• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (What plants need to grow). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. A plant on a windowsill bends towards the window. Why? (It wants to look outside. / The window is cold. / It grows towards the light. / It is falling over.) → It grows towards the light.Prompt: Where does the light come from?
2. What plants need: which statement is true? (Plants grow best in the dark. / Plants need light to grow well. / Plants eat soil to get their food. / Plants never need water.) → Plants need light to grow well.Prompt: Think about what keeps a plant healthy.
3. What plants need: which statement is NOT true? (Plants eat soil to get their food. / Plants need light to grow well. / Plants take in minerals (nutrients) from the soil through their roots. / Plants need air.) → Plants eat soil to get their food.Prompt: One sentence is a common mistake.

• Bring in a plant that has been kept in the dark next to one in the light, and ask what happened.
• Share the objective: Plants make food from air and water. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: How plants grow: which statement is true?
• Step 1: “The energy in plant food comes from the soil.” is not true: The energy comes from sunlight.
• Step 2: So the answer is: Most of a plant's mass comes from carbon dioxide in the air and from water.
• Answer: Most of a plant's mass comes from carbon dioxide in the air and from water.
• 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 plants grow: which statement is true? (Plants get most of their mass by eating soil. / Plants take in oxygen and give out only carbon dioxide all day. / The energy in plant food comes from the soil. / Plants take in carbon dioxide through tiny holes in their leaves.) → Plants take in carbon dioxide through tiny holes in their leaves.Prompt: Where does a tree's wood really come from?
2. Which gas do plants take from the air to build their bodies? (nitrogen / helium / carbon dioxide / oxygen) → carbon dioxidePrompt: It is the gas we breathe out.

• 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. In a famous experiment, a willow tree grew by 74 kg in 5 years, but the soil lost only about 0.06 kg. What does this show? (Trees eat soil. / Trees do not grow. / The soil got heavier. / The tree's mass did not mainly come from the soil.) → The tree's mass did not mainly come from the soil.Prompt: Compare how much the tree gained with how much soil was lost.
2. How plants grow: which statement is true? (Plants release oxygen into the air. / Plants get most of their mass by eating soil. / The energy in plant food comes from the soil. / Plants do not need light to make food.) → Plants release oxygen into the air.Prompt: Where does a tree's wood really come from?

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