Year 4 · Living things and habitats

When a habitat changes

Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things

20 minutes4 checks6 exit questionsNational curriculum objective

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things

Key learning points

• Natural changes
• Changes people cause
• What happens to the living things
• Looking after habitats

This lesson at a glance

20 minutes
19 parts to scroll through
4 quick checks
No marked quiz yet
Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

environmentschangedangerslivingthings

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Watch first

When a habitat changes

Discover how plants, animals and decomposers all depend on each other.

Do it for real

The practicals below use what the film shows, with a full method you can follow at home.

Make your own minibeast key What happens under a paving slab?

In a nutshell

Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You know that a habitat is the place a living thing lives, and that it needs food and shelter there.

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

habitat: The place where a living thing lives.
environment: Everything around a living thing.
pollution: Harmful stuff added to air, water or land.
conservation: Looking after habitats so living things survive.

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — What changes a habitat

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

Natural changes

Some changes come round every year: a pond can dry in a hot summer, trees drop their leaves in autumn, a stream runs faster after heavy rain. Living things are usually ready for these — hedgehogs hibernate, swallows migrate, seeds wait in the soil.

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Changes people cause

Building a road across a field, cutting a hedgerow, draining a pond or dropping litter changes a habitat quickly, before anything has time to adapt. Pollution counts too: oil in a river, or fertiliser washing off a field and making pond water green with algae.

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

Which is a natural change?

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

Removing a hedgerow most directly loses…

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — Why it matters

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

What happens to the living things

When a habitat changes, animals can move away, adapt, or die. If a hedgerow is removed, the birds that nested there must find another one — and if there is not another nearby, there are fewer birds next spring. The insects the hedge fed disappear too, so the effect spreads along the food chain.

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Looking after habitats

Conservation can be small: a log pile for beetles, a pond in a garden, leaving one strip of long grass, picking up litter. Nature reserves do the same thing on a big scale — they keep the habitat in a state that the living things there can use.

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

Fertiliser washing into a pond can…

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

Which is conservation?

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

Thinking every change to a habitat is caused by people.
Thinking animals can always just move somewhere else.
Forgetting that losing plants affects the animals that eat them.

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

____ things are usually ready for these — hedgehogs hibernate, swallows migrate, seeds wait in the soil.

Nature reserves do the same thing on a big scale — they keep the habitat in a state that the living ____ there can use.

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

No quiz for this one

This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Why the school greenhouse failed

A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.

The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.

The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.

Method and results
Writing
Write the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.
1 page + results table
Conclusion
Writing
Explain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.
6–8 sentences
Labelled diagram
Diagram
Draw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.
1 labelled diagram
Reading and notes
Reading
Read the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.
Half a page of notes

Write your answer, notes or working here

Saved as you type.

Photos of paper work, diagrams or working outHow many minutes did the written work take?

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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