Survive and thrive
View Sequence overviewStudents will:
- make observations, using the five key senses, about the places that plants and animals live.
- explore the importance of using senses for observation in the context of learning about the needs of plants and animals.
- describe and compare healthy/unhealthy plants.
- compare the needs of pets and humans.
Students will represent their understanding as they:
- explore the use of a class science journal.
- draw and label a healthy plant.
- participate in and contribute to discussions, to share information, experiences and ideas about plants and animals and their needs.
In the Launch phase, assessment is diagnostic.
Take note of:
- Can students recognise a variety of plants and animals in the school grounds?
- Do students recognise that some plants prefer shade while others prefer full sunlight?
- Do students recognise that some plants grow better in different conditions?
- Can they identify the conditions which plants need to grow (water, light, soil, space)?
- Do students recognise humans as animals?
- What basic needs of plants and animals have students identified?
- What alternative conceptions did they have?
- What vocabulary are students using?
Whole class
Demonstration copy of Code for caring and hygiene Resource sheet
Optional: Demonstration copy of My five senses Resource sheet
1 x healthy and 1 x unhealthy seedling/plant (See Preparing for this sequence for advice)
Class science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Optional: Camera to photograph plants and animals in the schoolgrounds
Small hand trowel
Each student
Individual science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Lesson
The Launch phase is designed to increase the science capital in a classroom by asking questions that elicit and explore students’ experiences. It uses local and global contexts and real-world phenomena that inspire students to recognise and explore the science behind objects, events and phenomena that occur in the material world. It encourages students to ask questions, investigate concepts, and engage with the Core Concepts that anchor each unit.
The Launch phase is divided into four routines that:
- ensure students experience the science for themselves and empathise with people who experience the problems science seeks to solve (Experience and empathise)
- anchor the teaching sequence with the key ideas and core science concepts (Anchor)
- elicit students’ prior understanding (Elicit)
- and connect with the students’ lives, languages and interests (Connect).
Students arrive in the classroom with a variety of scientific experiences. This routine provides an opportunity to plan for a common shared experience for all students. The Experience may involve games, role-play, local excursions or yarning with people in the local community. This routine can involve a chance to Empathise with the people who experience the problems science seeks to solve.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider what experiences will be relevant to your students. Is there a location for an excursion, or people to talk to as part of an incursion? Are there local people in the community who might be able to talk about what they are doing? How could you set up your classroom to broaden the students’ thinking about the core science ideas? How could you provide a common experience that will provide a talking point throughout the sequence?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkObservation walk
Take students on a student-led plant and animal observation walk.
Before the walk
Explain that students are going for a walk in the school grounds to look for different plants and animals living there. Discuss the areas of the school you might visit and predict what you might see there. Use the Code for caring and hygiene Resource sheet to establish accepted standards for animal protection and student safety.
- What parts of the school would we visit if we wanted to observe plants and animals?
- Why would we choose those parts of the school?
- Where will we find plants? What places will have no plants?
- What plants do you think we’ll see?
- What are the features of plants? How will we know what is a plant?
- Where will we find animals? What places will have no animals?
- What animals do you think we’ll see? Why do you think that?
- What are the features of animals? How will we know if it is an animal?
Optional: Discuss what ‘observation’ means and how it’s done, referring to the five key senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste) using the My five senses Resource sheet. Discuss the dangers of tasting things (germs, poisonous, makes us sick….) and how we don’t taste things in science unless we have special permission from the teacher.
During the walk
Go to the area/s of the school identified by the students as places plants and/or animals would likely be found. Encourage students to look up high, at eye level and on the ground to find plants and animals. Use the trowel to gently move dead leaves etc that may be covering small insects or animals.
Encourage and model asking questions about what students see/hear/smell/feel. Listen for noises that indicate dogs, birds, rustling leaves and bees. Share these observations with your students, reinforcing that as scientists we use many senses including our hearing.
Encourage students to notice the 'conditions' in which the plants and animals are living. Ask them to identify what they notice is the same and different about where they find plants and animals.
- Plants tend to grow in the ground.
- Large plants like trees might have a lot of space around them, whilst smaller plants might be closer together.
- Plants looked healthier when the area they were in was 'wet' or 'moist', but not too 'wet'.
- Plants didn't grow so well in areas of the school where it was dark.
- Animals tend to be found close to plants
- Animals are also found in the soil.
- Some animals were 'by themselves', like snails or worms, whereas others were in groups, like ants.
Invite students to share their own experiences about observing plants and animals (home, playground, zoo, on holidays etc.).
Repeat at another location in the school.
Optional: Photograph plants and animals that students identify for display in the classroom.
Optional: Make an audio recording of the soundscape in the playground (i.e. birds or nearby pets).
After the walk
Record the types of plants and animals that were observed on the walk in the class science journal. See the image below for one suggested recording method.
Discuss the variety of animals that students identified, including those they could see, smell, hear and feel.
Record what they noticed was the same and different about the place they saw plants and animals (see During the walk section for ideas). Record as much information as possible, as students will refer to this as their 'evidence' in later lessons.
If possible, categorise what students saw. For example animals might be categorised as insects and birds, and plants might be categorised as trees, bushes/shrubs, flowers etc.
Small animals and plants in the schoolyard
What types of plants and animals are likely to be found in the schoolyard environment?
Many small animals can be found in the schoolyard environment. Animals are capable of actively moving from place to place at some stage in their life cycle, and they feed by consuming other living things—or parts of them. Most plants are fixed to one place and make their own food by photosynthesis, using energy from sunlight.
The schoolyard might have animals with a backbone (vertebrates) such as birds, lizards and some mammals such as cats and dogs. Many animals in the schoolyard are, however, likely to be very small and without a backbone (invertebrates) such as earthworms, snails, ants, slaters, beetles and spiders.
In this sequence, during their investigations, students may encounter three types of invertebrate animals:
- Annelids (‘ringed’): animals with no limbs and with bodies divided by rings into repeated segments, such as earthworms and leeches.
- Molluscs: soft-bodied animals usually covered with a hard, outside shell that provides protection, such as snails and oysters.
- Arthropods: animals with a hard, external covering (exoskeleton) and jointed limbs. The exoskeleton provides protection and a framework to which muscles are attached and which allows them to move. The arthropods include:
- crustaceans, such as slaters and crabs.
- arachnids, which are animals with eight legs, a head and abdomen, such as spiders and ticks.
- myriapods have many legs, such as centipedes and millipedes.
- insects, the largest groups of arthropods, have a head, thorax and abdomen, six legs and antennae, such as ants and bees.
Most plants are fixed to one place and make their own food by photosynthesis, using energy from sunlight. The majority of schools have some areas containing a variety of plants, including native and/or introduced species. As a result, the schoolground can be a rich source of material for studying plants, animals and their habitats. Even grassed areas often contain multiple species including weeds, which are equally useful for exploration.
Many small animals can be found in the schoolyard environment. Animals are capable of actively moving from place to place at some stage in their life cycle, and they feed by consuming other living things—or parts of them. Most plants are fixed to one place and make their own food by photosynthesis, using energy from sunlight.
The schoolyard might have animals with a backbone (vertebrates) such as birds, lizards and some mammals such as cats and dogs. Many animals in the schoolyard are, however, likely to be very small and without a backbone (invertebrates) such as earthworms, snails, ants, slaters, beetles and spiders.
In this sequence, during their investigations, students may encounter three types of invertebrate animals:
- Annelids (‘ringed’): animals with no limbs and with bodies divided by rings into repeated segments, such as earthworms and leeches.
- Molluscs: soft-bodied animals usually covered with a hard, outside shell that provides protection, such as snails and oysters.
- Arthropods: animals with a hard, external covering (exoskeleton) and jointed limbs. The exoskeleton provides protection and a framework to which muscles are attached and which allows them to move. The arthropods include:
- crustaceans, such as slaters and crabs.
- arachnids, which are animals with eight legs, a head and abdomen, such as spiders and ticks.
- myriapods have many legs, such as centipedes and millipedes.
- insects, the largest groups of arthropods, have a head, thorax and abdomen, six legs and antennae, such as ants and bees.
Most plants are fixed to one place and make their own food by photosynthesis, using energy from sunlight. The majority of schools have some areas containing a variety of plants, including native and/or introduced species. As a result, the schoolground can be a rich source of material for studying plants, animals and their habitats. Even grassed areas often contain multiple species including weeds, which are equally useful for exploration.
The skills of observation
How might you develop students’ observation skills?
From an early age, students use their senses to explore the diverse nature of the world around them. They do so mainly through observation, a skill that is fundamental to science and technology. Observation involves the use of the five senses: touch, taste, hearing, sight and smell. Each sense provides different information about what we are observing.
Learning to observe involves learning to communicate observations to others, by representation or description. This is an important skill so others can replicate an investigation or identify a described species.
Students will have prior experience with observing plants and animals from Foundation, where they identified features of plants and animals. Opportunities to broaden students’ skills of observation will vary depending on location and resources available.
Students might need practice and assistance to distinguish between observations and assumptions or inferences about the animal’s intent (anthropomorphic views). Encourage students to use personal observation terms such as “I see”, “I hear”, “I smell”, “I feel” or “I taste”, rather than the inference term “I think…”. For example, ‘I see an ant moving dirt in the corner’ is an observation whereas ‘I think the ant is trying to escape’ or ‘I think the ant is digging a burrow’ are inferences.
It is important to first record the observation, then perhaps make inferences about what it could mean.
Some ways you might broaden your students’ observations of plants and animals:
- Provide opportunities to create audio recordings, and create a focused soundscape of 'sounds of the playground'. Some potential soundscapes are birds of the playground, animals scurrying in the undergrowth, or the sounds of plants moving in the wind. These soundscapes can provide an opportunity to focus on the sense of hearing, honing student’s observation skills in this area.
- Create home-school connections by encouraging students to undertake an observation walk with family/carers in their backyard, local area or neighbourhood park. Photographs and recording can be shared via newsletters/digital platforms, providing students with the opportunities to make observations of a variety of places.
From an early age, students use their senses to explore the diverse nature of the world around them. They do so mainly through observation, a skill that is fundamental to science and technology. Observation involves the use of the five senses: touch, taste, hearing, sight and smell. Each sense provides different information about what we are observing.
Learning to observe involves learning to communicate observations to others, by representation or description. This is an important skill so others can replicate an investigation or identify a described species.
Students will have prior experience with observing plants and animals from Foundation, where they identified features of plants and animals. Opportunities to broaden students’ skills of observation will vary depending on location and resources available.
Students might need practice and assistance to distinguish between observations and assumptions or inferences about the animal’s intent (anthropomorphic views). Encourage students to use personal observation terms such as “I see”, “I hear”, “I smell”, “I feel” or “I taste”, rather than the inference term “I think…”. For example, ‘I see an ant moving dirt in the corner’ is an observation whereas ‘I think the ant is trying to escape’ or ‘I think the ant is digging a burrow’ are inferences.
It is important to first record the observation, then perhaps make inferences about what it could mean.
Some ways you might broaden your students’ observations of plants and animals:
- Provide opportunities to create audio recordings, and create a focused soundscape of 'sounds of the playground'. Some potential soundscapes are birds of the playground, animals scurrying in the undergrowth, or the sounds of plants moving in the wind. These soundscapes can provide an opportunity to focus on the sense of hearing, honing student’s observation skills in this area.
- Create home-school connections by encouraging students to undertake an observation walk with family/carers in their backyard, local area or neighbourhood park. Photographs and recording can be shared via newsletters/digital platforms, providing students with the opportunities to make observations of a variety of places.
Core concepts and key ideas
Where does this sequence fit into the larger picture of science and the science curriculum?
When planning for teaching in your classroom, it can be useful to see where a sequence fits into the larger picture of science. This unit is anchored to the Science understanding core concepts for Biological sciences.
- Biological systems are interdependent and interact with each other and their environment.
In Year 1, this involves identifying the basic needs of plants and animals, and how the places where they live meet those needs.
This core concept is linked to the key science ideas:
- Common characteristics and needs within groups of living things can be identified; and some patterns can only be observed over certain time scales. (Patterns, order and organisation)
- The functions of living and non-living objects rely on their forms. (Form and function)
- Time and spatial scale can be quantified to compare observations of plants and animals using informal measurement. (Scale and measurement)
- Matter (water, carbon dioxide or oxygen, and minerals) and energy (in the form of light or chemical - food) from the environment are required by living things to grow and develop. (Matter and energy)
- Relationships between parts can be identified and represented. (Systems)
When your students next progress through this core concept, they will explain the roles and interactions of consumers, producers and decomposers within a habitat and how food chains represent feeding relationships (Year 4).
When planning for teaching in your classroom, it can be useful to see where a sequence fits into the larger picture of science. This unit is anchored to the Science understanding core concepts for Biological sciences.
- Biological systems are interdependent and interact with each other and their environment.
In Year 1, this involves identifying the basic needs of plants and animals, and how the places where they live meet those needs.
This core concept is linked to the key science ideas:
- Common characteristics and needs within groups of living things can be identified; and some patterns can only be observed over certain time scales. (Patterns, order and organisation)
- The functions of living and non-living objects rely on their forms. (Form and function)
- Time and spatial scale can be quantified to compare observations of plants and animals using informal measurement. (Scale and measurement)
- Matter (water, carbon dioxide or oxygen, and minerals) and energy (in the form of light or chemical - food) from the environment are required by living things to grow and develop. (Matter and energy)
- Relationships between parts can be identified and represented. (Systems)
When your students next progress through this core concept, they will explain the roles and interactions of consumers, producers and decomposers within a habitat and how food chains represent feeding relationships (Year 4).
The Launch phase is designed to increase the science capital in a classroom by asking questions that elicit and explore students’ experiences. It uses local and global contexts and real-world phenomena that inspire students to recognise and explore the science behind objects, events and phenomena that occur in the material world. It encourages students to ask questions, investigate concepts, and engage with the Core Concepts that anchor each unit.
The Launch phase is divided into four routines that:
- ensure students experience the science for themselves and empathise with people who experience the problems science seeks to solve (Experience and empathise)
- anchor the teaching sequence with the key ideas and core science concepts (Anchor)
- elicit students’ prior understanding (Elicit)
- and connect with the students’ lives, languages and interests (Connect).
The Elicit routine provides opportunities to identify students’ prior experiences, existing science capital and potential alternative conceptions related to the Core concepts. The diagnostic assessment allows teachers to support their students to build connections between what they already know and the teaching and learning that occurs during the Inquire cycle.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider when and where students may have been exposed to the core concepts and key ideas in the past. Imagine how a situation would have looked without any prior knowledge. What ideas and thoughts might students have used to explain the situation or phenomenon? What alternative conceptions might your students hold? How will you identify these?
The Deep connected learning in the ‘Pedagogical Toolbox: Deep connected learning’ provides a set of tools to identify common alternative conceptions to aid teachers during this routine.
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkStaying healthy
Explain that students will be learning about and investigating what plants and animals need to stay alive, and why they live where they do. Students will use their senses to make observations and use these observations to make claims about what plants and animals need, and how they get what they need from the places they live.
Plants
Display the healthy and unhealthy demonstration seedlings and discuss healthy and unhealthy plants.
- What are the differences between these two plants?
- Does this plant look like it is growing well?
- Why do you think that?
- It is green. It has lots of leaves. It might have flowers. Insects and birds are near it. It looks healthy.
- How can we tell if a plant is not healthy?
- What might a plant need to stay healthy?
Do not provide any formal definitions or correct students’ answers as the purpose of the Launch phase is to elicit students’ prior knowledge.
Ask students to do a drawing in their science journal of the plant that is growing well. Remind students to draw, and with assistance if required, label all parts of the plant.
Ask students to add words or pictures to show what they think the plant needs to grow and stay healthy.
Conduct a gallery walk to share students’ drawings.
- What parts of the plant have you drawn?
- What does the plant need to grow and stay healthy?
- How might parts of the plant help it get what it needs?
Referring both to these drawings, and the observation table created after the observation walk, pose the question: What do plants need to stay alive?
Record students’ ideas in the class science journal. Through discussion and reference to the observations, draw out four factors needed for plant growth: soil, water, light, and space.
Retain both seedlings for the next lesson, keeping one healthy and one unhealthy/dying.
Animals
Pose the question: What do animals need to stay alive?
Support students to answer the question by asking them to think of a specific animal and what it might need to grow and stay healthy (stay alive).
Record students’ ideas in the class science journal.
- What animal are you thinking of?
- What does the animal need to grow and stay healthy/stay alive?
- How do parts of the animal help it to get what it needs?
- Fur to keep warm, legs to move around and find food/shelter
Compare the needs of people and animals. Include questions to support students to differentiate between needs and wants. Record student ideas in the class science journal on a page titled ‘What do humans need?’
- What do humans need to stay alive?
- Is this the same as, or different from, what animals need?
- What do you think is the difference between something we need and something we want?
- Does a animals, like a dog or a cat, need a ball (or other toy) to stay alive?
- A dog or a cat doesn't need a ball (or other toy) to stay alive, but having opportunities to play and have fun helps them feel happier.
- What about people, do they need toys to play with?
- Do you think toys are a need or a want?
- Technically, having opportunities to play and have fun are wants. However, it could be said that emotional well-being depends on this and other factors such as love, care and relationships. If students bring these ideas to the discussion they should be acknowledged and validated as important to health through happiness. This idea will be addressed again in Lesson 5.
Referring both to this discussion, and the observation table created after the observation walk, record students’ ideas in a table in the class science journal, under the title ‘What do animals need to stay alive?’
Conditions for plant growth
What are the basic needs to ensure healthy plant growth?
In general, plants have five basic needs to ensure that they grow and remain healthy.
Sunlight
Plants can use the energy in the Sun’s rays to produce carbohydrates (sugars). This process is called photosynthesis and is carried out by specialised parts of plant cells called ‘chloroplasts’. Chloroplasts contain chlorophyll pigments which are generally green in colour. The process uses carbon dioxide gas and water to produce oxygen and glucose (sugars). The sugars are stored in plants’ tissues or converted into other molecules, for example, cellulose, to build cell walls. In sunlight, a plant produces more sugar molecules than it is breaking down, causing it to produce more oxygen than it consumes.
Water
Water is required to help a seed to sprout, it helps transport nutrients around the plant as it grows, and it is necessary to produce the sugars used for photosynthesis. Most plants cannot survive long in sunlight without water.
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is necessary for photosynthesis. Most plants cannot survive long in sunlight without carbon dioxide.
Space
Plants need space to grow so that they are not competing with other plants for sunlight and water. Very large trees tend to have more space around them than smaller plants- usually because they require more water and minerals from the soil, and shade out other plants from receiving light. Smaller plants can grow more closely together when there is enough water, light, and minerals in the soil to supply their needs. Even smaller plants will become unhealthy and die is there is overcrowding and too much competition from other plants.
Soil
Soil provides water and some essential minerals to a plant. It also helps anchor a plant in place. Hydroponic plants are artificially anchored in slow-moving water that has small amounts of minerals added.
Plants might require different amounts of these things depending on their species.
In this sequence, we focus on the four factors of sunlight, water, soil, and space as they are the most straightforward to test in a classroom environment.
In general, plants have five basic needs to ensure that they grow and remain healthy.
Sunlight
Plants can use the energy in the Sun’s rays to produce carbohydrates (sugars). This process is called photosynthesis and is carried out by specialised parts of plant cells called ‘chloroplasts’. Chloroplasts contain chlorophyll pigments which are generally green in colour. The process uses carbon dioxide gas and water to produce oxygen and glucose (sugars). The sugars are stored in plants’ tissues or converted into other molecules, for example, cellulose, to build cell walls. In sunlight, a plant produces more sugar molecules than it is breaking down, causing it to produce more oxygen than it consumes.
Water
Water is required to help a seed to sprout, it helps transport nutrients around the plant as it grows, and it is necessary to produce the sugars used for photosynthesis. Most plants cannot survive long in sunlight without water.
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is necessary for photosynthesis. Most plants cannot survive long in sunlight without carbon dioxide.
Space
Plants need space to grow so that they are not competing with other plants for sunlight and water. Very large trees tend to have more space around them than smaller plants- usually because they require more water and minerals from the soil, and shade out other plants from receiving light. Smaller plants can grow more closely together when there is enough water, light, and minerals in the soil to supply their needs. Even smaller plants will become unhealthy and die is there is overcrowding and too much competition from other plants.
Soil
Soil provides water and some essential minerals to a plant. It also helps anchor a plant in place. Hydroponic plants are artificially anchored in slow-moving water that has small amounts of minerals added.
Plants might require different amounts of these things depending on their species.
In this sequence, we focus on the four factors of sunlight, water, soil, and space as they are the most straightforward to test in a classroom environment.
Unhealthy plants
What are the signs that a plant is unhealthy?
There are several signs that a plant is unhealthy and not growing well.
Plants have varied shapes and colours. In order to identify a plant that is not growing well or is unhealthy, you need to be able to compare it with one of the same species growing in optimal conditions. Things to look for in an unhealthy plant:
- The plant is wilted, that is, the leaves are hanging downwards, curled inwards, and/or the stem is no longer straight. This generally indicates that the plant lacks water, most likely because the soil is dry. For some plants it can also be a sign of too much water.
- Bleached areas on leaves that have just been placed outdoors can indicate sunburn.
- Blackened areas on leaves can indicate frost damage.
- Off-colour leaves can be caused by a mineral deficiency.
Some of these signs are also associated with disease or insect attack.
There are several signs that a plant is unhealthy and not growing well.
Plants have varied shapes and colours. In order to identify a plant that is not growing well or is unhealthy, you need to be able to compare it with one of the same species growing in optimal conditions. Things to look for in an unhealthy plant:
- The plant is wilted, that is, the leaves are hanging downwards, curled inwards, and/or the stem is no longer straight. This generally indicates that the plant lacks water, most likely because the soil is dry. For some plants it can also be a sign of too much water.
- Bleached areas on leaves that have just been placed outdoors can indicate sunburn.
- Blackened areas on leaves can indicate frost damage.
- Off-colour leaves can be caused by a mineral deficiency.
Some of these signs are also associated with disease or insect attack.
The Launch phase is designed to increase the science capital in a classroom by asking questions that elicit and explore students’ experiences. It uses local and global contexts and real-world phenomena that inspire students to recognise and explore the science behind objects, events and phenomena that occur in the material world. It encourages students to ask questions, investigate concepts, and engage with the Core Concepts that anchor each unit.
The Launch phase is divided into four routines that:
- ensure students experience the science for themselves and empathise with people who experience the problems science seeks to solve (Experience and empathise)
- anchor the teaching sequence with the key ideas and core science concepts (Anchor)
- elicit students’ prior understanding (Elicit)
- and connect with the students’ lives, languages and interests (Connect).
Science education consists of a series of key ideas and core concepts that can explain objects, events and phenomena, and link them to the experiences encountered by students in their lives. The purpose of the Anchor routine is to identify the key ideas and concepts in a way that builds and deepens students’ understanding. During the Launch phase, the Anchor routine provides a lens through which to view the classroom context, and a way to frame the key knowledge and skills students will be learning.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the core concepts and key ideas that are relevant. Break these into small bite-sized pieces that are relevant to the age and stage of your students. Consider possible alternative concepts that students might hold. How could you provide activities or ask questions that will allow students to consider what they know?
Each student comes to the classroom with experiences made up from science-related knowledge, attitudes, experiences and resources in their life. The Connect routine is designed to tap into these experiences and that of their wider community. It is also an opportunity to yarn with community leaders (where appropriate) to gain an understanding of the student’s lives, languages and interests. In the Launch phase, this routine identifies and uses the science capital of students as the foundation of the teaching sequence so students can appreciate the relevance of their learning and its potential impact on future decisions. In short, this routine moves beyond scientific literacy and increases the science capital in the classroom and science identity of the students.
When planning a teaching sequence, take an interest in the lives of your students. What are their hobbies, how do they travel to and from school? What might have happened in the lives of your students (i.e. blackouts) that might be relevant to your next teaching sequence? What context might be of interest to your students?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkHow can we use our learning?
Introduce and link the context of the unit—that students will be:
- learning about the needs of plants and animals.
- learning how as humans we can help plants and animals to stay alive by protecting their homes in the wild and giving pets the things they need to survive.
- learning about how plants and animals also help us to survive by providing us with some of the things we need, such as fruit to eat and honey from bees.
- creating a diorama (model) of a place where a plant or animal lives.
Ask students what they would like to know about how plants and animals grow and stay healthy (stay alive). Record student questions in the class science journal and group together similar questions.
Model asking further questions, including these questions that will be covered during the lesson sequence, by creating a T-chart entitled 'Our questions'. Invite students to add their own questions to the chart.
Reflect on the lesson
You might:
- add to the class word wall (words, drawings, photos) vocabulary related to plants and animals staying alive and healthy.
- discuss how students were thinking and working like scientists during the lesson. Focus on how they were generating ideas based on their what they already thought and the observations made during the observation walk.
- invite students to bring along a photo of their pet to add to the class word wall.
Word wall
Why use a word wall to support acquisition of vocabulary?
A word wall is an organised collection of words and images displayed in the classroom. It supports the development of a shared vocabulary related to a particular topic and provides a reference for supporting students’ literacy.
A word wall is an organised collection of words and images displayed in the classroom. It supports the development of a shared vocabulary related to a particular topic and provides a reference for supporting students’ literacy.