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

1. Why are decomposers important for plants? (They eat plant pests only / They give plants sunlight / They make plants grow faster in the dark / They release nutrients (minerals) back into the soil) → They release nutrients (minerals) back into the soilPrompt: Where do plants get minerals from?
2. Is a caterpillar a producer, a consumer or a decomposer? (producer / consumer / decomposer) → consumerPrompt: Does it make food, eat living things, or break down dead things?
3. Decomposers: which statement is NOT true? (Fungi and bacteria are decomposers. / Decomposition is faster when it is warm and moist. / Decomposers work fastest when frozen. / Decomposers return nutrients to the soil.) → Decomposers work fastest when frozen.Prompt: Why do we keep food in the fridge or freezer?

• Show a picture of an unusual animal and ask where it might live and how it survives there.
• Share the objective: Microorganisms: helpful and harmful. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Is this microorganism helpful or harmful: yeast making bread rise?
• Step 1: These microorganisms help us or the environment.
• Step 2: So the answer is: helpful
• Answer: helpful
• 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. Is this microorganism helpful or harmful: microbes breaking down compost? (helpful / harmful) → helpfulPrompt: Does it help make food or recycle nutrients, or does it make people ill or spoil food?
2. Why is washing your hands one of the best ways to stop illness spreading? (It makes microbes bigger. / Microbes like soap. / It does not help. / It removes microbes before they reach your mouth, nose or food.) → It removes microbes before they reach your mouth, nose or food.Prompt: Germs are too small to see but can be on your hands.

• 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. Is this microorganism helpful or harmful: bacteria turning milk into yoghurt? (helpful / harmful) → helpfulPrompt: Does it help make food or recycle nutrients, or does it make people ill or spoil food?
2. Why does bread dough rise when yeast is added? (Yeast makes the flour heavier. / Yeast is a kind of air. / The oven pulls the dough up. / Yeast feeds on sugar and gives off carbon dioxide gas bubbles.) → Yeast feeds on sugar and gives off carbon dioxide gas bubbles.Prompt: Yeast is a living fungus.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-5.