• 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: cake batter in the oven? (turns white and firm / turns brown and crunchy / rises and becomes a spongy solid / melts into a liquid) → rises and becomes a spongy solidPrompt: 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? Heating can cook food and change it for good. (True / False) → TruePrompt: 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. / Put it on a dark plate in the sun. / Wrap it in a cloth and keep it in a cool box in the shade.) → 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. Glaciers around the world are melting faster than they did 50 years ago. What does the ice race help explain? (Ice melts only at night. / Warmer surroundings make ice melt faster. / Ice melts faster in the cold. / Glaciers are made of wax.) → Warmer surroundings make ice melt faster.Prompt: Earth's average temperature has been rising.

• 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? (Ice never melts in sunlight. / The warmer the place, the faster the ice melts. / Ice melts at the same speed everywhere. / The colder the place, the faster the ice melts.) → The warmer the place, the faster the ice melts.Prompt: Compare the sunny windowsill and the fridge.
2. Glaciers around the world are melting faster than they did 50 years ago. What does the ice race help explain? (Glaciers are made of wax. / Warmer surroundings make ice melt faster. / Ice melts faster in the cold. / Ice melts only at night.) → Warmer surroundings make ice melt faster.Prompt: Earth's average temperature has been rising.

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