• 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. A pet hamster needs… (nothing, it looks after itself / food, water, air and a safe cage to shelter in / only food / only water) → food, water, air and a safe cage to shelter inPrompt: Pets need the same basic things as wild animals.
2. What animals need: which statement is true? (Fish do not need oxygen. / Animals can make their own food from sunlight, like plants. / Animals need air to breathe. / Animals only need food, never water.) → Animals need air to breathe.Prompt: Think about what you need to live.
3. What animals need: which statement is NOT true? (Animals need air to breathe. / Animals need water to survive. / Animals get energy from their food. / Animals can make their own food from sunlight, like plants.) → Animals can make their own food from sunlight, like plants.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: What plants and animals need to stay alive. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: What do plants AND animals both need?
• Step 1: All living things need water to stay alive.
• Step 2: So the answer is: water
• Answer: water
• 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. How does a rabbit get its food? (It makes food from sunlight. / It drinks only air. / It does not need food. / It eats plants such as grass.) → It eats plants such as grass.Prompt: Animals cannot make their own food.
2. Needs of living things: which statement is true? (Animals that eat only plants are called plant-eaters (herbivores). / Animals can make food from sunlight. / Plants eat bugs to get all their food. / Pets do not need air.) → Animals that eat only plants are called plant-eaters (herbivores).Prompt: Plants make food; animals eat food.

• 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. How does a plant get its food? (People feed it bread. / It eats insects every day. / It makes its own food using sunlight, air and water. / It eats the soil.) → It makes its own food using sunlight, air and water.Prompt: Plants cannot walk to find food.
2. Who needs this, plants or animals: roots in soil to take in water? (plants / animals) → plantsPrompt: Who makes its own food, and who has to find it?

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