• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (What animals need to survive). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. A pet hamster needs… (only water / only food / nothing, it looks after itself / food, water, air and a safe cage to shelter in) → food, water, air and a safe cage to shelter inPrompt: Pets need the same basic things as wild animals.
2. What animals need: which statement is true? (Many animals need shelter from weather and predators. / Animals only need food, never water. / Fish do not need oxygen. / Animals can make their own food from sunlight, like plants.) → Many animals need shelter from weather and predators.Prompt: Think about what you need to live.
3. What animals need: which statement is NOT true? (Animals need air to breathe. / Many animals need shelter from weather and predators. / Animals get energy from their food. / Animals can make their own food from sunlight, like plants.) → Animals can make their own food from sunlight, like plants.Prompt: One sentence is a mistake.

• Show a picture of an unusual animal and ask where it might live and how it survives there.
• Share the objective: Habitats and microhabitats. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which habitat is the polar bear best suited to?
• Step 1: Polar habitats are icy and cold; animals there have thick fur or fat.
• Step 2: So the answer is: the Arctic (polar)
• Answer: the Arctic (polar)
• 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. Which habitat is the rattlesnake best suited to? (the desert / the Arctic (polar) / the ocean / the rainforest) → the desertPrompt: Think about where it could find food and stay at a good temperature.
2. Why could a polar bear not survive well in a hot desert? (Its thick fur and fat would make it overheat. / It cannot walk on sand. / Deserts have no sunlight. / It needs to eat cactus.) → Its thick fur and fat would make it overheat.Prompt: What helps a polar bear in the cold?

• 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. Woodlice are found under logs and stones. What does this microhabitat give them? (salty water / hot and dry conditions / damp and dark conditions / bright sunlight) → damp and dark conditionsPrompt: Woodlice dry out easily.
2. Which habitat is the jellyfish best suited to? (the ocean / the Arctic (polar) / woodland / the rainforest) → the oceanPrompt: Think about where it could find food and stay at a good temperature.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-2.