• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Producers, consumers, predators and prey). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. oak leaves → caterpillar → blue tit → sparrowhawk What is the caterpillar in this food chain? (primary consumer / tertiary consumer / producer / secondary consumer) → primary consumerPrompt: Start at the plant and count the arrows.
2. oak leaves → caterpillar → blue tit → sparrowhawk Which animal is the predator of the caterpillar? (sparrowhawk / caterpillar / blue tit / oak leaves) → blue titPrompt: A predator hunts and eats other animals; its prey is the animal it eats.
3. Food chains: which statement is true? (Producers eat consumers. / A top (apex) predator has no natural predators as an adult. / A food chain can start with a lion. / Herbivores are predators.) → A top (apex) predator has no natural predators as an adult.Prompt: Producers make food; consumers eat.

• Show a food web and ask what would happen if one animal disappeared.
• Share the objective: Why some animals live in groups. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: How does living in a group help here: wolves hunting as a pack?
• Step 1: So the answer is: they can catch animals much bigger than one wolf
• Answer: they can catch animals much bigger than one wolf
• 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 living in a group help here: emperor penguins huddling together? (it is hard for a predator to pick out one fish / one warns the others when a hawk is near / they share warmth in freezing winds / they can catch animals much bigger than one wolf) → they share warmth in freezing windsPrompt: Think about food, safety, warmth and sharing work.
2. Geese fly in a V shape and take turns at the front. How does this help? (It keeps them dry. / Birds behind save energy, and sharing the front spreads the hard work. / It makes them fly slower. / It helps them see the ground.) → Birds behind save energy, and sharing the front spreads the hard work.Prompt: Cyclists in a race ride close behind each other for the same reason.

• 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 living in a group help here: elephants in a herd? (one warns the others when a hawk is near / adults protect the calves from lions / they can catch animals much bigger than one wolf / they share warmth in freezing winds) → adults protect the calves from lionsPrompt: Think about food, safety, warmth and sharing work.
2. Leafcutter ants cut leaves, carry them home and grow a fungus on them to eat. Why can a colony do this but one ant cannot? (One ant is too lazy. / Fungus only grows near crowds. / Thousands of ants share the different jobs. / Leaves are only cut at night.) → Thousands of ants share the different jobs.Prompt: How many jobs are there: cutting, carrying, gardening, guarding…?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-3.