Eating and Digestion

#TheCompleteSeries6lessons

Start each lesson by going through the included whole-class slideshow presentation together with your class, which will provide some key information, questions and challenges about the key teaching focus of the lesson from the human digestive system to animal food chains. Your Year 4 children can then use the range of printable resources provided (such as worksheets, challenge cards, picture cards and information sheets) to carry out the differentiated activities as they continue to explore and investigate eating and digestion independently.

These animals including humans Year 4 Science lessons are a fun and engaging way to teach these necessary objectives through hands-on investigations and scientific enquiry – and the best part is that they are fully planned and ready to deliver to your class so you don't have to spend hours and hours planning!

This scheme of work is also part of a Topic Bundle. Perfect if you are teaching 'Food' as a cross-curricular topic.

#Lesson1HerbivoreCarnivoreandOmnivore

In this Herbivore, Carnivore and Omnivore KS2 Science lesson for Year 4, your class will compare the diets of a variety of animals, as well as explore the terms 'herbivore', 'carnivore' and 'omnivore'.

The lesson starts by thinking about why animals, including humans, need to eat before going on to look at some more specific examples of animal diets. During their independent learning activities, your class will then have the opportunity to classify a variety of different animals according to what they eat.

This Herbivore, Carnivore and Omnivore KS2 lesson planning pack comes completely prepared and ready for you to teach to your class. Download the easy-to-follow lesson plan with the accompanying slideshow presentations and printable resources for an engaging Science lesson that won't take hours of prep!

#Lesson2FoodChains

In this Food Chains KS2 Science lesson for Year 4, your class will find out what food chains are and explore a variety of food chains to show the diets of different animals.

During the teaching input, your children will learn about how food chains start with a producer (usually a green plant) and then put their knowledge of carnivores, herbivores and omnivores to good use as they explain what different food chains mean. In their independent activities, they can then have a go at constructing food chains themselves, or even put themselves into food chains!

This Food Chains KS2 planning pack contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation, differentiated activity ideas and a range of handy printable resources.

#Lesson3HumanTeeth

This Human Teeth Year 4 Science lesson provides you with a completely ready-to-teach lesson that will soon have your KS2 class exploring the differences between incisors, canines and molars.

The slideshow presentation that leads you and your class through the teaching input explains the different types of teeth humans have and gives your class the chance to explore their own teeth. They can then consolidate this learning through differentiated activities during their independent learning time.

This Human Teeth Year 4 planning pack contains a lesson plan, a set of slides and a variety of printable teaching resources.

#Lesson4HealthyTeeth

Now that your class understand the different functions of their teeth and why they are important, they can look at how to keep teeth healthy in this Healthy Teeth KS2 lesson for Year 4 children.

During the lesson, they will think about the difference between a child losing a milk tooth and an adult losing an adult tooth and how the two scenarios have very different consequences. They can then look at what they can do to avoid tooth decay, such as brushing, flossing and visiting the dentist.

Download this practical Healthy Teeth KS2 planning pack (containing a detailed lesson plan, slideshow, differentiated activity ideas and printable teaching resources) to ensure your Year 4 children know how to care for their teeth.

#Lesson5TheDigestiveSystem

In this Digestive System Year 4 lesson, your class will explore what happens to their food once they have swallowed it. After establishing their current understanding of the digestive system, this lesson goes on to teach your KS2 class the names of the organs associated with digestion and encourages them to ask and answer questions about what happens to their food between it going in and coming out again!

This Digestive System Year 4 planning pack comes fully planned and ready for you to teach. There's an easy-to-follow lesson plan, a slideshow for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable teaching resources to support your class as they carry out their independent learning activities.

#Lesson6UnderstandingDigestion

In this Digestion System Year 4 Science lesson, your class will explore how we digest our food in more detail.

Your class will discover the journey their food takes from mouth to toilet and identify the function of organs such as the stomach, liver, gall bladder, small intestine and large intestine. There is also the chance to undertake an experiment to find out how acids break down food.

This Digestive System Year 4 lesson comes completely ready for you to deliver to your class. There's a detailed lesson plan, a slideshow for the whole-class input, differentiation and a range of printable teaching resources to support your class as they undertake their independent learning tasks.

Free Overview (Medium-Term Plan)

Download a free overview to support your teaching of this scheme of work.

Free Assessment Grid

Download a free, editable assessment grid to support your teaching of this scheme of work.

Curriculum Objectives covered

• asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them
• setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests
• recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables
• reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions
• identifying differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes
• using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings

• describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans
• identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions
• construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey