Year 4 hunt for marvellous minibeasts in school microhabitats

In Science, year 4 have enjoyed hunting for minibeasts around the school grounds, where they found an impressive array of tiny creatures. We discovered that they all chose habitats where they were well sheltered, protected from predators and the elements and close to their food source. We also learnt that all of these creatures are invertebrates because they do not have an internal skeleton or backbone. Using close observation and branching keys, we were then able to classify these into groups such as insects, arachnids and molluscs. By answering further questions using the branching keys, we were able to name minibeasts that were less familiar to us, including a shield bug, different types of beetle, a millipede and a centipede.

Next, we will learn about the common characteristics of the 5 main vertebrate groups: mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and birds. This knowledge will help us to create our own branching keys to classify the most deadly rainforest animals! We will be aiming to use the scientific language we have learnt to generate criteria for each stem of our key.