• 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 tortoise's shell? (to keep enemies away / to protect its soft body / to grip and carry prey / to breathe underwater) → to protect its soft bodyPrompt: Think about where the animal lives and what it eats.
2. Which body part helps an animal pick up and eat food? (a tortoise's shell / a fish's gills / an elephant's trunk / a bird's beak) → a bird's beakPrompt: Picture the animal doing the job.
3. A hummingbird has a long, thin beak. What does this suggest about its food? (It reaches deep into flowers for nectar. / It eats leaves from tall trees. / It cracks hard nuts. / It tears meat.) → 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: a fish's fins? (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: stomach? (pumps blood around the body / take in oxygen from water / take in oxygen from the air / breaks down food) → breaks down foodPrompt: 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. A shark's skeleton is made of cartilage, not bone. Is it internal or external? (internal / it is made of scales / sharks have no skeleton / external) → internalPrompt: Feel the tip of your nose: that bendy material is cartilage.
2. Is this an internal or an external structure: the stomach? (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.