• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Animal groups: mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which animal group does a tortoise belong to? (fish / reptile / bird / amphibian) → reptilePrompt: What covers its body: fur, feathers, scales or moist skin?
2. Which of these animals is a fish? (penguin / frog / tuna / mouse) → tunaPrompt: Think about what covers each animal's body.
3. A penguin cannot fly. Why is it still a bird? (It lives where it is cold. / It swims in the sea. / It has feathers and a beak and lays eggs. / It is black and white.) → It has feathers and a beak and lays eggs.Prompt: What do all birds have?

• Show a picture of an unusual animal and ask where it might live and how it survives there.
• Share the objective: Animal body parts and the jobs they do. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: What job does this body part do: a butterfly's long tongue (proboscis)?
• Step 1: It uncurls like a straw to reach deep into flowers.
• Step 2: So the answer is: to sip nectar from flowers
• Answer: to sip nectar from flowers
• 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. What job does this body part do: a bird's beak? (to grab food and suck up water / to grip and carry prey / to feel its way in the dark / to pick up and eat food) → to pick up and eat foodPrompt: Think about where the animal lives and what it eats.
2. Which body part helps an animal grab food and suck up water? (a duck's webbed feet / a porcupine's quills / a butterfly's long tongue (proboscis) / an elephant's trunk) → an elephant's trunkPrompt: Picture the animal doing the job.

• 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. A hummingbird has a long, thin beak. What does this suggest about its food? (It cracks hard nuts. / It eats leaves from tall trees. / It tears meat. / It reaches deep into flowers for nectar.) → It reaches deep into flowers for nectar.Prompt: What shape of tool would you use to reach inside a narrow tube?
2. Which body part helps an animal protect its soft body? (a butterfly's long tongue (proboscis) / a porcupine's quills / a cat's whiskers / a tortoise's shell) → a tortoise's shellPrompt: Picture the animal doing the job.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-1.