BUILD · Science · Week 3A · Explore
Backbones and No Backbones
🎯 Learning objective: I can sort animals into those with a backbone and those without.
✅ Success criteria
- Find the backbone on a skeleton diagram.
- Name examples with and without a backbone.
- Explain one way an invertebrate can be supported without an internal backbone.
ArrivalStarterI DoWe DoI Do 2We Do 2IndependentExit
🧪 Creature X-Ray Lab⏱ 40 minutes🔁 Live Lundy loop
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
BUILD starts with safe participation and a familiar adult.
⏱ 4 min
🚪 Arrival · what you already knowWeeks 1 and 2 were baseline. There is no previous lesson to recall — this is where the teaching starts. Begin from what you already know.
New to this class, or not sure? Everything you need is in the box above — read it, then answer.
◆ Supported
1 · What you know: Point to the backbone on the skeleton picture.
2 · Animals you know: Point to an animal card you know.
3 · Think about it: Point to a hard animal. Point to a soft animal.
4 · Lead-in: Look at the crab picture. Point to its hard outside.
▲ Standard
1 · What you know: Name two bones you already know. Then point to the backbone.
2 · Animals you know: Name an animal you think has bones inside. Say how you know.
3 · Think about it: Say one thing a skeleton does.
4 · Lead-in: A crab feels hard outside. Say one thing you notice about that.
★ Stretch
1 · What you know: What do you already know about what a skeleton does?
2 · Animals you know: Which animals do you think have bones inside? Why?
3 · Think about it: What might hold up an animal with no bones? Say your idea.
4 · Lead-in: A crab is hard outside. A worm is soft. What questions does that give you?
Arrival retrieves. It does not assume today’s new concept. Weeks 1 and 2 were baseline, so questions draw on what you already know.
BUILD Voice can be
☝ point / choose🗣 say / sign🧩 demonstrate / model✍ write / draw🔁 re-attempt
You can change how you answer. The Science goal stays the same.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Predictable retrieval; if access is blocked, change the mode before increasing demand.
⏱ 4 min
🌱 Starter · create the need to know🔍 Today’s puzzle
A crab can feel hard and protected, but it has no bones inside. How can that be? Choose a hypothesis before we reveal the inside.
Choose, point or say one idea. First ideas are never marked.
FRAME 1 / 4
WHAT IS INSIDE?
Pause whenever pupil Voice changes what should happen next.
FRAME 2 / 4
FIND THE LINE OF BONES
Pause whenever pupil Voice changes what should happen next.
FRAME 3 / 4
COMPARE THE OUTSIDE SUPPORT
Pause whenever pupil Voice changes what should happen next.
FRAME 4 / 4
CLASSIFY WITH EVIDENCE
Pause whenever pupil Voice changes what should happen next.
BUILD Voice can be
☝ point / choose🗣 say / sign🧩 demonstrate / model✍ write / draw🔁 re-attempt
You can change how you answer. The Science goal stays the same.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Pupil Voice opens the new question before the teacher supplies the explanation.
⏱ 5 min
👩🏫 I Do · picture first🧠 Watch the thinking — picture first, words after the idea lands.
🔤 Key wordsVERTEBRATEhas an internal backboneINVERTEBRATEdoes not have an internal backboneBACKBONEline of bones inside the back
Word help shows an everyday bridge under each scientific word — the scientific word always stays. TA route: say the bridge, then fade it as the pupil uses the formal term.
STEP Scan a fish model: look for a line of many small bones down the middle — not ribs, legs or one long bone.
STEP Name the classification only after the evidence is visible: backbone present → vertebrate.
STEP Contrast a beetle/crab model: no internal backbone; support can come from a hard outside case.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Teacher models; support staff watch regulation, access and the moment the idea lands.
⏱ 5 min
🤝 We Do · everyone commitsCommit before reveal: Which is the best scientific test for a vertebrate?
Choose, point or say an answer. First attempts are information.
BUILD Voice can be
☝ point / choose🗣 say / sign🧩 demonstrate / model✍ write / draw🔁 re-attempt
You can change how you answer. The Science goal stays the same.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Adult genuinely receives the response; the next explanation/question/scaffold changes because of it.
⏱ 4 min
👩🏫 I Do 2 · connect the second idea🧠 Watch the thinking — picture first, words after the idea lands.
STEP Use counterexamples: a tiny mouse has a backbone; a large crab does not.
STEP Show a snail shell and a worm diagram: ‘no backbone’ does not mean ‘no support’.
STEP Model proof language: ‘The ___ is a vertebrate/invertebrate because ___.’
✅ What this model helps us see
The model helps us check one feature every time: the internal backbone.
⚠ What this model does not show
It does not show every feature. Looks alone cannot prove a classification.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Teacher models; support staff watch regulation, access and the moment the idea lands.
⏱ 4 min
🤝 We Do 2 · interactive labInteractive exploration: predict → manipulate → explain → adult receives → next move.
🔎 Creature Evidence Lab
CHOOSE EVIDENCECOMMIT A GROUPCHECKEXPLAIN
1 · Choose one evidence card. 2 · Press the group its words support. Every control is a button — no dragging.
Frozen look: say the card evidence you used. The rule is the internal backbone — not size or looks.
Choose one evidence card. More cards unlock as you place them.
BUILD Voice can be
☝ point / choose🗣 say / sign🧩 demonstrate / model✍ write / draw🔁 re-attempt
You can change how you answer. The Science goal stays the same.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Adult genuinely receives the response; the next explanation/question/scaffold changes because of it.
⏱ 10 min
✏️ Independent · evidence of learning✏️ Independent product / demonstration
Creature X-Ray case file. Sort the eight animal cards. Make two groups. Then pick one animal. Prove its classification. Your evidence is body parts you can see.
🧪 PRACTICAL READY · HANDS-ON WHERE IT SERVES THE OUTCOME
EquipmentAnimal/skeleton picture cards or models; two-column sort mat; optional plastic animals; magnifier; pre-printed X-ray cards.
Safety / sensoryUse models/diagrams, never pupils’ bodies. No touching or feeling another person’s spine. Handling animal models is optional.
Evidence targetYour sorted mat and your reason. An adult may take a photo, watch you sort, or record your voice if allowed.
10 minutes. Supported / Standard / Stretch are routes, not fixed identities.
◆ Use the BACKBONE mat. Use the NO BACKBONE mat. Sort your cards. Two anchor cards help.
Anchor cards. A fish has an internal backbone. A crab’s hard case is outside. Word bank: backbone · inside · outside · hard · support.
Fade it: remove the first prompt no longer needed.
▲ Sort all eight animals. Then pick one. Write one ‘because’ sentence. It must prove your choice.
Sentence stem. ‘The ___ is a ___ because I can see ___’. Or swap in ‘cannot’.
Fade it: remove the first prompt no longer needed.
★ Sort them all. Justify two choices. An invertebrate has no backbone. Explain what holds it up.
Add a counterexample. Pick a big animal. Pick a small one. Size is not a valid classification test. Nor is fur.
Fade it: remove the first prompt no longer needed.
1 · Pupil decisionchoice, prediction, plan or classification
2 · Observable Sciencesort, model, demonstration, result or re-attempt
3 · Pupil meaningexplanation, justification or changed response
BUILD Voice can be
☝ point / choose🗣 say / sign🧩 demonstrate / model✍ write / draw🔁 re-attempt
You can change how you answer. The Science goal stays the same.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Pupil authors a choice, model or demonstration; staff fade prompting and receive the Science.
⏱ 4 min
🎫 Exit · adult Audience closes BUILD◆ Supported
Circle the vertebrate: worm / cat.
▲ Standard
Name one vertebrate and one invertebrate and give the test you used.
★ Stretch
Explain how an animal can be supported even without an internal backbone.
🔁 BUILD Lundy close
The pupil responds in a workable modality. The adult genuinely receives it — reads, listens or watches, and names back the Science they heard. The adult then calibrates the next learning move.
No extra pupil-written closure line is required for BUILD. If local policy uses an R code, it only belongs after genuine Audience; this file never adds it automatically.
BUILD Voice can be
☝ point / choose🗣 say / sign🧩 demonstrate / model✍ write / draw🔁 re-attempt
You can change how you answer. The Science goal stays the same.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
BUILD closes through genuine adult Audience. Influence is the next calibrated learning move.