Hold up one everyday outdoor find from the school grounds (a leaf with holes, a damp stone, a feather, or a pine cone). Keep the hook light: show the object, pause, and take two or three short notices only. Do not teach the wonder language yet and do not set out the full walk kit.

Key questions: What do your eyes notice? What colour is it? What shape is it?

Teaching tip: Accept every notice warmly. Guesses and half-formed ideas are welcome. Save I wonder why for the next step.

Keep the board light. Name noticing as today's idea, then model one short notice-to-wonder cycle with the hook object still in view. Treat I wonder why as a spoken stem the class practises with help, not a second formal definition on screen. Save the scientist and nature-ranger line for the carpet close.

Modelled cycle (say aloud, do not write the answer on the board):

• I notice: this find has little holes / is damp / feels rough (match the real object).
• I wonder why: I wonder why it looks like that?

Misconception to head off: children may think a wonder question needs a right answer straight away. At this age the skill is asking, not answering. Praise the question itself.

Before the lesson: clear a stretch of existing classroom wall or noticeboard as the class wonder wall (no big sheet to prepare). Have sticky notes or small paper squares ready. Check outdoor boundaries and adult ratios for a short yard walk close to the classroom door. Assign talking partners before the walk (use existing pairs if you already have them). On wet or cold days, plan the indoor-only path (classroom plus porch or corridor by the door). If coat time usually overruns with your class, have coats already on before this carpet section begins.

Before you leave the carpet, name talking partners so every child knows who to whisper to. Keep the pupil job tiny at first: look and whisper only. Do not put the paper job on the board yet.

When clipboards come in: hand out clipboards, paper and a pencil or crayon just before the indoor look, or after you return to the carpet. Say then: make one quick mark or drawing of the thing you noticed — not a long picture. Outdoors, noticing is the main job; a mark on paper is optional and light only if a child can manage it without dropping the noticing.

Suggested timing inside this 11-minute slot (Senior Infants pace, with real coat slack):

• Indoor look and partner whisper: about 2 minutes
• Coats, line-up and boundary reminder: about 3 minutes
• Short yard walk close to the classroom door (noticing main job): about 4 minutes
• Return; handwash if anyone touched soil or plants; settle: about 2 minutes

Coat-time overrun path: if coats usually take longer than three minutes, start the lesson with coats already on, or shave one minute from the indoor look and keep the near-door yard and handwash blocks intact.

Wet-day / indoor-only path: skip the yard; walk the classroom, windowsill and porch or corridor by the door for the same noticing job. Keep the full 11 minutes for look, whisper and a quick mark back on the carpet. No coats needed.

Keep the outdoor boundary tight (path, wall or grass strip beside the door) so travel time fits. Keep the class together. Recording is light and oral later; there is no Investigation Journal page today.

Indoor look-fors: light on the floor, a plant on the windowsill, a crack in a tile, condensation on a window, a clock hand, a wet coat peg.

Outdoor look-fors (Irish schoolyard, near door): moss on a wall, a daisy in a crack, a robin or crow, wet tarmac after rain, bark on a tree, a worm cast, a puddle.

Key questions while you walk: What do you notice? What colour, shape or feel is it? Stay beside your partner. Point, do not pick.

Differentiation: less confident children may point and you supply the sentence stem I notice… Ready talkers can try I notice… and I wonder why… with a partner. Fast finishers look for a second interesting thing, not a written task.

Safety: set boundaries before you leave; children stay with the class; no picking or tasting; gentle hands near plants and minibeasts; wash hands on return if anyone touched soil or plants.

Whole-class carpet return with a single-adult default so every child gets a sticky on the wonder wall in about 8 minutes. A second adult speeds things up but is not required.

Default single-adult workflow:

1. Point to the cleared board or noticeboard space and name it our wonder wall before anyone sticks anything (about 30 seconds).
2. Model one full cycle aloud and write one sticky yourself: I notice moss on the wall. I wonder why moss grows on the wall? (about 1 minute).
3. Give every child a sticky note. All children draw the thing they noticed on the carpet at the same time (about 2 minutes). Pre-write or stamp the stem words I wonder why on stickies if that helps you move faster.
4. Circulating scribe (about 4 minutes): move round the carpet in a steady loop. Child shows the drawing and says or points to what they noticed; you add a few short pupil-friendly words after the stem. Aim for roughly 15–20 seconds per child. While they wait, children stay on the carpet: add detail to their drawing or whisper I notice… to their talking partner. Do not send idle children to free play.
5. Hard stop and pinning parade (about 1 minute, overlapping the last scribes if needed): every child sticks their own note on the wonder wall. If a few stickies still only have a drawing, add the stem and one key word as they pin so LO3 is still met for the whole class.

If a helper is present: split the carpet into two scribe loops; same steps, faster finish.

If the class is large (25+): scribe in three carpet batches of about eight. Batch at the teacher edge of the carpet while the others keep drawing or partner-whisper; still end with one whole-class pin so nobody is left out.

Sentence stems to hold up or say:

• I notice…
• I wonder why…?

Nature of STEM weave (light): name that scientists and nature rangers notice things, turn them into questions, and go off to explore. Keep the longer talk for the next step.

Look-fors: child can say what they noticed (or point and accept a stem); with help, child can form or repeat an I wonder why question; every sticky note reaches the wall.

Display-only, oral make-sense talk. Stand by the wonder wall and read two or three sticky notes aloud so every child hears them. Invite thumbs-up for a sticky that makes children curious. Do not answer the questions today; celebrate asking.

Focus question (say aloud): Which sticky makes you want to look again?

Draw out (teacher only, not a pupil definition of good):

• A wonder starts with something we really noticed.
• I wonder why helps us find out more later.
• Scientists, nature rangers, doctors and many helpers begin with noticing and wondering.

Misconception: if a child rushes to answer their own wonder, gently say: today we practise asking — we can explore the answer another day.

Optional tiny home noticing (oral only, in your voice at the end if useful): tonight notice one interesting thing at home and tell an adult your I wonder why question. No worksheet and no screen task.

Quick pack-away only. Handwashing should already have happened on return from the walk if anyone touched soil or plants; if a few still need it, send a small group with an adult while others put clipboards away. Collect clipboards, pencils and spare sticky notes. Leave the wonder wall up so the class can return to the questions in later play and talk.

Success look-fors for the lesson:

• Said one thing they noticed aloud (or pointed and accepted a stem).
• Helped form or repeat one I wonder why question.
• Contributed a sticky note (words or drawing) to the shared wonder wall.