• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Producers, consumers, predators and prey). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. grass → rabbit → fox What is the rabbit in this food chain? (primary consumer / secondary consumer / tertiary consumer / producer) → primary consumerPrompt: Start at the plant and count the arrows.
2. grass → zebra → lion Which animal is the predator of the zebra? (lion / zebra / grass) → lionPrompt: A predator hunts and eats other animals; its prey is the animal it eats.
3. Food chains: which statement is true? (Producers eat consumers. / Plants are producers because they make their own food. / Herbivores are predators. / A food chain can start with a lion.) → Plants are producers because they make their own food.Prompt: Producers make food; consumers eat.

• Show a food web and ask what would happen if one animal disappeared.
• Share the objective: Decomposers and recycling nutrients. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which of these is a decomposer?
• Step 1: Fungi and bacteria are the main decomposers.
• Step 2: So the answer is: mushroom (fungus)
• Answer: mushroom (fungus)
• 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 do decomposers do? (hunt living animals / pollinate flowers / make food from sunlight / break down dead plants and animals) → break down dead plants and animalsPrompt: What happens to a fallen leaf over a few months?
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?

• 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 8 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. Decomposers: which statement is NOT true? (Dead leaves just disappear on their own. / Decomposition is faster when it is warm and moist. / Matter is recycled in an ecosystem. / Decomposers return nutrients to the soil.) → Dead leaves just disappear on their own.Prompt: Why do we keep food in the fridge or freezer?
2. Why are decomposers important for plants? (They release nutrients (minerals) back into the soil / They give plants sunlight / They make plants grow faster in the dark / They eat plant pests only) → They release nutrients (minerals) back into the soilPrompt: Where do plants get minerals from?

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