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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: using a jam jar to store pencils? (reduce / reuse / recycle) → reusePrompt: Reduce = use less. Reuse = use again. Recycle = make into something new.
  2. Which of these is a way to recycle? (buying fruit without plastic wrapping / printing on both sides of the paper / sending old newspapers to be made into new paper / refilling a water bottle) → sending old newspapers to be made into new paperPrompt: Is the item used less, used again, or turned into something new?
  3. Banana peel and apple cores can go in a compost bin. What happens to them? (They rot down into rich soil for plants. / They turn into plastic. / They stay the same for ever. / They turn into new bananas straight away.) → They rot down into rich soil for plants.Prompt: What do tiny living things like worms do to old food?

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: picking all the wild flowers in a meadow? (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? (being driven by car and then by another car / in a car with the engine left running outside / 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. True or false? Litter can harm birds and fish. (True / False) → TruePrompt: Think about animals, plants, water and air.
  2. Why does planting trees help the planet? (Trees make the air dirtier. / Trees use up all the water so nothing else can drink. / Trees give homes to animals and clean the air. / Trees make rubbish.) → Trees give homes to animals and clean the air.Prompt: Who lives in trees, and what do leaves take in from the air?

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

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

    • A. True
    • B. False

  2. Question 2

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

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

  3. Question 3

    Does this help or harm the environment: dropping litter on the beach?

    • A. helps
    • B. harms

  4. Question 4

    Why does planting trees help the planet?

    • A. Trees make the air dirtier.
    • B. Trees make rubbish.
    • C. Trees use up all the water so nothing else can drink.
    • D. Trees give homes to animals and clean the air.

  5. Question 5

    Does this help or harm the environment: leaving the tap running?

    • A. helps
    • B. harms

  6. Question 6

    True or false? Picking wild flowers helps bees.

    • A. True
    • B. False

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Answer key: Actions that help or harm the environment

  1. 1. B. False

  2. 2. B. Plant flowers that bees like.

  3. 3. B. harms

  4. 4. D. Trees give homes to animals and clean the air.

  5. 5. B. harms

  6. 6. B. False