• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (What happens when we heat it?). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. What happens when you heat this: a raw egg in a pan? (turns white and firm / turns brown and crunchy / melts into a liquid / boils and turns to steam) → turns white and firmPrompt: Picture it cooking or warming in the kitchen.
2. Steam rises from a boiling pot of pasta. What is the steam? (water that has turned into a gas / melted metal / smoke from burning pasta / air that turned white) → water that has turned into a gasPrompt: What liquid is in the pot?
3. True or false? Heated water turns into ice. (True / False) → FalsePrompt: Some heated things melt, some cook. Can they change back?

• Show an ice cube melting and a kettle steaming and ask what is the same and what is different.
• Share the objective: Ice melting race: compare melting times. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: How could you keep an ice cube frozen longest on a picnic?
• Step 1: Shade, insulation and a cool box all slow the warming.
• Step 2: So the answer is: Wrap it in a cloth and keep it in a cool box in the shade.
• Answer: Wrap it in a cloth and keep it in a cool box in the shade.
• 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. How could you keep an ice cube frozen longest on a picnic? (Put it on a hot rock. / Hold it in your warm hand. / Wrap it in a cloth and keep it in a cool box in the shade. / Put it on a dark plate in the sun.) → Wrap it in a cloth and keep it in a cool box in the shade.Prompt: What slows down heat getting to the ice?
2. In the ice race, why must every ice cube be the same size? (It does not matter at all. / So the only difference is the place, making it a fair test. / Because big ice cubes never melt. / So they look nice in a row.) → So the only difference is the place, making it a fair test.Prompt: What if one cube was twice as big?

• 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. What pattern do the ice race results show? (The colder the place, the faster the ice melts. / The warmer the place, the faster the ice melts. / Ice melts at the same speed everywhere. / Ice never melts in sunlight.) → The warmer the place, the faster the ice melts.Prompt: Compare the sunny windowsill and the fridge.
2. In the ice race, why must every ice cube be the same size? (So the only difference is the place, making it a fair test. / So they look nice in a row. / Because big ice cubes never melt. / It does not matter at all.) → So the only difference is the place, making it a fair test.Prompt: What if one cube was twice as big?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-2.