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Science lesson plan · Kindergarten (Reception and Year 1 in England) · 30 minutes

Actions that help or harm the environment

Ecosystems and food chains

CCSS NGSS.K-ESS3-3England: EYFS Understanding the World: The natural worldEngland: KS2 Y4 Living things and their habitats

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Actions that help or harm the environment.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Reduce, reuse or recycle?

Leads to: the next skill in this area.

Materials: Food web cards, Arrows to build chains, Mini whiteboards, A diagram or short video clip of the idea, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 4 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Reduce, reuse or recycle?). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Is this reducing, reusing or recycling: printing on both sides of the paper? (reduce / reuse / recycle) → reducePrompt: Reduce = use less. Reuse = use again. Recycle = make into something new.
  2. Which of these is a way to reuse? (putting empty cans in the recycling bin / using a jam jar to store pencils / putting glass bottles in the bottle bank / sending old newspapers to be made into new paper) → using a jam jar to store pencilsPrompt: Is the item used less, used again, or turned into something new?
  3. Why is it good to recycle plastic bottles? (Recycled plastic turns into food. / Less rubbish goes to landfill and the plastic can be made into new things. / It makes the bottles heavier. / It makes more plastic in the sea.) → Less rubbish goes to landfill and the plastic can be made into new things.Prompt: Where does rubbish go if it is not recycled?

Hook · 3 min

  • Show a food web and ask what would happen if one animal disappeared.
  • Share the objective: Actions that help or harm the environment. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 7 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: Does this help or harm the environment: picking all the wild flowers in a meadow?
  • Step 1: These actions waste resources or hurt living things.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: harms
  • Answer: harms
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 6 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. Does this help or harm the environment: leaving the tap running? (helps / harms) → harmsPrompt: Would animals, plants, water or air be better off or worse off?
  2. Which way to school is kindest to the air? (in a car with the engine left running outside / being driven by car and then by another car / being driven in a car alone / walking or cycling) → walking or cyclingPrompt: Which one makes no fumes?

You do: independent practice · 7 min

  • 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.

Exit ticket · 3 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. Bees are visiting fewer gardens. How can a school help? (Plant flowers that bees like. / Cut down all the flowers. / Cover the garden in concrete. / Spray the flowers with paint.) → Plant flowers that bees like.Prompt: What do bees feed on?
  2. Does this help or harm the environment: dropping litter on the beach? (helps / harms) → harmsPrompt: Would animals, plants, water or air be better off or worse off?

Watch out for

  • Everyday meanings of words getting in the way of the science meaning: define key words explicitly.
  • Remembering facts without the reason: ask "why?" and "what is the evidence?"

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Reduce, reuse or recycle?.
  • Use concrete materials: food web cards.
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

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

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Actions that help or harm the environment

Name

Date

Score/ 6

  1. Question 1

    Does this help or harm the environment: planting a tree?

    • A. helps
    • B. harms

  2. Question 2

    Turtles in the sea can get tangled in plastic bags. What is the best way to help?

    • A. Leave plastic bags on the beach.
    • B. Paint the turtles.
    • C. Use cloth bags and put rubbish in a bin.
    • D. Throw more bags into the sea.

  3. Question 3

    True or false? Rubbish dropped on the ground disappears by itself in a day.

    • A. True
    • B. False

  4. Question 4

    Does this help or harm the environment: picking up litter at the park?

    • A. helps
    • B. harms

  5. Question 5

    Bees are visiting fewer gardens. How can a school help?

    • A. Spray the flowers with paint.
    • B. Cut down all the flowers.
    • C. Cover the garden in concrete.
    • D. Plant flowers that bees like.

  6. Question 6

    True or false? Saving water helps the environment.

    • A. True
    • B. False

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Answer key: Actions that help or harm the environment

  1. 1. A. helps

  2. 2. C. Use cloth bags and put rubbish in a bin.

  3. 3. B. False

  4. 4. A. helps

  5. 5. D. Plant flowers that bees like.

  6. 6. A. True