LOWKEY SMART

Say the times table facts out loud: speed comes from saying them often.

A flowering plant has roots, a stem, leaves and flowers. The roots hold the plant firmly in the soil and take in water and minerals (nutrients) from it. The stem holds the plant up and carries water from the roots to the leaves and flowers. The leaves use sunlight, air and water to make food for the plant. The flowers make seeds so that new plants can grow. To grow well, most plants need light, water, air, nutrients from the soil, space and the right temperature.

The prefix mis- means wrongly or badly. It is added straight to the front of a root word without changing its spelling. Behave becomes misbehave, and understand becomes misunderstand.

Rocks are natural solids found in the ground. Granite is a very hard rock that does not let water through. Chalk and sandstone are softer rocks that let water soak in, and chalk crumbles easily. A rock that lets water soak in is called permeable; a rock that does not is called impermeable. Fossils are the remains or shapes of living things from long ago, preserved in rock. Soil is made of tiny bits of rock mixed with rotting plants and animals (called organic matter), air and water.

A conjunction joins two ideas together in one sentence. Words like because, when, before, after, while, so, although and if are all conjunctions. In 'We stayed inside because it was raining', because joins the two ideas and shows the reason.

We need light to see things. Light comes from light sources such as the Sun, a torch or a candle. Dark is the absence of light, which means there is no light. The Moon is not a light source: it reflects light from the Sun. Light travels in straight lines. Some surfaces reflect light, which means they bounce it back; smooth, shiny surfaces such as mirrors reflect light well. A shadow forms when an opaque object blocks the light. Moving the object closer to the light source makes its shadow bigger. Never look straight at the Sun, because its light can damage your eyes.

Under the old oak tree, a fox had dug a secret den. Every evening, as the sky turned orange, she crept out to hunt. Tonight the woods were unusually quiet. She sniffed the cold air and caught the scent of rabbits near the hedge. Moving silently through the fallen leaves, she waited behind a thick bush. Suddenly, a rabbit darted across the clearing. The fox sprang forward, but the rabbit vanished down a burrow just in time. Disappointed, the fox trotted back towards her den. On the way, she found a few blackberries still clinging to a bramble and ate them instead. It was not the meal she had planned, but it would do until tomorrow.

A force is a push or a pull. Friction is a force that slows things down when two surfaces rub together. Moving things slow down faster on rough surfaces, such as carpet, than on smooth surfaces, such as ice. Magnets can pull (attract) some metals, such as iron and steel, without even touching them. Every magnet has two ends called poles: a north pole and a south pole. Two like poles, such as north and north, push apart; this is called repelling. A north pole and a south pole attract each other.

An apostrophe plus s ('s) shows that something belongs to one person or animal, like the cat's tail. If the owners are a plural that already ends in s, the apostrophe goes after the s, like the dogs' bowls. Plurals that do not end in s, such as children or men, still add 's, like the children's shoes.

Plants make their own food, but animals, including humans, cannot, so they must eat to get nutrition. A balanced diet has the right amounts of different food groups. Carbohydrates, such as bread, rice and pasta, give us energy. Proteins, such as meat, fish, eggs and beans, help the body grow and repair itself. Fruit and vegetables give us vitamins and minerals, which keep us healthy. Dairy foods, such as milk and cheese, contain calcium for strong bones and teeth. Fats give energy too, but we should only eat small amounts of them.

A synonym is a word that means almost the same as another word. Using synonyms instead of repeating the same word makes writing more interesting. Huge, enormous and gigantic are all synonyms for big.

Humans and many other animals have a skeleton made of bones inside their bodies. The skeleton supports the body, protects organs and helps us move. The skull protects the brain, and the ribs protect the heart and lungs. Muscles are attached to bones: when a muscle contracts (gets shorter) it pulls on the bone and makes it move. Joints, such as the knee and the elbow, are where bones meet so the body can bend. Insects have a hard outer covering called an exoskeleton instead. Worms and slugs have no skeleton at all.

As the nights grow colder, hedgehogs begin to search for food. They eat beetles, worms and slugs to build up fat before winter. A healthy hedgehog needs to weigh at least 450 grams to survive hibernation safely. Gardens with piles of leaves or log stacks make perfect places for a hedgehog to build its nest. Sadly, hedgehog numbers have dropped across the country in recent years, partly because gardens are becoming tidier and fences block their paths between gardens. You can help by leaving a small gap under your fence and leaving a wild corner of your garden alone. Every gap you leave could give a hedgehog a safe route to find food and a warm place to sleep through winter.