• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Reduce, reuse or recycle?). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Is this reducing, reusing or recycling: sending old newspapers to be made into new paper? (reduce / reuse / recycle) → recyclePrompt: Reduce = use less. Reuse = use again. Recycle = make into something new.
2. Which of these is a way to recycle? (sending old newspapers to be made into new paper / using a jam jar to store pencils / refilling a water bottle / switching off lights when you leave a room) → sending old newspapers to be made into new paperPrompt: Is the item used less, used again, or turned into something new?
3. Banana peel and apple cores can go in a compost bin. What happens to them? (They stay the same for ever. / They turn into new bananas straight away. / They turn into plastic. / They rot down into rich soil for plants.) → They rot down into rich soil for plants.Prompt: What do tiny living things like worms do to old food?

• Show a food web and ask what would happen if one animal disappeared.
• Share the objective: Actions that help or harm the environment. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Does this help or harm the environment: picking all the wild flowers in a meadow?
• Step 1: These actions waste resources or hurt living things.
• Step 2: So the answer is: harms
• Answer: harms
• 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. Does this help or harm the environment: planting a tree? (helps / harms) → helpsPrompt: Would animals, plants, water or air be better off or worse off?
2. Why does planting trees help the planet? (Trees make the air dirtier. / Trees give homes to animals and clean the air. / Trees use up all the water so nothing else can drink. / Trees make rubbish.) → Trees give homes to animals and clean the air.Prompt: Who lives in trees, and what do leaves take in from the air?

• 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. True or false? Leaving lights on all night saves energy. (True / False) → FalsePrompt: Think about animals, plants, water and air.
2. Does this help or harm the environment: building a bug hotel? (helps / harms) → helpsPrompt: Would animals, plants, water or air be better off or worse off?

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