• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Animal body parts and the jobs they do). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. What job does this body part do: a porcupine's quills? (to feel its way in the dark / to paddle through water / to breathe underwater / to keep enemies away) → to keep enemies awayPrompt: Think about where the animal lives and what it eats.
2. Which body part helps an animal breathe underwater? (a cat's whiskers / a tortoise's shell / a bird's beak / a fish's gills) → a fish's gillsPrompt: Picture the animal doing the job.
3. A hummingbird has a long, thin beak. What does this suggest about its food? (It cracks hard nuts. / It tears meat. / It eats leaves from tall trees. / 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?

• Show a picture of an unusual animal and ask where it might live and how it survives there.
• Share the objective: Internal and external structures of animals. 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 an internal or an external structure: a turtle's shell?
• Step 1: External structures are on the outside, where we can see them.
• Step 2: So the answer is: external (outside the body)
• Answer: external (outside the body)
• 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 an internal or an external structure: an eagle's talons? (external (outside the body) / internal (inside the body)) → external (outside the body)Prompt: Could you see it without looking inside the animal?
2. What does this internal structure do: skeleton? (pumps blood around the body / supports and protects the body / breaks down food / take in oxygen from water) → supports and protects the bodyPrompt: Think about what keeps an animal alive: blood, air, food, control, support.

• 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. Insects have no bones. What holds their bodies up? (nothing; they are floppy / their wings only / a hard outer covering (exoskeleton) / air inside them) → a hard outer covering (exoskeleton)Prompt: Tap a beetle's back (gently): it is hard.
2. Is this an internal or an external structure: the brain? (external (outside the body) / internal (inside the body)) → internal (inside the body)Prompt: Could you see it without looking inside the animal?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-4.