• 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 is not watered for a long time. What happens? (Its leaves turn blue. / It makes more flowers. / It wilts (droops) and may die. / It grows taller.) → It wilts (droops) and may die.Prompt: Plants need water to stay firm.
2. What plants need: which statement is true? (The more water you give a plant, the better it always grows. / Plants eat soil to get their food. / Plants need light to grow well. / Plants grow best in the dark.) → Plants need light to grow well.Prompt: Think about what keeps a plant healthy.
3. What plants need: which statement is NOT true? (Plants need air. / Plants need light to grow well. / Plants need water. / Plants grow best in the dark.) → Plants grow best in the dark.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 make their own food using light energy. / Plants take in oxygen and give out only carbon dioxide all day. / The energy in plant food comes from the soil. / Plants get most of their mass by eating soil.) → Plants make their own food using light energy.Prompt: Where does a tree's wood really come from?
2. Where does the energy stored in the food we eat originally come from? (the oceans / the Sun / the soil / the Moon) → the SunPrompt: Follow the food chain back to a plant.

• 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. What do plants take in through their roots? (sugar / water and minerals / carbon dioxide / sunlight) → water and mineralsPrompt: Roots are in the soil.
2. How plants grow: which statement is NOT true? (The energy in plant food comes from the soil. / Plants make their own food using light energy. / Plants release oxygen into the air. / Roots take in water and minerals.) → The energy in plant food comes from the soil.Prompt: One sentence repeats an old idea that experiments disproved.

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