Science in Everyday Life: a skill companion
A small set of reusable sheets that grow one idea: people use science every day, and they read patterns to make predictions, such as a farmer who sees dark clouds and predicts rain. Print the scaffolds once and slot them into the science lessons you are already teaching.
What a skill companion is
Science as a Human Endeavour is not a topic of its own. It grows inside the science units a class teaches all year, such as What Living Things Need, Day, Night and Seasons and Pushes and Pulls. So this pack is not a full term of lessons. It is three reusable scaffolds, a map of where they fit, and a short stand-alone lesson for teaching the skill on its own first.
Start here: five minutes
- Read the pairing map on the next page: it shows which scaffold fits which science lesson.
- Print the everyday-science spotter and the pattern-to-prediction frame, one each per child, whenever a lesson touches how people use science.
- Cut out the is-it-science cards once. They are reused all year, in any topic.
- Open the free interactive unit on your board when you want a worked example of the skill.
- Run the one-page mini-lesson first if you want to teach the skill before folding it into a topic.
No science background needed
This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each scaffold explains itself in plain words, and the answer sheet gives model responses and look-fors for every Year 1 topic, so you can walk in and use it.
Slot the skill into your science lessons
The same idea, that people use science and read patterns to predict, fits into every science unit. This map shows how people use science in each Year 1 topic, an everyday example, and which scaffold to reach for. You do not run these as extra lessons; you fold them into the science you teach.
| When you teach | How people use science in it | An everyday example | Scaffold to slot in |
|---|---|---|---|
| What Living Things Need (AC9S1U01) | A gardener or farmer gives plants and animals their needs | A gardener waters seedlings and stands them in the light | Everyday science spotter |
| Day, Night and Seasons (AC9S1U02) | People read the sky and seasons to predict weather and plan the day | Dark clouds in the sky, so we predict rain and take a coat | Pattern-to-prediction frame |
| Pushes and Pulls (AC9S1U03) | People use pushes and pulls in tools and play | A trolley, a door and a swing all take a push or a pull | Everyday-science cards, then the spotter |
| Any daily life | A child spots science their own family uses at home | Cooking, gardening or dressing for the weather | Everyday-science cards first |
The moves, and the picture that backs each one
When you want a worked example on the board, open the interactive unit and use the picture that matches the move children are working on.
- Watch a pattern become a prediction: “A farmer learns to predict the rain”.
- Try predicting from a pattern yourself: “Pick a way to guess tomorrow's weather”.
- Find science people use around them: “Spot the everyday science”.
How the scaffolds build the skill
The everyday-science spotter shows children where science already lives in a home or a job. The pattern-to-prediction frame turns a pattern they know into a prediction with a reason. The is-it-science cards sharpen the hardest part: telling a prediction from a pattern apart from a wish or a bit of luck. Used together across the year, they make noticing science a habit.
Science I spotted today
Be a science spotter. People use science all day at home and in their jobs, even when they do not say the word. Find one way someone near you uses science and draw or write it.
A way we use science at home or in a job
Who was using it?
A person at home, or someone in a job, such as a farmer, a baker or a builder.
The science idea behind it
What do they know that makes it work? These openers can help.
- They know that ______ , so they ______ .
- They have seen ______ happen before.
- They read a ______ to plan ahead.
Teacher note: any real everyday use counts, from watering a plant to reading the sky. If a child is stuck, point to the pairing map for their current science topic.
A pattern helps me predict
A prediction is a good guess about what will happen next. When you know a pattern, you can use it to predict. That is what a farmer does when dark clouds mean rain is coming.
Fill the frame
A pattern I know:Draw what I predict will happen
After it happens
What really happened:A prediction that turns out wrong is still good science: you learn to read the pattern better.
Is this using science?
Cut out the cards. Sort them into two piles: using science (someone reads a pattern to predict or plan), and not science (just a wish or a bit of luck, with no pattern behind it).
Teacher note: the two piles are “using science” and “not science, just a wish”. The answer sheet lists which is which, and why. Blank cards let children add their own.
People use science every day
Use this stand-alone lesson to teach the skill on its own, before you fold it into a science topic. It runs the three scaffolds in this pack in one short block, so children meet the whole skill in one go and then reuse the sheets all year.
We are learning to
- see how people use science at home and in their jobs,
- notice a pattern in what we see,
- use the pattern to make a prediction and give a reason.
Success criteria
- I can name a way people use science every day.
- I can use a pattern to make a prediction and say why.
You need
- the is-it-science cards (scaffold 3), one set per table, cut out ahead or by fast finishers,
- the everyday-science spotter and the pattern-to-prediction frame (scaffolds 1 and 2), one each per child,
- a coat or a hat, and something that shows a warm-and-rises pattern such as bread or a picture of dough,
- the free interactive unit on your board, if you have one (optional).
Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)
| 5 min | Science this morning Ask how children used science before school. Getting dressed for the weather and cooking breakfast are both using science. Ask: “How did you know what to wear today? What did you look at or feel first?” |
| 10 min | Using science, or just a wish? Tables sort the is-it-science cards into two piles: using science, and just a wish or luck. Bring the class together on one tricky card. Ask: “Is there a pattern behind this one, or is it only a wish? What pattern did the person read?” |
| 10 min | Pattern to prediction Each child fills the pattern-to-prediction frame: a pattern they know, so they predict, because. Move around and help children say the reason behind their prediction. |
| 5 min | Share an everyday science A few children read out one way people use science and the prediction it helps with. Celebrate a clear pattern more than a right answer. Ask: “What pattern did that person use, and what did it help them predict?” |
Running it shorter? Stop after Using science, or just a wish, and pick up Pattern to prediction inside your next science lesson, where children predict from a real pattern.
Watch for these ideas
- Thinking science only happens in a lab. Cooking, gardening and reading the sky are all science people use every day.
- Thinking a wish or luck is science. If there is no pattern behind it, it cannot help us predict.
- Thinking predicting is just guessing. A prediction leans on a pattern you have seen before.
Make it easier, make it bigger
- Easier: sort just four cards, two using science and two that are just a wish.
- Bigger: write a new everyday-science moment on a blank card and swap it with another table to sort.
Answers and look-fors
The next sheet has the card answers, a model pattern-to-prediction for each Year 1 topic, and a quick three-level guide.
Answers and look-fors
Is-it-science cards: which use science?
| Card | Using science? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A farmer sees dark clouds and predicts rain, so brings the sheep in | Yes | The farmer reads a pattern (dark clouds come before rain) and makes a prediction to plan the day. |
| We feel the morning is cold and predict we will need a coat | Yes | A pattern (cold air means we get cold outside) turns into a prediction, so we dress for the weather. |
| A baker knows dough rises when it is warm | Yes | The baker has noticed warm dough rises, so puts it in a warm spot on purpose. That is using science. |
| A gardener plants seeds in spring because that is when they grow | Yes | The gardener uses the pattern of the seasons to predict the best time for seeds to grow. |
| I wish it would snow on my birthday | No | A wish does not read any pattern. Wishing cannot change what the weather will do. |
| My lucky socks make my team win | No | This is luck, not a pattern. The socks do not change how the game goes. |
| I hope the ice cream van comes | No | Hoping is a feeling, not a prediction from a pattern. Nothing here tells us the van will come. |
| Wishing on a star to pass a test | No | A wish on a star has no pattern behind it. It is not using science to predict anything. |
| A builder checks the sky before pouring wet cement | Yes | The builder reads the sky to predict rain, because wet weather would spoil fresh cement. That is using science. |
The blank cards children write are marked the same way: is there a pattern behind it that helps someone predict or plan, or is it just a wish?
Pattern to prediction: what a good response sounds like
Responses will vary, and that is fine. The point is a real pattern and a prediction with a reason. Here is what an at-standard response sounds like in each Year 1 topic.
| Topic | A pattern at standard | A prediction at standard |
|---|---|---|
| What living things need | Plants that get water and light grow well. | I predict my seedling will grow if I water it and put it in the light, because the plants on the sunny sill grew tall. |
| Day and seasons | Dark clouds come before rain. | I predict it will rain this afternoon, because the sky has gone grey and dark, the way it does before it rains. |
| Pushes and pulls | A harder push makes a swing go higher. | I predict a big push will send the swing higher, because when I push my friend hard the swing goes right up. |
A quick three-level guide
| Move | Working towards | At standard | Beyond |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spot science in daily life | names an everyday action but not the science in it | names a way people use science at home or in a job | explains the science idea behind the everyday use |
| Name the pattern | describes a one-off event, not a pattern | names a pattern that happens again and again | links the pattern to more than one example seen before |
| Predict from the pattern | makes a guess with no pattern behind it | predicts from the pattern and gives a reason | says how sure the pattern makes the prediction, and why |
A child at standard names a way people use science and predicts from a pattern with a reason. The skill grows all year, so keep the scaffolds coming back in every science topic.