Endangered animals & life cycles (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability)
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can find out about why some animals are in danger, and the impact this could have on their life cycles.
Key learning points
- If an animal is endangered, it may not be able to reproduce, and the species can become extinct
- There are many reasons that animals can become endangered, such as deforestation or changing climate
- We can find out more about endangered animals by observing them and carrying out research
Keywords
Species - A species is a group of animals or plants that are similar and can have babies together.
Extinct - Animals or plants that have died out completely are extinct.
Reproduce - When living things reproduce they create their offspring.
Endangered - An endangered plant or animal is one that is at risk of becoming extinct.
Research - To research something is to find out about it or investigate it carefully.
Common misconception
Pupils may think that animals and plants can adapt to their habitats, no matter how they change.
Use the lesson resources to make it clear that adaptations take a very long time and sometimes habitats change too fast for this to happen.
Teacher tip
A lot of very familiar animals, like tigers and blue whales, are endangered. Encourage children to research an animal they are especially interested in for the practice tasks in this lesson.
Equipment
Access to the internet for research.
Content guidance
Risk assessment required - equipment
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is a habitat?
Q2.What does it mean when animals reproduce?
Q3.When animals reach the stage of their life cycle, they are able to reproduce.
Q4.What is a climate?
Q5.If we wanted to find out more of something, which of these would not be a good place to look for information?
Q6.Research can be carried out using sources of information.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.When a species becomes it has died out and there are none left anywhere.
Q2.Which of these words means a species is at risk of becoming extinct?
Q3.Which of the following are reasons animals can become endangered?
Q4.What does climate change mean?
Q5.If a species has become extinct, why will there be no more of that species?
Q6.We can find out about endangered animals by them and carrying out research.
To help you plan your 5 science lesson on: Endangered animals & life cycles (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability), download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 5 science lesson on: Endangered animals & life cycles (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability), download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 science lessons from the Reproduction and life cycles: animals unit, dive into the full primary science curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.