• 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: taking the same cloth bag to the shop each week? (reduce / reuse / recycle) → reusePrompt: Reduce = use less. Reuse = use again. Recycle = make into something new.
2. Which of these is a way to recycle? (turning off the tap while you brush your teeth / switching off lights when you leave a room / taking the same cloth bag to the shop each week / sending old newspapers to be made into new paper) → sending old newspapers to be made into new paperPrompt: Is the item used less, used again, or turned into something new?
3. Which of these makes the LEAST rubbish? (paper plates thrown away after lunch / single-use plastic cutlery / a new plastic bag every day / a reusable lunchbox) → a reusable lunchboxPrompt: Which one can be used again and again?

• 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: leaving the tap running? (helps / harms) → harmsPrompt: 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 make rubbish. / Trees give homes to animals and clean the air. / Trees use up all the water so nothing else can drink.) → 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. 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?
2. Turtles in the sea can get tangled in plastic bags. What is the best way to help? (Paint the turtles. / Throw more bags into the sea. / Leave plastic bags on the beach. / Use cloth bags and put rubbish in a bin.) → Use cloth bags and put rubbish in a bin.Prompt: How could we stop plastic reaching the sea?

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