Living things (KS2)
Living things and their habitats runs right through KS2, and it’s where children learn to bring order to the natural world. From classification keys in Year 4 to life cycles in Year 5 and the five kingdoms in Year 6, here’s what the curriculum expects and where to find lessons and resources to teach it.
What children learn about living things at KS2
What the national curriculum expects
“Living things and their habitats” appears in Years 4, 5 and 6. Year 4 covers grouping living things in different ways, using classification keys to identify them, and recognising that environments can change in ways that pose dangers to living things. Year 5 covers the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird, and the process of reproduction in some plants and animals. Year 6 covers how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics, including microorganisms, plants and animals, and giving reasons for those classifications.
Key knowledge and concepts
Within this topic, children build knowledge across how living things are grouped, how they reproduce, and how environments change:
Grouping living things
The different ways living things can be sorted and compared
Classification keys
Building and using keys to identify living things
Life cycles
Comparing the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird
Reproduction
How plants and animals reproduce, and how humans develop to old age
The animal kingdom
How animals are grouped by shared characteristics
The plant kingdom
How plants are grouped, and what sets them apart
Five kingdoms and microorganisms
Broadening classification to include microorganisms and viruses
Changing environments
How environments change, and the dangers that poses to living things
Where this topic sits within KS2
Living things and their habitats appears in Years 4, 5 and 6, so children return to it three times with growing sophistication. It’s closely tied to Evolution and inheritance in Year 6, and the two are often taught together.
How to access this topic
Living things don’t sit on their own in the curriculum. The Cornerstones science curriculum is fully sequenced from EYFS through Year 1 to Year 6, so you can see what comes before, what follows and how the whole picture fits together. We’ve done the thinking, so your planning time goes into teaching, not sequencing.
Full curriculum
Subject curriculum
Quick Teach Individual lessons and resources for supplementing what you already teach.
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See how the full Cornerstones Science Curriculum sequences topics like this one across every year group.