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

How plants, animals and people change their surroundings

Ecosystems and food chains

CCSS NGSS.K-ESS2-2CCSS NGSS.K-ESS3-1England: EYFS Understanding the World: The natural world

Objective and success criteria

Students will: How plants, animals and people change their surroundings.

  • 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: What plants and animals need to stay alive

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 (What plants and animals need to stay alive). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. What do plants AND animals both need? (a house with a roof / water / sweets / toys) → waterPrompt: What would happen to a plant or a pet with nothing to drink?
  2. Needs of living things: which statement is true? (Plants eat bugs to get all their food. / Pets do not need air. / Animals can make food from sunlight. / Animals that eat only plants are called plant-eaters (herbivores).) → Animals that eat only plants are called plant-eaters (herbivores).Prompt: Plants make food; animals eat food.
  3. Who needs this, plants or animals: a safe place to hide from danger? (plants / animals) → animalsPrompt: Who makes its own food, and who has to find it?

Hook · 3 min

  • Show a food web and ask what would happen if one animal disappeared.
  • Share the objective: How plants, animals and people change their surroundings. 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: Who made this change: earthworms mixing the soil?
  • Step 1: Animals dig, build and move things to meet their needs.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: an animal
  • Answer: an animal
  • 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. Who made this change: building a new road? (a plant / an animal / people) → peoplePrompt: Is it something growing, an animal at work, or people building?
  2. A beaver builds a dam across a stream. What changes? (The trees grow faster. / Water backs up and makes a pond. / Nothing changes. / The stream turns into ice.) → Water backs up and makes a pond.Prompt: What happens when you block water with a wall of sticks?

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. How do earthworms change the soil? (They make the soil hard and dry. / They paint it brown. / They dig tunnels that let in air and water. / They turn soil into rocks.) → They dig tunnels that let in air and water.Prompt: Think about the tiny tunnels worms leave behind.
  2. True or false? Animals can change the land to meet their needs. (True / False) → TruePrompt: Think of beavers, roots and builders.

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: What plants and animals need to stay alive.
  • 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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How plants, animals and people change their surroundings

Name

Date

Score/ 6

  1. Question 1

    True or false? People change the land when they build towns and farms.

    • A. True
    • B. False

  2. Question 2

    Why does a squirrel bury acorns in the ground?

    • A. to make the ground flat
    • B. to keep the acorns warm for fun
    • C. to store food for later
    • D. to grow a nest

  3. Question 3

    Who made this change: ivy climbing up a wall?

    • A. a plant
    • B. an animal
    • C. people

  4. Question 4

    True or false? A bird's nest is made by the wind.

    • A. True
    • B. False

  5. Question 5

    A pavement (sidewalk) next to an old tree is cracked and lifted up. What most likely did it?

    • A. the leaves falling
    • B. people walking on it
    • C. the tree's roots growing underneath
    • D. the wind

  6. Question 6

    Who made this change: a big tree shading the grass so less grows under it?

    • A. a plant
    • B. an animal
    • C. people

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Answer key: How plants, animals and people change their surroundings

  1. 1. A. True

  2. 2. C. to store food for later

  3. 3. A. a plant

  4. 4. B. False

  5. 5. C. the tree's roots growing underneath

  6. 6. A. a plant