• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (What animals need to survive). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. A pet hamster needs… (food, water, air and a safe cage to shelter in / nothing, it looks after itself / only water / only food) → food, water, air and a safe cage to shelter inPrompt: Pets need the same basic things as wild animals.
2. What animals need: which statement is true? (Fish do not need oxygen. / Animals need water to survive. / Animals only need food, never water. / Animals can make their own food from sunlight, like plants.) → Animals need water to survive.Prompt: Think about what you need to live.
3. What animals need: which statement is NOT true? (Animals need water to survive. / Animals can make their own food from sunlight, like plants. / Many animals need shelter from weather and predators. / Animals get energy from their food.) → Animals can make their own food from sunlight, like plants.Prompt: One sentence is a mistake.

• Show a picture of an unusual animal and ask where it might live and how it survives there.
• Share the objective: Herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Is a sheep a herbivore, a carnivore or an omnivore?
• Step 1: Herbivores eat only plants.
• Step 2: So the answer is: herbivore
• Answer: herbivore
• 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. Is a human a herbivore, a carnivore or an omnivore? (herbivore / carnivore / omnivore) → omnivorePrompt: Does it eat plants, animals or both?
2. Which of these animals is a carnivore? (shark / raccoon / badger / giraffe) → sharkPrompt: Herbivores eat plants, carnivores eat meat, omnivores eat both.

• 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. Is a sheep a herbivore, a carnivore or an omnivore? (herbivore / carnivore / omnivore) → herbivorePrompt: Does it eat plants, animals or both?
2. Cows have wide, flat back teeth. What are they good for? (cracking bones / tearing meat / catching fish / grinding grass and plants) → grinding grass and plantsPrompt: Grass is tough and needs a lot of chewing.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-1.