• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Animal life cycles; Metamorphosis: complete, incomplete or none?). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. What kind of life cycle does this animal have: ladybird (ladybug)? (complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult) / incomplete metamorphosis (egg, nymph, adult) / no metamorphosis (young look like small adults)) → complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult)Prompt: Does the young animal look like the adult?
2. In the life cycle of a butterfly, what comes straight after "egg"? (chrysalis (pupa) / adult butterfly / caterpillar (larva)) → caterpillar (larva)Prompt: The caterpillar makes a hard case before it changes.
3. What kind of life cycle does this animal have: butterfly? (complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult) / incomplete metamorphosis (egg, nymph, adult) / no metamorphosis (young look like small adults)) → complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult)Prompt: Does the young animal look like the adult?

• Show a picture of an unusual animal and ask where it might live and how it survives there.
• Share the objective: Compare life cycles: mammals, birds, amphibians and insects. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Are the young of this animal born live or do they hatch from eggs: frog?
• Step 1: Birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and insects usually lay eggs.
• Step 2: So the answer is: hatch from eggs
• Answer: hatch from eggs
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Are the young of this animal born live or do they hatch from eggs: crocodile? (born live / hatch from eggs) → hatch from eggsPrompt: Is it a mammal?
2. A salmon hatches in a river, swims to the sea, then returns to the same river to lay eggs. Which stage is this? (metamorphosis into a frog / the egg / the adult reproducing / the larva) → the adult reproducingPrompt: Laying eggs is part of which life stage?

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. True or false? Birds lay eggs with hard shells. (True / False) → TruePrompt: Think about eggs, live young, tadpoles and pupae.
2. How is a frog's life cycle different from a chicken's? (Young frogs (tadpoles) live in water and change shape a lot. / Chickens have a tadpole stage. / Frogs give birth to live young. / Frogs never lay eggs.) → Young frogs (tadpoles) live in water and change shape a lot.Prompt: What does a tadpole look like compared with an adult frog?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-3.