Skill companion: Telling Others What We Found (Year 1) -- reusable science-writing scaffolds

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Skill companion · Year 1 Science Inquiryseegongsik /au

Telling Others What We Found: a skill companion

A small set of reusable sheets that grow one science skill: telling other people what you found out clearly. Children write a clear report, use science words, and choose the best way to tell others, from a sentence to a picture or a simple chart. Print the scaffolds once and slot them into the science lessons you are already teaching.

AC9S1I06

write and create texts to communicate observations, findings and ideas, using everyday and scientific vocabulary

What a skill companion is

Telling others what we found 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 a science report frame, a science word bank, cut-out clear or fuzzy report cards, a map of where they fit, a short stand-alone mini-lesson, and an answer sheet.

Start here: five minutes

Read the pairing map on the next page: it shows which scaffold fits which science lesson.
Print the report frame and the word bank, one each per child, whenever a lesson ends in a finding to share.
Cut out the clear or fuzzy report 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 telling a finding.
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 reports and look-fors for every Year 1 topic, so you can walk in and use it.

On the board

This pack is the printable half of a free interactive unit. On screen, children weigh ways to tell a finding in “Pick a way to tell others”, and sort clear sentences from fuzzy ones in “Which sentences clearly report what we found?”. Each scaffold in this pack turns one of those moves into something children do on paper.

seegongsik.com/au/y1/inquiry/AC9S1I06

Aligned to the Australian Curriculum V9 (AC9S1I06). This pack is original material from seegongsik, independently produced and not endorsed by ACARA. Curriculum content descriptors are (c) ACARA, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Free to print and use in class.

Where the skill fitsPairing map

Slot the skill into your science lessons

The same skill of telling a finding clearly fits into every science unit. This map shows a finding children can share from each Year 1 topic, a good way to share it, 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	The finding to share	A good way to share it	Scaffold to slot in
What Living Things Need (AC9S1U01)	What happened to the plant	Words and a drawing	Report frame + word bank
Day, Night and Seasons (AC9S1U02)	How long the shadow was	A report with the numbers	Report frame
Pushes and Pulls (AC9S1U03)	How far each push sent the ball	A report, maybe a simple chart of how far	Report frame, then the clear or fuzzy cards
Any science topic	A finding a child made	The child writes a clear finding of their own	Report-sentence cards first

How the scaffolds build the skill

The report frame turns a finding into a clear sentence anyone can picture. The word bank gives children the science words to reach for, so their meaning is exact. The clear or fuzzy cards sharpen the hardest part: telling a report that says exactly what we found from a fuzzy one that does not help. Used together across the year, they make telling findings clearly a habit.

On the board

When you want a worked example on the board, open the interactive unit. In “Pick a way to tell others” children weigh telling, writing, drawing and a chart, and in “Show the bug counts in a chart” they see how a chart tells a finding on its own.

seegongsik.com/au/y1/inquiry/AC9S1I06

Scaffold 1 · Science report frameOne per child

Our science report

NameClassDate

A report tells the class what we found out. Fill in each line so anyone who was away can picture exactly what happened.

We wanted to find out ...

We did ... (what we did)

We saw ... (our finding, with a number if we measured)

So we think ...

Draw our finding

Draw what we saw

A good report says exactly what we found, with a number if we measured.

Scaffold 2 · Science word bankOne per child

Science words to use

NameClassDate

These are science words you can use in your report. Tick a word when you use it, so your meaning is clear. A number or a science word makes a report easy to picture.

□observe

□measure

□predict

□push

□pull

□shadow

□sort

□group

□pattern

□because

□more

□fewer

My topic words

Add two words from your own science topic, then tick them when you use them.

□

Use it in a report

Write one sentence that reports what you found, using two words you ticked.

Teacher note: a science word makes a report exact. “It went far” becomes “the push sent it 8 blocks” when a child measures and reaches for the right word.

Scaffold 3 · Clear or fuzzy report cards (cut out)Reuse all year

Does it clearly report what we found?

Cut out the cards. Sort them into two piles: sentences that clearly report what we found, and fuzzy ones that do not tell anyone what we found.

The hard push sent the ball 8 blocks; the soft push sent it 3 blocks

It was good

6 of the 10 birds we saw had wings

Stuff happened

The plant with no water drooped after two days

The ball went and it was cool

My shadow was 5 hands long in the morning and 2 hands long at midday

We did science and it was fun

We sorted 12 leaves into 2 groups: 7 rough and 5 smooth

Write your own clear report:

Teacher note: the two piles are “clearly reports” and “fuzzy”. The answer sheet lists which is which, and why. Blank cards let children write their own clear reports.

Mini-lesson · Teacher planAbout 30 minutes

Tell it clearly

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

tell other people what we found out clearly,
write a clear report using the report frame,
use a number or a science word so our meaning is clear.

Success criteria

I can report what we found clearly.
I can use a number or a science word.

You need

the clear or fuzzy report cards (scaffold 3), one set per table, cut out ahead or by fast finishers,
the report frame and the word bank (scaffolds 1 and 2), one each per child,
a class finding to report, such as a push test you ran or the shadow you measured,
the free interactive unit on your board, if you have one (optional).

Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)

5 min	How could we tell others? Recall a finding the class made together. List the ways we could tell others: tell them, write it, draw it, or make a chart. Agree that a clear report says exactly what we found. Ask: “How would we tell someone who was away what we found?”
10 min	Fill the report frame Together, fill the report frame about the shared class finding: what we wanted to find out, what we did, what we saw with a number, and what we think. Model adding a number. Ask: “What number could we put in so anyone can picture it?”
10 min	Sort clear or fuzzy Tables sort the report cards into two piles: sentences that clearly report what we found, and fuzzy ones that do not. Children then use the word bank to make a fuzzy card clear. Ask: “Which word or number would make this one clear?”
5 min	Share a clear finding A few children read out one clear report. Celebrate a report anyone could picture, with a number or a science word in it, over a long one.

Running it shorter? Stop after Sort clear or fuzzy, and pick up Share a clear finding inside your next science lesson, where children report a real finding.

On the board

For a worked example, open the unit and use “Show the bug counts in a chart”. It shows how a chart can tell a finding to the class without a single word.

seegongsik.com/au/y1/inquiry/AC9S1I06

Watch for these ideas

Thinking a report is just how it felt, like “it was fun”. Ask what exactly we found.
Thinking more words is always better. A short report with a number can be the clearest.
Thinking you do not need numbers. If we measured, the report should say how much.

Make it easier, make it bigger

Easier: sort just four cards, two clear and two fuzzy, then say one clear report out loud.
Bigger: write a clear report and add a chart or a drawing, using two words from the word bank.

Answers and look-fors

The next sheet has the card answers, a model clear report for each Year 1 topic, and a quick three-level guide.

Answers · For the teacherModel responses

Answers and look-fors

Clear or fuzzy? card answers

Sentence	Clearly reports?	Why
The hard push sent the ball 8 blocks; the soft push sent it 3 blocks	Yes	It gives numbers and a clear compare, so anyone can picture it.
It was good	No	It tells a feeling, not what we found.
6 of the 10 birds we saw had wings	Yes	It gives a count, so anyone knows exactly what we found.
Stuff happened	No	It names nothing, so no one learns anything.
The plant with no water drooped after two days	Yes	It says what happened and when.
The ball went and it was cool	No	It does not say how far or what we found.
My shadow was 5 hands long in the morning and 2 hands long at midday	Yes	It measures and compares two times of day.
We did science and it was fun	No	It tells how we felt, not our finding.
We sorted 12 leaves into 2 groups: 7 rough and 5 smooth	Yes	It says how we grouped them, with numbers.

The blank cards children write are marked the same way: does the sentence say exactly what we found, with a number if we measured, or is it too fuzzy to be a report?

Report frame: what a clear report sounds like

Reports will vary, and that is fine. The point is a sentence that says exactly what we found, with a number where we measured. Here is what an at-standard report sounds like in each Year 1 topic, written with the report frame.

Topic	A clear report
What Living Things Need	We wanted to find out if a plant needs water. We left one plant with no water. We saw it drooped after two days. So we think plants need water.
Day, Night and Seasons	We wanted to find out how the shadow changes. We measured my shadow twice. We saw it was 5 hands long in the morning and 2 hands long at midday. So we think shadows are shorter when the sun is high.
Pushes and Pulls	We wanted to find out if a harder push sends the ball further. We pushed the same ball soft then hard. We saw the soft push sent it 3 blocks and the hard push sent it 8 blocks. So we think a harder push sends it further.

A quick three-level guide

Move	Working towards	At standard	Beyond
Report what we found	writes a fuzzy note that leaves out what we found	writes a sentence that says what we found	says what we found and what we think from it
Use a number or detail	gives no number or detail	adds a number or a clear detail	adds a number and says when or where it happened
Use a science word	uses only everyday words	uses a science word from the word bank correctly	uses two or more science words to make the meaning exact

A child at standard writes a clear report of what we found and uses a number or a science word. The skill grows all year, so keep the report frame and word bank coming back in every science topic.