• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (What plants need to grow; Test what a plant needs: light and water). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which of these does a plant need to grow well? (sweets / loud music / darkness all day / light) → lightPrompt: What does a plant get from the Sun?
2. Two bean plants are the same. One gets water, one gets none. After a week, what do you see? (Both look exactly the same. / The plant with no water is droopy and dry. / The watered plant turned brown. / The plant with no water grew taller.) → The plant with no water is droopy and dry.Prompt: What happens to a plant left without a drink?
3. What plants need: which statement is true? (The more water you give a plant, the better it always grows. / Plants need light to grow well. / Plants grow best in the dark. / Plants never need water.) → Plants need light to grow well.Prompt: Think about what keeps a plant healthy.

• Bring in a plant that has been kept in the dark next to one in the light, and ask what happened.
• Share the objective: Plant growth experiments: read the results. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: A sunflower seedling was 3 cm tall on Monday. Two weeks later it was 17 cm tall. How many centimetres did it grow?
• Step 1: 17 − 3 = 14
• Step 2: So the answer is: 14 cm
• Answer: 14 cm
• 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. A bean plant was 2 cm tall on Monday. Two weeks later it was 13 cm tall. How many centimetres did it grow? → 11 cmPrompt: Growth is the change in height.
2. Why is it better to grow five plants in each group instead of just one? (It makes the chart more colourful. / More plants make the test faster. / One plant might be unusual; more plants give more reliable results. / Plants are lonely on their own.) → One plant might be unusual; more plants give more reliable results.Prompt: What if your only plant had a weak seed?

• 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. Ana wants to test whether plants need water. She gives one plant water and one none. What else must she do? (Keep the light, soil, pot and type of plant the same. / Use a different type of plant for each. / Put the watered plant in a dark cupboard. / Give the dry plant extra sunlight to make up for it.) → Keep the light, soil, pot and type of plant the same.Prompt: Only one thing should be different.
2. A tomato seedling was 3 cm tall on Monday. Two weeks later it was 11 cm tall. How many centimetres did it grow? → 8 cmPrompt: Growth is the change in height.

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