KS1 & KS2 science curriculum

This unit builds on pupils' prior learning from Everyday materials, where they explored the properties and uses of common materials. In Properties, changes and separating materials, pupils will investigate how materials can be changed, separated, and classified based on their properties, such as hardness, solubility, and conductivity. This prepares them for the next unit, Materials, where they will delve deeper into the processes of separating mixtures and understanding more advanced material properties and changes.

1. Properties of materials
2. Uses of everyday materials
3. Thermal insulators: plan
4. Thermal insulators: do and review
5. Everyday uses of thermal insulators
6. Insulating our homes and schools (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability)
7. Soluble and insoluble
8. Recovering insoluble solids
9. Providing safe drinking water (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability)
10. Separating soluble solids from solutions
11. Removing salt from seawater (non-statutory)
12. Reversible changes of state
13. More reversible changes
14. Burning: an irreversible change
15. Burning plants as fuel (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability)
16. Greenhouse gases (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability)
17. Bioplastics (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability)
18. Rusting: an irreversible change
19. More irreversible changes
20. How scientists work

• Distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made
• Identify and name a variety of everyday materials
• Describe the simple physical properties of everyday materials
• Compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties
• Identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials for particular uses
• Compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties
• Compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials
• Compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases
• Observe that some materials change state when they are heated and cooled
• Recognise some common electrical conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors