Science
Good morning Year 6! I hope that you all had a good night’s sleep and are ready to do some learning.
I’m finding that I’m not sleeping as well recently as my head feels very busy! I think I need to try some of the mindful exercises that we practise at school. Click hereto see some of Miss Coleman’s great suggestions.
Anyway, our new Science topic for this term is ‘Evolution and Inheritance’!
Two big words so let’s define them:
Inheritance: When living things reproduce they pass on characteristics to their offspring. This is known as inheritance. You’ve probably noticed that you might look like your parents. This is because you inherit key characteristics from them, like your eye colour, skin colour and height.
Evolution: Evolution is the way that living things change over time. Evolution is a broad term that refers to any change over time and today are going to think about ‘Adaptation’.
Adaptation
Adaptation is the adjustment of animals and plants to their environment. Have you ever wondered why a giraffe has such a long neck, or why sharks have so many rows of teeth (and always have new teeth ready to replace any that fall out)? Why a cactus is spiky and a sloth rarely moves? The amazing characteristics shown by different animal and plant species are explained by adaptation. All of these organisms have changed to suit their habitat.
Click here for more information!
Watch this video to see how some animals have adapted to their habitats-click here!
Some animals live in hot and dry climates, some in cold and wet and some in hot and wet! All animals and plants have had to adapt to suit their climate.
For example; How are camels adapted to live in the desert?
Or
How can cacti survive without water? Find out here!
Questions like these definitely get me thinking!
Your task:
I would like you to carry out some research looking at animals and plants that have adapted to their environment.
Pick one plant or animal that interests you and present your research in any way that you would like! For example, you could create a poster, PowerPoint presentation, video or fact file! Include your most interesting facts below! Upload a photo to the website if you would like to and I can upload it to the blog! Click here for a ‘step by step’ guide.
Finally, watch David Attenborough look at how a ‘meat eating plant’ the Venus Flytrap has adapted to its environment!
Miss Gorick and Mrs Healy xx
For a printable version of the blog, click here-Thursday-Science
Well done to Paloma, Jade and Antonia-have a look at their work below!
Here are some of my facts on cacti:
There are about 2000 types of cacti
Cactus lifespan is somewhere in the ranges from 10 to 200 years old.
The tallest cactus ever was over 78 feet tall.
Gosh, 200 years old!
Here are some of my facts on Epiphytes.
This plant is an exotic plant and only lives in rainforests.
1)Epiphytes are plants that live on other plants.
2) This plant doesn’t have roots in the ground.
I’ve never heard of that plant-how interesting!
Good morning☺
I am going to be making a poster on elephants.
Here are some of my facts:
– Their big ears and wrinkly skin help them stay cool.
– They also have tusks made of ivory that can help them eat and protect themselves.
-An elephant is so big because it needs to store more fat and water,
for it to survive in extreme tropical weather.
I look forward to seeing your poster?!
How are camels adapted to live in the desert?
Here are some of my facts :
● They have wide feet for walking in sand.
● They have long eyelashes and thin, slit nostrils that they can close to protect them from sand storms.
● Camels store energy in their humps for the times when food sources get scarce.
????
Thanks Lola ? I enjoyed reading your facts!
Good morning,
My fact is:
The thorny devil is a reptile that lives in the Australian deserts, due to the low amount of rain, it has adapted with grooves on its body leading to its mouth so whenever it rains, the water travels to its mouth.
I’ve never heard of a thorny devil!
Hello! Here are two of my facts about Venus Fly Traps! ???
Science has created robotic flytraps that work exactly how normal ones do!
Venus Fly Traps can actually digest human skin! ?
Hope everyone’s staying safe! ???
Human skin…that made me shiver a little!
Poor Fly ? ! I am creating a Sway about cacti ? and I am going to send ? it in later!
Great, I can’t wait to see it!
I learnt that the fennec fox is the smallest canine. Also, it is nocturnal, therefore protecting it from the scorching heat of the Sahara desert (and other deserts in North Africa).
No wonder it’s nocturnal!
Good morning!
Here are my facts:
The tiger’s striped coat helps them blend in well with the sunlight filtering through the treetops to the jungle floor.
The tiger’s seamless camouflage to their surroundings is enhanced because the striping also helps break up their body shape, making them difficult to detect for unsuspecting prey.???
I didn’t realise that a tigers coat was for camouflage!
Great facts year 6 on lots of different plants and animals.
Hello Miss Gorick,
I am doing a power point all about sharks. Here are some interesting facts:
*Greenland sharks can live for up to 400 years,
* Sharks have been around for roughly 420 million years,
* Great white sharks can jump over 10 feet over water to catch animals such as sea birds (sea gulls),
* Sharks have sensors in their noses called Ampullae of Lorenzini (they sense for example blood from over 100 miles and vibrations).
Wow, so many excellent facts Year 6, well done! I wonder how all these animals and plants are adapted to their environments?
Here is the link to my Sway about adaptations:
https://sway.office.com/ATYYQJM5yTikYWKl?ref=Link
Wow Charles, I really enjoyed reading that!
I did my powerpoint on Thorny Devils.
The Thorny Devil can drink through its skin. What it does, is that it goes under plants with dripping dew, and the dew goes into micro grooves that, with the help of its jaw doing a gulping movement, moves up its body and into its mouth, and it can come from any part of its body.
Its other fascinating survival feature, is that it has a ´fake head´. When the small critter feels threatened, it ducks its head, so only a ball of bone covered with horns sticks out like a head. If they lose it because an animal ate it, thinking it was the Thorny Devils head, it won’t cause damage to its ´formal owner´.
Drink through it’s skin!? Wow!
good morning here are my facts about Zebras.
The zebras stripes are a bit like a finger print because none are exactly the same. Because of this they can identify who is who.
A zebras stripes keep them cool because their black stripes absorbs heat so the breeze goes faster but it slows over the cooler white stripes. This then creates tiny swirls of air that keep them cool in the heat.
The further south in Africa the further apart the zebras stripes are.
another reason that a zebra has stripes is that the stripes stop the attraction of bugs that carry disease. The stripes stop biting flies that carry disease because an insect will be confused by the stripes and may not land on the zebra.
The zebra also has its eyes on either side of its head meaning it can see behind and in front of itself which means it can detect movement quickly and get away from predators.
That’s so interesting to learn that no two zebras have the same print!
Hello,
Another fact about the thorny devil is:
The colour of their skin changes from season to season. In winter, it is a darker colour then in the summer as the day is shorter and colder. In the summer, it is a more pale tan as it is brighter and warmer. This is all so predators can’t see them as easily.
Hi miss! I’m going to be doing a power point about…HARP SEALS!
Do you know how i can make you see it?Like sending it?
Thanks!
I can’t wait to see it! I suggest that you email it to the office and then they will forward it to me 🙂
I know I didn’t even know that till today!!
I hope you enjoyed my English writing too.
I did thank you Nina! I’ve just read it and commented 🙂
Hi everyone!
HARP SEALS
APPEARENCE:
The harp seal has pitch black eyes. It has a silver-gray fur covering its body. Adult harp seals grow to be 1.7 to 2.0 m (5 ft 7 in to 6 ft 7 in) long and weigh from 115 to 140 kg (254 to 309 lb).The harp seal pup often has a yellow-white coat at birth, but after one to three days, the coat turns white and stays white for 2–3 weeks, until the first molt.Adolescent harp seals have a silver-gray coat spotted with black.
HABBITAT
The harp seal also known a saddleback seal or Greenland Seal, is a species of earless seal, or true seal, native to the northern Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. In Latin, its scientific name translates to “ice-lover from Greenland,”
Thankyou!
P.S here is a picture of a cute harp seal which looks like it is giggling!(their my favourite animals!) https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FEyebleach%2Fcomments%2F871mtd%2Fthis_adorable_seal_pup%2F&psig=AOvVaw20jO-oVUEpZ1LQwVvyaPBP&ust=1588337939438000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCKDohoeakOkCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAU
I have never heard of harp seal and you are right, they are very cute Indeed!
Hi miss! Also,did u get my Re homework from yesterday?i re posted it like you said but don’t know if it has gotten through,could you please let me know if it has?
Thankyou!
Hi Ariella 🙂 I’ve finally found it! Thank you so much; it is beautiful and I will add it to the blog now.
Hello i forgot to right on the blog but i did a powerpoint about the blind Skink which is a creature belonging to the lizard family who lost his legs and eye sight during evolution and now prefers to tunnel underground hiding from the scorching heat of the deserts,
eating creepy crawlies.
It is a very funny unique animal and i hesitated on choosing him or the sidewinder rattle snake who moves jumping sidewards so only two parts of his body touches the hot desert sand, very funny to watch too.
Hi Jade ☺ wow, all these creatures that I have never heard of! Thank you for teaching me!
Just make sure you double check your spellings before posting 🙂
The animal I have decided to focus on is the Psychrolutes marcidus.
They are a species of of fish that are also known as smooth-headed blobfish, or just simply “blobfish”.
The population of this only 420 meaning that this species is endangered but that is not the most interesting thing about it. The Blobfish was voted “World’s ugliest animal!”due to its saggy body. It doesn’t have a skeleton or any muscles which makes if very special although it isn’t the nicest looking animal in the sea! It’s goo all over its body is lighter than water, meaning it can float when it wants to but still can live very deep in the ocean!
Oh the poor old blobfish! I must admit that it is rather ugly..
Hello! I chose quite a cute animal…
I have decided to do a poster on the dumbo octopus. It’s called the Grimpoteuthis, but it’s also known as the dumbo octopus relating to its elephant -ear like find at the top of its head. Unlike other octopuses, they don’t produce ink since they live in the cold, abyssal depths of the ocean.
They’re also really cute! Don’t believe me? Search up the pictures!!
They are so cute! Thank you for you teaching me about this animal.
I have decided to do a fact file on the Japanese spider crab.
Here are my most interesting facts:
Their bodies can grow as big as a basketball and can be found from up to 600m deep.
Gosh…as big as a basketball!
Good afternoon Miss Gorick,
Sorry for the late reply, but I am studying the naked mole rat.
The naked mole rat is, in my opinion, uglier than the blob fish. However, it’s useful in cancer treatment as it is immune to tumours\high resistance. These fascinating creatures cannot feel some types of pain. They also do not age and so their risk of dying does not increase.
Hi Shun 🙂 Great to hear from you! I agree…poor naked mole rat!
Hi everyone ?
Here is my research and finished task
☁︎︎The three toed Sloth
The three toed sloths are arboreal neotropical mammals.There are four known species of the three toed sloth,the brown-throated sloth,the maned sloth,the pale-throated sloth and the pygmy three- toed sloth.
A bit more about them
(Yes,maybe fun facts)
Scientific name: Bradypus
Class: Mammaila/Mamal
Daily Sleep: 15-18 hours
Diet: Herbivore
Characteristics
The three-toed sloth has a high pitch call which when echoes sounds like “ahh-eeee.”
Three-toed sloth have an advantage that other mammals also posses;They have a second neck vertebrae which allows them to turn their heads 270 degrees.
Adaptations
They are absolutely built for trees! This is because there arms are longer than their legs and have curved feet for clinging onto branches.They can not walk but they are really good swimmers. The orientation of their fur helps the water flow away from their body.Sloths have large curved claws to help them easily grasp branches and vines, and hang comfortably while they eat and sleep.
Hi Maryana! I’ve never heard of this animal! It is amazing to hear that they can turn their heads 270 degrees!
Hello these are two of my Cacti facts:
1)Thick, waxy skin to reduce loss of water and to reflect heat.
2)large, fleshy stems to store water.
Great-thanks Tim!
Thank you Jade for your brilliant powerpoint! It was very interesting to read and lovely to hear your voice! Keep up the amazing work 🙂
Hi Antonia 🙂 I have just received your super PowerPoint! Thank you so much for sending me your work-it was very informative and I have attached it above! Happy Friday to you too 🙂
Hi Jeanne 🙂 I have just received your presentation all about the Red fox! Thank you so much for teaching me – I was especially interested to hear about their food stashing!