• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Plants make food from air and water). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. How plants grow: which statement is true? (The energy in plant food comes from the soil. / Plants do not need light to make food. / Plants take in oxygen and give out only carbon dioxide all day. / Most of a plant's mass comes from carbon dioxide in the air and from water.) → Most of a plant's mass comes from carbon dioxide in the air and from water.Prompt: Where does a tree's wood really come from?
2. In a famous experiment, a willow tree grew by 74 kg in 5 years, but the soil lost only about 0.06 kg. What does this show? (The soil got heavier. / The tree's mass did not mainly come from the soil. / Trees eat soil. / Trees do not grow.) → The tree's mass did not mainly come from the soil.Prompt: Compare how much the tree gained with how much soil was lost.
3. How plants grow: which statement is NOT true? (Plants make their own food using light energy. / Roots take in water and minerals. / The energy in plant food comes from the soil. / Most of a plant's mass comes from carbon dioxide in the air and from water.) → The energy in plant food comes from the soil.Prompt: One sentence repeats an old idea that experiments disproved.

• Show a food web and ask what would happen if one animal disappeared.
• Share the objective: The energy in food started as sunlight. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Why do the arrows in a food chain point from the food to the eater?
• Step 1: Arrows follow energy from producer to consumers.
• Step 2: So the answer is: They show the direction energy flows.
• Answer: They show the direction energy flows.
• 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. Why are there usually far fewer foxes than rabbits in a field? (Foxes do not like each other. / Rabbits eat foxes. / Foxes do not need energy. / Much energy is used up or lost at each step of a food chain.) → Much energy is used up or lost at each step of a food chain.Prompt: Animals use most of their food energy for moving and keeping warm.
2. True or false? Plants get their energy from the soil. (True / False) → FalsePrompt: Trace the energy back to the start of the chain.

• 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? Nearly all the energy in food chains comes from the Sun. (True / False) → TruePrompt: Trace the energy back to the start of the chain.
2. How do plants store energy from sunlight? (They use it to make sugars from carbon dioxide and water. / They keep sunlight in their roots. / They turn sunlight into soil. / They do not store energy.) → They use it to make sugars from carbon dioxide and water.Prompt: This process is called photosynthesis.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-5.