• 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: putting empty cans in the recycling bin? (reduce / reuse / recycle) → recyclePrompt: Reduce = use less. Reuse = use again. Recycle = make into something new.
2. Which of these is a way to reduce? (sending old newspapers to be made into new paper / taking the same cloth bag to the shop each week / using a jam jar to store pencils / turning off the tap while you brush your teeth) → turning off the tap while you brush your teethPrompt: 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 / a reusable lunchbox / a new plastic bag every day / single-use plastic cutlery) → 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: picking all the wild flowers in a meadow? (helps / harms) → harmsPrompt: 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. / Leave plastic bags on the beach. / Throw more bags into the sea. / 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?

• 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. True or false? Bug hotels give insects a safe place to live. (True / False) → TruePrompt: Think about animals, plants, water and air.
2. Does this help or harm the environment: picking all the wild flowers in a meadow? (helps / harms) → harmsPrompt: Would animals, plants, water or air be better off or worse off?

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