• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Simple food chains). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which living thing fills the gap in this food chain? grass → ___ → fox (rabbit / phytoplankton / oak leaves / owl) → rabbitPrompt: It must eat the thing before it in the chain.
2. grass → rabbit → fox. Which living thing is a plant? (rabbit / grass / fox) → grassPrompt: It is at the start of the chain.
3. Which living thing fills the gap in this food chain? acacia leaves → giraffe → ___ (oak leaves / lion / seeds / lettuce) → lionPrompt: It must eat the thing before it in the chain.

• Show a food web and ask what would happen if one animal disappeared.
• Share the objective: Producers, consumers, predators and prey. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: phytoplankton → krill → penguin → leopard seal What is the krill in this food chain?
• Step 1: It is number 2 in the chain.
• Step 2: So the answer is: primary consumer
• Answer: primary consumer
• 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. grass → rabbit → fox What is the fox in this food chain? (secondary consumer / primary consumer / producer / tertiary consumer) → secondary consumerPrompt: Start at the plant and count the arrows.
2. lettuce → slug → hedgehog → badger Which animal is the predator of the hedgehog? (hedgehog / badger / lettuce / slug) → badgerPrompt: A predator hunts and eats other animals; its prey is the animal it eats.

• 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. Food chains: which statement is true? (Herbivores are predators. / A food chain can start with a lion. / Plants are producers because they make their own food. / Producers eat consumers.) → Plants are producers because they make their own food.Prompt: Producers make food; consumers eat.
2. acacia leaves → giraffe → lion What is the acacia leaves in this food chain? (producer / primary consumer / secondary consumer / tertiary consumer) → producerPrompt: Start at the plant and count the arrows.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-3.