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Important update from TheSchoolRun
For the past 13 years, TheSchoolRun has been run by a small team of mums working from home, dedicated to providing quality educational resources to primary school parents. Unfortunately, rising supplier costs and falling revenue have made it impossible for us to continue operating, and we’ve had to make the difficult decision to close. The good news: We’ve arranged for another educational provider to take over many of our resources. These will be hosted on a new portal, where the content will be updated and expanded to support your child’s learning.
What this means for subscribers:
- Your subscription is still active, and for now, you can keep using the website as normal — just log in with your usual details to access all our articles and resources*.
- In a few months, all resources will move to the new portal. You’ll continue to have access there until your subscription ends. We’ll send you full details nearer the time.
- As a thank you for your support, we’ll also be sending you 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep.
A few changes to be aware of:
- The Learning Journey weekly email has ended, but your child’s plan will still be updated on your dashboard each Monday. Just log in to see the recommended worksheets.
- The 11+ weekly emails have now ended. We sent you all the remaining emails in the series at the end of March — please check your inbox (and spam folder) if you haven’t seen them. You can also follow the full programme here: 11+ Learning Journey.
If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for being part of our journey it’s been a privilege to support your family’s learning.
*If you need to reset your password, it will still work as usual. Please check your spam folder if the reset email doesn’t appear in your inbox.
Investigative skills worksheets
Similarities in families
When we have children, we pass on our genes to them. This is why you may look like your mum or dad, or you may be good at something (or not good at something!), just like them. Draw portraits of yourself, your mum and your dad. Do you share any physical characteristics? Can you give examples of how you are similar to your parents in behaviour or ability?
Researching vertebrates
Vertebrates can be divided into five groups. Can you research each group and give examples of animals in that group?
Researching life cycles
Think of an animal or plant you are particularly interested in. Can you research their life cycle? Draw or print out some pictures to make your life cycle clearer.
Researching invertebrates
All of these animals are invertebrates (they have no backbone). Can you do some research on them to find out how their bodies are structured, what they eat and what habitat they live in?
Research the life of Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall is a world-famous primatologist who has made lots of important scientific discoveries about chimpanzees and how they behave. Can you do some research and find the answers to these questions about her life?
Research Mary Anning
Mary Anning was born in 1799. She is famous because of her fossil discoveries and the important contribution they made to the scientific study of prehistoric life. See if you can find the answers to these questions by researching her life on the internet or in your library.
Prehistory timeline
Did you know that dinosaurs lived on Earth for roughly 200 million years, whereas we humans have only existed for 200,000 years?! Look at this timeline. Can you do some research on the kinds of dinosaurs that were around during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods? Find out what our planet was like then and what other animals were around.
How light helps us to see
We see an object because light shines onto it and is reflected back into our eye. When it gets dark this evening, try this activity to prove the theory.
How does distance of an object from a light source change the shadow it makes?
Time for an experiment! Let's find out how the distance of an object from a light source changes the shadow it makes.
Darwin and evolution
Have you heard about Darwin's theories on evolution? Have a look on the internet or in your local library. Can you find any examples of species evolving over time? Record your research.
Be a butterfly spotter
You will see lots of butterflies around in the summer. Flowers are in bloom and butterflies get their food by flying from flower to flower, sticking their long tongues out to suck the nectar (a sugary liquid) up. Can you spot any butterflies in your garden or to a nearby park. Look in the bushes. Did you see any of these butterflies?
Why do we use grit?
When the roads are slippery in winter we spread grit and then salt on them. But is salt the most effective solid we could use? Conduct this simple experiment to investigate!
Why do our bodies need exercise?
Whenever you or any member of your family or friends do some exercise, carry out a survey to find out how they felt. Use the table to record your findings. Look at the results of your table. What do you notice?
Who’s living in your tree?
Put a large white sheet under a tree or a bush and give the tree a good shake. Lots of little bugs living in your tree/bush should fall onto the sheet for you to look at carefully under a magnifying glass. Can you draw some of the bugs you can see? Can you identify any of them?
What is evaporation?
In this investigation you are going to see if water can move – or does it just change?
Understanding evaporation
Evaporation is the process by which a liquid such as water turns into a gas. In this simple experiment you will investigate how this process takes place.
Tree treasure hunt
Play a game with all the different trees in your garden or a park. First, walk around the garden with an adult. What is the same about the trees and what is different? Now try to complete these challenges.
Transparent and opaque
Can you remember what transparent means? What about opaque? Use a torch to investigate different materials you can find around your house. Which ones allow light to pass through them (transparent)? Which ones block light (opaque)?
The greenhouse effect investigation
Our planet is constantly affected by different forces and factors – many of which are caused by humans. We often hear about something called “the greenhouse effect”… but what is it? The greenhouse effect is when our planet heats up due to harmful gases collecting in our atmosphere. This simple investigation will show you how it happens!