Have a small potted plant and a toy car ready to show side by side. Do not hand out the sorting trays yet. Take a few quick guesses from the class. Accept every idea kindly. The goal is curiosity, not the full answer yet.

Key question: Which one is alive, and what makes you think that?

Use the short board lines above only. Keep the full table for your own reference. Keep this beat light: board definitions plus one short modelled sort. Do not read the full multi-sentence worked example unless the class needs extra support.

Plant aside (teacher only): pupils keep the simple phrase "needs food and water". If a child asks about plants, say that plants make their own food using light, air and water. We still water them and they still grow. You may quietly treat "needs light" as an extra plant clue; do not add it to the pupil board list yet.

Short model (required, about 1 minute): Hold up the same plant and toy car from the hook. I think the plant is living because it grows and needs water. I think the toy car is non-living because it never grows and never needs a drink.

Optional fuller script (only if the class needs another pass later): I wonder whether this plant is living or non-living. I predict it is living because it grew and needs water. I look and check: it has green leaves and a stem, and we water it. I observed that it is growing and needs care. I think the plant is living, and the toy car beside it is non-living because the car never grows or needs water.

Misconception to head off: children may say a toy animal is living because it looks like a real animal, or that a seed is non-living because it is still. Gently revoice: we look for clues such as growing, needing food and water, or moving by itself, not only how something looks.

Before the lesson

• Print the provided living and non-living photo cards (one set per group).
• Set out one tray per group using the lists below.
• If using a live snail or woodlouse, collect it gently just before the lesson and keep it in a ventilated tub with a little damp leaf litter. Plan to return it outdoors after the lesson.

Canonical materials (same inventory for steps 3 to 5)

Real objects per group (no matching photo cards for these): small potted plant, stone, toy car, teddy or soft toy, pencil.

Photo cards per group (items without a real object on the tray): snail, daisy, woodlouse, plastic leaf, wooden block.

Class shared (optional): one live snail or woodlouse in a ventilated tub, passed carefully between groups or kept at one supervised station.

If real objects are scarce, use the full photo-card set (add plant, stone, toy car, teddy, pencil cards) plus one shared class plant and one shared stone.

Inventory rule (state once before trays go out)

Each thing appears once only. Sort the real objects first. Use photo cards for the living and non-living things you do not have as reals. Do not put a plant photo in the hoop if the real plant is already there.

Handle set for this step only (keep it short)

Pupils handle a core set only: real plant, stone, toy car or teddy, plastic leaf card, and snail or woodlouse card (or the live minibeast if used). Leave daisy, pencil and wooden block on the tray for the sort step. This keeps the notice beat gentle and finishable in the time.

During the step

Model gentle hands first. Pupils observe and handle one item at a time from the core handle set. They do not sort into hoops yet and they do not record on paper yet. Circulate and ask: What do you notice? Does it grow? Does it need water?

Safety: handle any minibeast gently; no poking. Hands will be washed after the tray sort, before journal work.

Give each group two hoops or two clear floor/table spaces labelled living and non-living. Pupils sort the full canonical set: real objects (plant, stone, toy car, teddy, pencil) plus photo cards (snail, daisy, woodlouse, plastic leaf, wooden block). Remind the inventory rule: each thing once only; reals first, cards fill the gaps. They place each object or card and say a simple reason aloud (grows, needs water, never grows, does not need food).

This slot is for placing and justifying only. Do not run the class handwash inside these minutes.

If groups disagree, pause the class and model one tricky item together (for example the plastic leaf, wooden block, or teddy). Fold watchers in with questions: Do you agree? What clue are they using?

Moves by itself: if pupils say a toy car or wind-up toy is living because it moves, revoice: If it only moves when we push, wind, or switch it, that is not the same as a snail or woodlouse moving on its own.

Once-living materials: if pupils say a pencil or wooden block is living because it came from a tree, revoice: It was part of a living tree once, but now it does not grow or need food or water, so we sort it as non-living.

Look-fors:

• Pupils place items in a hoop rather than leaving them in a pile.
• Pupils give a reason linked to growing, needing food or water, moving by itself, or staying the same.
• Gentle handling of the live minibeast if used.

Differentiation: offer sentence stems — I think it is living because… / I think it is non-living because…. Confident groups can hunt one extra classroom example for each hoop at the end of the sort.

Transition first (about 2 minutes): put trays and live minibeasts aside. Run a quick handwash or wipe station so clean hands meet the next steps. Return the minibeast to its tub for later outdoor release if not already done. Leave one clear class model in view if you can (for example the two labelled hoops with a few sorted examples still showing, or the word-and-picture bank you will write next) so pupils can see living and non-living groups after trays are cleared.

Then drive the sorting-tree interactive on the IWB in explore mode (about 5 minutes). Cards on screen are a selection chosen to include the trickier look-alikes: plant, snail, woodlouse, stone, toy car, teddy, plastic leaf, wooden block. Groups are living and non-living. The guide questions are: Is it alive? and Does it grow or need food and water?

Invite pupils to call out where each card goes. Place the card only after a reason is offered. Use one disputed card as a whole-class think-pair-share. If movement comes up for the toy car, remind them: moving only when we push it is not the same as a snail moving on its own. If pencil or wood comes up from the tray talk, use the once-living revoice from the sort step.

While the class sorts cards, write the journal word bank on the board ready for the next step: living, non-living, plant, snail, stone, toy, grows, water. Keep that bank and the finished board sort visible for recording.

This interactive supports the tray sort; it does not replace it.

Before this step starts: hands should already be washed after the tray tidy. Issue one Investigation Journal page per pupil now (or have them ready on desks). Keep the board sort and the word bank in clear view: living, non-living, plant, snail, stone, toy, grows, water. If you left a few sorted examples on the class model hoops, leave those up too so pupils are not reconstructing cleared trays from memory alone.

Pupils record on the paper Investigation Journal page. They draw or label familiar items from the board sort, the word bank, and what they remember from the tray. They do not type into the platform.

Support writers with the word bank. If time allows, pupils may add one classroom find of their own to each side (for example a book as non-living, a class plant as living).

Display-only science talk. Revoice pupil ideas using the lesson words living and non-living. Draw out clues: grows, needs food or water, moves by itself, stays the same, never needs a drink.

Prompts:

• Which sort was trickiest, and why?
• Where can we spot living and non-living things in our own classroom right now?
• How should we care for the living things we meet (plants, minibeasts)?

Finish by scanning the room together — plant on the sill (living), chair and clock (non-living).

Return any minibeast outdoors if not already returned. Check hands were washed after biological handling earlier; offer a top-up wash if needed before the close.

Keep the close short and hopeful. Praise gentle handling and clear reasons. Optional home noticing task (journal or chat with an adult): find one living thing and one non-living thing at home and say how you can tell. No digital homework.

Pack trays, wipe tables if needed, and check hands are washed after biological material.