Skill companion: Sharing What We Found (Year 2) -- reusable science-writing scaffolds

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Skill companion · Year 2 Science Inquiryseegongsik /au

Sharing 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, draw a labelled picture, and choose the best way to share, using everyday words and the right science words. Print the scaffolds once and slot them into the science lessons you are already teaching.

AC9S2I06

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

What a skill companion is

Sharing findings is not a topic of its own. It grows inside the science units a class teaches all year, such as Changing Materials, Making Sounds and Earth and the Sky. So this pack is not a full term of lessons. It is a science report frame, a labelled-picture-and-word-bank sheet, 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 labelled-picture sheet, 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 sharing 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 2 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 three ways to tell a finding in “Pick a way to share what you found” (“Draw a picture”, “Write a sentence”, “Make a chart”), switch the “Table”, “Bar chart” and “Line graph” views in “Show the shadow lengths in a chart”, and sort clear notes from fuzzy ones in “Which notes clearly report what we found?”. Each scaffold in this pack turns one of those moves into something children do on paper.

seegongsik.com/au/y2/inquiry/AC9S2I06

Aligned to the Australian Curriculum V9 (AC9S2I06). 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 sharing a finding clearly fits into every science unit. This map shows a finding children can share from each Year 2 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
Changing Materials (AC9S2U03)	What changed and what stayed the same	Write it in a clear report	Report frame
Making Sounds (AC9S2U02)	Which made a higher or lower sound	Write a report using sound words	Report frame + word bank
Earth and the Sky (AC9S2U01)	How the shadow changed through the day	Draw a labelled picture or a chart	Labelled picture
Any science topic	Any finding	Say it clearly, with a picture or chart	Clear/fuzzy cards first, then the report frame

How the scaffolds build the skill

The report frame turns a finding into a clear sentence anyone can picture. The labelled-picture sheet adds a drawing that names its parts, with a word bank of science words to use. The clear or fuzzy cards sharpen the hardest part: telling a report that says exactly what happened from a fuzzy one that does not help. Used together across the year, they make sharing 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 share what you found” children weigh a drawing, a sentence and a chart, and in “Show the shadow lengths in a chart” they switch the “Table”, “Bar chart” and “Line graph” views to see how a chart tells a finding on its own.

seegongsik.com/au/y2/inquiry/AC9S2I06

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 ... (what we did)

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

So we think ...

A good report says exactly what happened, with a number if you measured.

Scaffold 2 · Labelled picture and word bankOne per child

Draw it and label it

NameClassDate

A picture with labels shows the parts of what you saw and names them, so the class can read your drawing as well as look at it.

Draw what you saw

Label:

Science word bank

observe, measure, record, pattern, predict, fair test, shadow, material, sound, higher, lower, longer, shorter

Use two of these words in your report.

Teacher note: labelling a drawing is a way of writing too. It uses everyday and science words to name what we saw, so a friend can read the picture as well as look at it.

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

Clear report or fuzzy?

Cut out the cards. Sort them into two piles: clear reports that tell exactly what happened, and fuzzy ones that do not help anyone know what we found.

The shadow was shortest at midday, only 8 cm long.

It was a sort of okay kind of day.

The rubber ball bounced 27 cm, higher than the foam ball.

Something happened to the thing at some point.

We measured the plant at 6 blocks tall on Friday.

It did a thing, I think.

The short ruler made a higher sound than the long one.

It was fine, I guess.

Write your own clear report:

Teacher note: the two piles are “clear report” 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

write a clear report of what we found,
use a labelled picture or a chart to show it,
use science words so our meaning is clear.

Success criteria

I can write a clear report of what I found.
I can use 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 labelled-picture sheet (scaffolds 1 and 2), one each per child,
a class finding to report, such as the shadow you measured or a bounce test you ran,
the free interactive unit on your board, if you have one (optional).

Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)

5 min	What did we find? Recall a finding the class made together, such as how the shadow changed through the day. Let children say it in their own words. Ask: “How would we tell someone who was away?”
10 min	Clear or fuzzy? Tables sort the report cards into two piles: clear reports that tell exactly what happened, and fuzzy ones that do not help. Bring the class together on one tricky card. Ask: “Does this tell exactly what happened?”
10 min	Write it clearly Each child fills the report frame with what they found, then draws a labelled picture of it, using two science words from the word bank. Move around and help children add a number where they measured.
5 min	Share reports A few children read out their report and show their labelled picture. Celebrate a clear report that anyone could picture over a long one.

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

On the board

For a worked example, open the unit and switch the “Table”, “Bar chart” and “Line graph” views in “Show the shadow lengths in a chart”. It shows how a chart can tell a finding to the class without a single word.

seegongsik.com/au/y2/inquiry/AC9S2I06

Watch for these ideas

Fuzzy words that report nothing, like “it did a thing”. Ask what exactly happened.
Leaving out the number after measuring. If we measured, the report should say how much.
A picture with no labels. A label names a part so others can read the drawing.

Make it easier, make it bigger

Easier: sort just four cards, two clear reports and two fuzzy ones, then draw the finding with one label.
Bigger: write a clear report and add a chart or a labelled picture, using two science words from the word bank.

Answers and look-fors

The next sheet has the card answers, model reports for each Year 2 topic, and a quick three-level guide.

Answers · For the teacherModel responses

Answers and look-fors

Clear or fuzzy? card answers

Note	Clear report?	Why
The shadow was shortest at midday, only 8 cm long.	Yes	It says exactly what and how much, so anyone can picture it.
It was a sort of okay kind of day.	No	It does not tell what we found or measured.
The rubber ball bounced 27 cm, higher than the foam ball.	Yes	It gives a number and a clear compare.
Something happened to the thing at some point.	No	It names nothing, so no one learns anything.
We measured the plant at 6 blocks tall on Friday.	Yes	It says what, how much and when.
It did a thing, I think.	No	It is too vague to be a report.
The short ruler made a higher sound than the long one.	Yes	It reports a clear compare with sound words.
It was fine, I guess.	No	It tells a feeling, not a finding.

The blank cards children write are marked the same way: does the note say exactly what happened, 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 happened, with a number where we measured. Here is what an at-standard report sounds like in each Year 2 topic.

Topic	A clear report
Changing Materials	We bent the wire and it stayed bent; the shape changed but it was still wire.
Making Sounds	The short ruler made a higher sound than the long ruler.
Earth and the Sky	We measured the shadow; it was longest in the morning and shortest at midday, 8 cm.

A quick three-level guide

Move	Working towards	At standard	Beyond
Write a clear report	writes a fuzzy note that leaves out what happened	writes a sentence that says exactly what happened	adds a number and says when or where it happened
Use a picture or chart	draws a picture with no labels	draws a labelled picture or a chart that shows the finding	chooses the way that shows the finding most clearly and says why
Use science words	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 they found and uses at least one science word. The skill grows all year, so keep the report frame and word bank coming back in every science topic.