• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Simple food chains). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which living thing fills the gap in this food chain? grass → ___ → fox (phytoplankton / rabbit / sparrowhawk / owl) → rabbitPrompt: It must eat the thing before it in the chain.
2. What does every food chain start with? (a mushroom / a big predator / a plant or other producer / the soil) → a plant or other producerPrompt: Which living things make their own food?
3. Which living thing fills the gap in this food chain? lettuce → ___ → hedgehog → badger (slug / acacia leaves / grass / phytoplankton) → slugPrompt: It must eat the thing before it in the chain.

• Show a food web and ask what would happen if one animal disappeared.
• Share the objective: Producers, consumers, predators and prey. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: phytoplankton → krill → penguin → leopard seal What is the krill in this food chain?
• Step 1: It is number 2 in the chain.
• Step 2: So the answer is: primary consumer
• Answer: primary consumer
• 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. grass → zebra → lion What is the zebra in this food chain? (primary consumer / secondary consumer / tertiary consumer / producer) → primary consumerPrompt: Start at the plant and count the arrows.
2. grass → grasshopper → frog → snake Which animal is the prey of the snake? (frog / snake / grasshopper / grass) → frogPrompt: A predator hunts and eats other animals; its prey is the animal it eats.

• 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. Food chains: which statement is true? (Producers eat consumers. / Herbivores are predators. / A food chain can start with a lion. / A top (apex) predator has no natural predators as an adult.) → A top (apex) predator has no natural predators as an adult.Prompt: Producers make food; consumers eat.
2. lettuce → slug → hedgehog → badger Which animal is the prey of the hedgehog? (lettuce / slug / badger / hedgehog) → slugPrompt: A predator hunts and eats other animals; its prey is the animal it eats.

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