Vocabulary is the focus of this week’s Talk Time.
We’ve just begun a new Science topic and with it comes new Science vocabulary.
This half-term, we’re all biologists, learning specifically about Living Things and their Habitats. Here’s a list of key words that are being learnt and applied as part of our learning. Over the half-term, practise using these words with your child.
Years 1 and 2 Biology vocabulary:
| alive | a living thing; not dead |
| dead | no longer alive |
| habitat | the place where an animals or plant lives |
| basic needs | the things that a plant or animal need to live |
| food chain | shows who eats who in a habitat. |
| predator | An animal that hunts and eats other animals |
| prey | An animal that is eaten by another animal |
Years 3 and 4 Biology vocabulary:
| vertebrate | an animal with a backbone |
| invertebrate | an animal without a backbone |
| warm-blooded | animals that can control their body temperature (birds and mammals) |
| cold- blooded | animals that cannot control their body temperature; their body temperature changes with the air or water temperature (all animals except birds and mammals) |
| organism | a living thing, animal or plant |
| insect | an invertebrate with six legs |
| classification key | a set of questions about the characteristics of organisms; used to identify a living thing or decide which group a living thing belongs to. |
| environmental danger | something that can threaten a habitat |
Years 5 and 6 Biology vocabulary:
| taxonomy | The science of naming, describing and classifying organisms |
| organism | a living thing, animal or plant |
| kingdom | The highest division in the classification system; there are five kingdoms (animals, plants, fungi, protists, monera) |
| flora | Living things that are plants |
| fauna | Living things that are animals |
| bacteria | Single-celled organisms; most or which can only be seen with a microscope |
| fungi | Organisms that can feed on the remains of other living things; can be single-celled or multi-celled (eg mushroom, yeast, mould) |
| micro-organism | An organism that can only be seen through a microscope |
Some of these words have been introduced already this week but there may be others that are going to be covered in the coming weeks.