To end our week learning about life cycles, Ioan set up a small world tray all about metamorphosis.
Resources
- Insect Lore ladybird life cycle figurines
- Insect Lore bee life cycle figurines
- Frog life cycle
- Circus scarves
- Trees
- Leaves
- Flowers
Method
Ioan went all out, including elements from all the other trays he has made this week.
Metamorphosis, in biology, is a striking change of form or structure in an individual after hatching or birth. Hormones called moulting and juvenile hormones, which are not species specific, apparently regulate the changes. These physical changes as well as those involving growth and differentiation are accompanied by alterations of the organism’s physiology, biochemistry, and behaviour.
Among the most dramatic examples of metamorphosis are the insects. The transformation of the larva into an adult, is a more or less complicated process depending on the degree of difference between the two forms. The transformation may be gradual, extend over a long period, and involve a number of intermediate stages; alternatively, the transformation may be achieved in one step.
In the latter case, especially if the difference between the larva and adult is great, large parts of the body of the larva, including all the specifically larval organs, disintegrate (necrobiotic metamorphosis). At the same time, organs of the adult are built up, sometimes from reserve groups of cells that remain undifferentiated or nonfunctional in the larva.
This was Ioan explaining his tray, with some of the life cycles we have investigated this week.
DfES Outcomes for EYFS and National Curriculum (2013)
Science Year 1 programme of study
Animals, including humans
- identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals
Science Year 2 programme of study
Living things and their habitats
- identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other
- identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including micro-habitats
