# Year 3 Science · optional Weeks 3–4 teacher sequence

Two connected short inquiries: sealed rock-surface observation and careful reading/planning of temperature data. Room-safe model routes are explicitly marked. No handling of dust, hot water, ice, unidentified minerals or unapproved samples.

Each Day 11–20 block is **12 minutes**: notice 2, try/make 7, show 3. Choose what fits the timetable; these are supplements, not a complete subject allocation. Prepare the stated safe materials, give the separate [learner card](LEARNER.md), and retain the [checks and next moves](ASSESSMENT.md) teacher-side. The original [print mat and text route](../print/TEXT-ALTERNATIVES.md) support spoken, visual, tactile and low-print access. Code links are partial and exact in the [crosswalk](../CURRICULUM-CROSSWALK.md).

## Day 11 — The closed rock window

**Codes:** `AC9S3U02`, `AC9S3I01`. **Prepare:** Two clean, non-dusting samples sealed by an adult, or labelled original line drawings marked MODEL.

1. **Notice · 2 min.** Present two teacher-approved, sealed rock samples R and S. Ask, ‘Which visible surfaces seem alike, and what would you need to check?’
2. **Try/make · 7 min.** With the bags closed, describe three visible features of each: colour, visible grain and smooth/rough appearance. Predict one possible difference, clearly marked as a prediction.
3. **Show · 3 min.** Name one observed similarity, one difference and one thing the closed bag cannot tell us.

**Learner choices:** Say and point; draw a two-column sketch; dictate labels to an adult.

**Home/low-material:** Use two household-safe objects in closed clear containers; label these an analogy, not rock evidence.

**Evidence boundary:** A drawn or photographed model is not direct observation of a real rock.

## Day 12 — One question, one change

**Codes:** `AC9S3I01`, `AC9S3I02`. **Prepare:** Sealed samples or two adult-made surface drawings; no lamp handling by children.

1. **Notice · 2 min.** Show that a lamp moved closer can change how a surface looks. Ask whether R is truly lighter than S.
2. **Try/make · 7 min.** Plan a fair visual comparison: keep the same light position, bag type and viewing distance; change only the sample. Record what stays the same and what changes.
3. **Show · 3 min.** Explain why moving both the sample and lamp would make the comparison harder.

**Learner choices:** Move paper tokens for the variables; speak the plan; draw a same/change table.

**Home/low-material:** Use a window-side paper model of equal viewing distances; no rock collecting needed.

**Evidence boundary:** Record only the action and source that actually occurred; a plan is not a trial.

## Day 13 — A source with a scale

**Codes:** `AC9S3U02`, `AC9S3I03`. **Prepare:** Closed sample, ruler with 0 clearly visible, recording mat; no sharp ruler edge.

1. **Notice · 2 min.** Show a ruler beside, but outside, a sealed sample. Ask what a centimetre can measure and what it cannot.
2. **Try/make · 7 min.** Use a familiar scaled ruler to measure the bagged sample's visible longest span to the nearest whole centimetre; repeat once from the same edge. Mark bag-plus-sample as the measured object.
3. **Show · 3 min.** Report both readings and say why this is not the bare rock's exact length.

**Learner choices:** Read the ruler visually; use a tactile raised-centimetre ruler; direct an adult to line up zero.

**Home/low-material:** Measure a closed household object or paper shape and name that object accurately.

**Evidence boundary:** Record only the action and source that actually occurred; a plan is not a trial.

## Day 14 — Make the observations sortable

**Codes:** `AC9S3I04`, `AC9S3U02`. **Prepare:** Three printed practice notes and blank table. Do not imply actual observations.

1. **Notice · 2 min.** Read three original data notes: R visible grains large; S visible grains fine; T visible grains large. All are teacher-made practice notes.
2. **Try/make · 7 min.** Build a table with sample, grain appearance and source. Group R and T by the stated visible feature; add a question mark where no note exists.
3. **Show · 3 min.** Say the pattern and one reason it cannot identify the rocks.

**Learner choices:** Use large print table; movable textured labels; dictate cells.

**Home/low-material:** Sort three made-up notes with pencil boxes; no physical samples required.

**Evidence boundary:** Practice data are invented and must not be presented as a real result.

## Day 15 — A second observer

**Codes:** `AC9S3I05`, `AC9S3H01`. **Prepare:** Fictional observer cards and closed drawing; no child is singled out for a wrong answer.

1. **Notice · 2 min.** Two fictional observers disagree: Jo writes ‘R has large visible grains’; Min writes ‘R looks fine-grained’. Ask what they should do next.
2. **Try/make · 7 min.** Compare how each viewed the same sealed drawing: Jo at arm's length, Min beside the page. Revise a same-distance viewing plan and name what evidence would settle the disagreement.
3. **Show · 3 min.** Give a cautious conclusion and a further question.

**Learner choices:** Role cards; oral comparison; tactile position tokens on a distance line.

**Home/low-material:** Use two adult voices or two written notes about an invented object.

**Evidence boundary:** These observer records are fictional; do not score them as actual class data.

## Day 16 — Warmth is a transfer question

**Codes:** `AC9S3U03`, `AC9S3I01`. **Prepare:** Printed invented record; no heated water, ice, touch test or child handling.

1. **Notice · 2 min.** Present an adult-made, fictional temperature record: sealed bottle A 24°C at 0 min, 25°C at 2 min. Ask what might have transferred heat.
2. **Try/make · 7 min.** Identify the recorded change as 1°C. Predict a reason, then separate what the numbers show from what they do not show about the heat source.
3. **Show · 3 min.** Say ‘temperature increased by 1°C in the record’; add one testable follow-up question.

**Learner choices:** Use number line; adult-read numbers; move one tactile marker from 24 to 25.

**Home/low-material:** Read the paper record. Do not create a household heat experiment.

**Evidence boundary:** The record is fictional. Claim about heat source remains a hypothesis.

## Day 17 — Plan a safe temperature check

**Codes:** `AC9S3U03`, `AC9S3I02`. **Prepare:** Paper bottles and scale; real demonstration only after school risk approval and adult control.

1. **Notice · 2 min.** Ask how an adult could compare two approved, sealed, room-safe bottles without children touching a heat source.
2. **Try/make · 7 min.** Plan one adult-managed comparison: same bottle size and thermometer method, initial reading, two time readings; one bottle in a warmer approved location and one control. Identify the changed location.
3. **Show · 3 min.** Name the safety boundary and one thing that would make the test unfair.

**Learner choices:** Arrange sequence cards; explain verbally; point to thermometer drawing.

**Home/low-material:** Use the paper plan only; never ask a family to use hot water or appliances.

**Evidence boundary:** Paper planning does not show observed transfer or measured temperature.

## Day 18 — Read a real or model scale honestly

**Codes:** `AC9S3I03`, `AC9S3I04`. **Prepare:** Adult-supplied approved reading or printed fictional model; no pupil heat source.

1. **Notice · 2 min.** Provide a teacher-approved scaled thermometer reading if a demonstration ran; otherwise give a clearly marked original model: 22, 23, 24°C at minutes 0, 2, 4.
2. **Try/make · 7 min.** Write a three-row time/temperature table; draw a simple column graph with a labelled °C scale. Mark REAL or MODEL at the top.
3. **Show · 3 min.** Point to the greatest reading and read its time and units aloud or by AAC.

**Learner choices:** Large scale and high contrast; tactile number tiles; adult transcription directed by learner.

**Home/low-material:** Use the model numbers with paper blocks and still mark MODEL.

**Evidence boundary:** Model graph cannot be counted as real instrument use; note actual route.

## Day 19 — Compare before concluding

**Codes:** `AC9S3I05`, `AC9S3H01`. **Prepare:** Printed invented tables; no claim that a child collected them.

1. **Notice · 2 min.** Show two labelled fictional data sets: A 22→24°C; B 22→22°C after four minutes. Ask what the contrast supports.
2. **Try/make · 7 min.** Compare change in each set (+2°C and 0°C). Check whether both used the same four-minute interval and whether their locations are stated; they are not.
3. **Show · 3 min.** State a limited conclusion and one missing detail for a fair explanation.

**Learner choices:** Counters on a number line; two spoken sentences; table annotations.

**Home/low-material:** Use paper arrows for both changes and name one missing condition.

**Evidence boundary:** Do not infer a cause from these invented numbers.

## Day 20 — Explain with an evidence boundary

**Codes:** `AC9S3I06`, `AC9S3H02`, `AC9S3U03`. **Prepare:** Printed fictional records; no actual product or storage decision.

1. **Notice · 2 min.** Fresh prompt: an invented school needs to decide where a closed, temperature-sensitive art material box could be stored. Two fictional records: shelf 24→26°C; cupboard 24→24°C over four minutes.
2. **Try/make · 7 min.** Compose a three-part note: data, cautious choice and what real measurement/safety approval would be needed. Use ‘temperature’, ‘change’ and ‘evidence’ accurately.
3. **Show · 3 min.** Present to a chosen adult/partner privately; distinguish paper model from a real school decision.

**Learner choices:** Three sentence frames; voice note on school-approved offline device only; AAC or drawing plus explanation.

**Home/low-material:** Tell an adult with the paper data; no home materials needed.

**Evidence boundary:** Fictional data cannot set a real safety or storage policy.

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