• 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. What do all animals need to stay alive? (sweets and fizzy drinks / toys and games / food, water and air / a television) → food, water and airPrompt: Think about what you need every day to live.
2. What animals need: which statement is true? (Fish do not need oxygen. / Animals can make their own food from sunlight, like plants. / Animals only need food, never water. / Animals get energy from their food.) → Animals get energy from their food.Prompt: Think about what you need to live.
3. What animals need: which statement is NOT true? (Fish do not need oxygen. / Many animals need shelter from weather and predators. / Animals get energy from their food. / Animals need water to survive.) → Fish do not need oxygen.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 walrus best suited to? (the Arctic (polar) / the desert / the ocean / woodland) → the Arctic (polar)Prompt: 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? (It needs to eat cactus. / It cannot walk on sand. / Its thick fur and fat would make it overheat. / Deserts have no sunlight.) → 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. Which habitat is the blue whale best suited to? (the rainforest / the ocean / the desert / woodland) → the oceanPrompt: Think about where it could find food and stay at a good temperature.
2. Which animal lives in the Arctic (polar)? (squirrel / poison dart frog / woodpecker / polar bear) → polar bearPrompt: Think about whether each animal suits cold, heat, water or trees.

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