences between living things, dead things (things that were once living) and non-living things (things that have
never been alive).

Support Put label words on one very clear example of a living thing, a dead thing and a non-living thing for reference throughout.
Extension Using textbook page 10, discuss or write two good points and two bad points about using robots or drones to do things for
us.
Homework / Follow-up Complete any remaining questions on workbook pages 8 to 11 and/or complete the robot design.

Year Topic No. Topic Name Lesson No. Lesson Name

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1 1 Living things 4 Animals grow and change

Curriculum objectives B1.1C – Understand that animals and plants change as they grow
ESE1.2 – Investigating: Observe changes, such as new materials being formed or growth and development of living
things
Learning focus Animals change as they grow

Key vocabulary change; adult; offspring; younger; older; parent

Book references Textbook pages 12–13 Workbook pages 12–13
Resources supplied PIPS Y1 TP1 RS4: Adults and offspring
Other resources needed Additional country-specific pictures of adult and baby animals in the same species
Optional: Vocabulary cards for support
Lesson Outline

Before you teach:

The focus of this lesson is to compare younger and older animals (of the same species) by looking at similarities as well as differences. Growth and
change in plants and in humans will be covered in a later lesson.

Use the term ‘body mass’ from the outset rather than try to introduce it or rename it in later years. ‘Size’ is an unhelpful term in science as it is not a
measurable quantity, so encourage learners to refer to ‘longer legs’, ‘longer ears’, ‘wider face’ rather than ‘legs change size’ or ‘face is bigger’.
Routine use of quantitative terms will make experimental design much easier to teach in the future too!

Introduction:
Recap on the characteristics that living things share, focusing on the fact that living things grow. Emphasise that being able to grow is one feature
that something must be able to do to be called a living thing. Neither dead things nor non-living things can grow.

Main activity:
Ask learners if they have ever seen a baby animal. Ask: What was it like? Discuss how living things can have babies that look like their parents
because they are the same animal species as the parent, but they differ in appearance because they are younger. Introduce the concept that parents
care for the babies and may show them how to do things.

Look at the photographs of the baby monkey and the adult monkey on textbook page 12. Introduce the comparative terms ‘younger’ and ‘older’ by
discussing the first two questions. Also, introduce the vocabulary parent, adult and baby in this context.
Pair learners together to observe and discuss some of the things that change and do not change as the monkey grows.

As a whole group, bring the ideas discussed together, refining them as, for example, ‘increase in height’ and ‘increase in body mass’, as well as

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actual length of limbs and their length in comparison to body length. List the ideas in simpler words on a whiteboard or similar. Then discuss what
has not changed, for example, number of limbs, specific facial features, colour of fur (although the texture or hue may change, which you can liken to
human hair turning grey or white).

In pairs, direct learners to look at and discuss the image of the big cats on textbook page 13. Ask them to identify the adults and the babies,
developing the concept further using the terms ‘older’/’younger’ and ‘parent’/’baby’. This is another opportunity to look for similarities and changes
as the cubs grow.

As a whole group, collect learners’ observations and then move on to introduce the idea that, for some animals, we use a different word for the baby
animal (for example, a cub) and its older adult counterparts (for example, lion/tiger/cheetah). Compile a list of any pairs of younger/older animals
that learners already know (for example, puppy/dog; kid/goat; calf/elephant; foal/horse; fawn/deer), prompting, if needed, by giving one name of the
pair and asking for the other.

Group learners in pairs and provide them with the resource sheet ‘Adults and offspring’, showing an assortment of younger and older examples of
the same animal, for example, a dog and a puppy, a cat and a kitten. Ask learners to match the animal pairs and then discuss with their partner what
is the same and what is different for each pair.

Workbook:
Complete workbook pages 12 and 13.

Plenary:
Discuss how a butterfly and a caterpillar differ in appearance, using the pictures on textbook page 13 as stimulus material. Compare this to the
changes discussed and observed in the lesson.

Support Provide at-a-glance labelled pictures to show the meaning of adult, baby, older and younger.
Extension Find out why some gorillas are called silverbacks.
Homework / Follow-up Investigate kangaroos and their babies. Ask: What are the babies called? Where do they live when they are small?

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Year Topic No. Topic Name Lesson No. Lesson Name
1 1 Living things 5 Watching plants grow and
change
Curriculum objectives B1.1C – Understand that animals and plants change as they grow
ESE1.2 – Investigating: Observe changes, such as new materials being formed or growth and development of living
things
ESE1.3 – Obtaining and presenting evidence: Use drawings and labelled diagrams to present observations
Learning focus Plants change as they grow

Key vocabulary beans; sunlight; water

Book references Textbook pages 14–17 Workbook pages 14–17
Resources supplied PIPS Y1 TP1 RS5: Growing plants
Other resources needed Assorted plants/seeds in different stages of development, if available
Broad bean or pea seeds – dried ones can be soaked in water the day before, if preferred
One tall transparent bottle or tall jam jar per learner or pair
Newspaper (ideally) or sturdy kitchen towel or cotton wool – enough to line each jam jar
Water – for watering seeds and for hand washing
Additional country-specific pictures of plants at different stages of growth
Optional: Vocabulary cards for support
Lesson Outline

Before you teach:

The focus of this lesson is to show learners that beans grow into plants and change as they do this. The main activity involves sowing beans, or
something similar, so that learners can watch them growing. You may have the facilities to plant the beans outside to allow learners to observe how
they grow up sticks, as illustrated on textbook page 6. It is still worth starting them in jars, however, since this enables learners to see the changes
that would otherwise take place out of sight, underground. You may wish to set up a few spare beans/jars in case someone’s bean does not
germinate or turns mouldy.

Note that if you wish to show learners the inside of a bean or pea, it is important that they are soaked beforehand so that they are soft enough to
remove the seed coat.
Introduction:
Revisit the criteria for classifying something as a living thing, highlighting the concept of growth. Show learners beans or any other living specimens
you have and discuss why they are living things.

Main activity:

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Discuss the use of beans. Learners may recognise beans as food – emphasise safety here – especially if using dried, commercially produced beans,
etc., as they may have been treated to preserve them. Introduce the good practice of handwashing after touching any living thing.
Focus on the concept of food, i.e. when we eat beans (or any other pulses), we are eating the baby plant’s food store. The baby plant is inside the
bean, surrounded by a food store that will help it grow. It needs water and air to help it use the food store. After the food store is used up, the bigger
plant (with leaves) needs light to make its own food.

You could also split open a bean and show learners what is inside or use the image in the resource sheet ‘Growing plants’.
Remove the seed coat and the two halves of the bean will split apart easily. Learners may be surprised at how tiny the plant is and what a large
‘meal’ it has!

Demonstrate how to roll a sheet of newspaper to fit tightly against the inside wall of a jar. Making a tight fit will enable learners to wedge their bean
between the wall of the jar and the newspaper. Soak the newspaper so there is a bit of spare water in the bottom of the jar that will move up the
paper as it dries.

If working in pairs, each learner can still have their own bean to grow by putting beans on opposite sides of a jar. If the bean keeps slipping down,
make a more solid core of newspaper in the centre of the jar. Keep the newspaper watered regularly. Remember to watch out for beans going
mouldy, in which case they are best discarded promptly.

Learners can then start writing/drawing in a bean diary (see resource sheet ‘Growing plants’) to record changes in the bean as it grows.

Workbook:
Complete workbook pages 14 and 15.

Plenary:
Use textbook pages 16 and 17 as a consolidation activity.

Support Less dextrous learners may require assistance with inserting the bean between the newspaper and the side of jar.
Extension Try growing other seeds and compare how they grow. Observe which changes are common to all seeds, such as seed coat
splitting.
Go back to the key vocabulary on workbook page 3 and complete the task there.
Homework / Follow-up Continue observing the growing bean daily and recording in the bean diaries how it grows and changes.
Complete the self-assessment task on workbook pages 16 and 17. If doing a topic test, consolidate learning and key
vocabulary.

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