Science Planning
Term: Autumn 1 Week: 5
Day
Topic
Week 5
Buildings
Objectives
Success Criteria
HD/FESH/LF
Year 1/2
Unit: Materials and their Properties
Learning
(Reflection if appropriate)
Main question:
Pose the question to the children: What is the best material to build a house from.
What is the best
material to build a
house from?
Children to sit down at their tables and write some ideas down on a piece of big paper to
answer the question.
LO: To identify and
compare the
suitability of a variety
of everyday materials,
including wood, metal,
plastic, glass, brick,
rock, paper and
cardboard for
different uses.
Bring children to the carpet and start exploring.
First problem to explore: Which material is the most waterproof?
Explain what waterproof means and ask the children what part of the house needs to be
waterproof.
Experiment:
Children to go outside with different materials and a bucket of water.
They need to work in groups of 3/4. 2 children will need to hold the corners of the material
and the other person in the group will pour water over it. Does the water go through? Does it
soak in but not come through or does it balance on top without getting absorbed.
TAKE PHOTOS
Children to decide which material was the most waterproof and then write the material in
their book that they have chosen as the best.
HD planning
Science Planning
Term: Autumn 1 Week: 5
Week 6
Buildings
HD/FESH/LF
Year 1/2
Unit: Materials and their Properties
Main question:
Remind children of the question: What material is the best to build a house from?
What is the best
material to build a
house from?
What material would be the strongest?
LO: To identify and
compare the
suitability of a variety
of everyday materials,
including wood, metal,
plastic, glass, brick,
rock, paper and
cardboard for
different uses.
Ask the children why the house needs to be strong. Explain that the material also needs to be
large so it takes the least amount of time to build.
Show children the different materials they have to explore.
As a class explain they are going to test each material for strength by
bending/pulling/standing on the materials.
Experiment: give each group a different material and explain that this is the material they
are going to test. They need to bend, pull, hit, stand on their material to see if it will break,
rip, bend etc. They are looking for a material that stays straight and doesn’t break if
hit/stood on.
TAKE PHOTOS
Children to write their strongest material in their books.
HD planning
Science Planning
Term: Autumn 1 Week: 5
Buildings
Main question:
Week 7
What is the best
material to build a
house from?
HD planning
LO: To identify and
compare the
suitability of a variety
of everyday materials,
including wood, metal,
plastic, glass, brick,
rock, paper and
cardboard for
different uses.
HD/FESH/LF
Year 1/2
Unit: Materials and their Properties
Remind children of the question: What material is the best to build a house from?
Explain that today the children are going to test which material is the most fireproof.
Obviously when building a house we don’t want to build it from a material that can be burnt
down easily.
Children are going to assemble onto the playground where the teachers will burn the
different materials to test for fireproof. SEE RISK ASSESSMENT
Children will look for which material is least changed after the fire.
TAKE PHOTOS
Children to write the least fireproof material in their book.
Science Planning
Term: Autumn 1 Week: 5
Week 8
Buildings
HD/FESH/LF
Year 1/2
Unit: Materials and their Properties
Main question:
Remind children of the question: What material is the best to build a house from?
What is the best
material to build a
house from?
Ask the children to discuss so far what they have tested and what materials where the
strongest and the most waterproof.
LO: To identify and
compare the
suitability of a variety
of everyday materials,
including wood, metal,
plastic, glass, brick,
rock, paper and
cardboard for
different uses.
Ask the children what material is needed to build a good house based on the two experiments
they have already done.
Look for children saying ‘bricks’. Explain that bricks are man-made but they are made from
natural materials.
New problem for the children to explore: Which rocks are the least crumbly?
Explain why don’t want crumbly rocks to build our house out of.
Ask the children if we know what bricks are made out of?
Explain that bricks are made from natural items found in the ground including different rocks.
Experiment: Children to have different types of rocks including sand, chalk, stone etc.
Which rock should be used in making bricks?
Children to test the rocks by throwing them, pouring water onto them, sliding them down a
board to test slippiness etc.
Which rock was the most durable, waterproof and least slippy?
TAKE PHOTOS
Children to write down the best rock in their book.
Plenary: using all their findings from this week what have they decided is the best
material to build a house from. (Bricks)
Which material is the best material to make the bricks from?
Answer to main question: _____ is the best material to build a house from. Children to
write this in their books.
HD planning
Science Planning
Term: Autumn 1 Week: 5
HD planning
HD/FESH/LF
Year 1/2
Unit: Materials and their Properties