Keep this light: a single curiosity question, no apparatus yet. Take two or three guesses, then tell the class their guesses are exactly what scientists call predictions, and we will test them outside.

If a real woodlouse is to hand, you may pass it round in a clear pot, but it is not required to pose the question.

Run this as quick think-pair-share, display-only. Draw out reasons, not just names: "Why would a slug be under the log and not on the sunny wall?" Steer toward damp/dry, dark/light, cool/warm.

Common misconception: that creatures end up somewhere by chance. Reframe: each creature's body suits a particular place, so we tend to find the same kinds in the same kinds of spot.

Predictions are never wrong, they are the start of the science. Pupils jot their predictions in the Investigation Journal before heading out.

Pupil-facing table

This Key Concepts table is the children's on-screen content for 6th class. Read it across with the class, point to the Example cells, and give one anchor example for each word. Keep the on-screen reading to the three terms; the full ID sheet is a printed handout groups read at the first stop, so you are not loading eight creatures onto the board on top of the three words.

Print the provided minibeast ID sheet (one per group). Its full content:

• Woodlouse — grey, oval, many short legs and overlapping hard plates like armour. It dries out easily, so it shelters in damp dark places under logs and stones to stay moist; its hard plates are armour that protect its soft body and let it curl into a ball.
• Earthworm — long, soft, smooth pink body with no legs. Its smooth body and no legs let it slide through soil; you find it in damp earth and under logs.
• Slug — soft, moist, no shell, a slimy trail. Its soft moist body needs damp shade or it dries out, so it lives under logs and in cool grass.
• Snail — soft body but carries a coiled hard shell. Its shell is a shelter it can pull into; found on damp walls, in grass and under leaves.
• Spider — eight legs, two body parts, often a web. Its long legs and web help it catch flies; common on warm dry walls and in corners.
• Ladybird — round, red or orange with black spots, six legs, wing cases. It flies between plants to find greenfly to eat; found on leaves and in the grass.
• Earwig — long thin brown body, pincers at the back, six legs. Its flat body lets it squeeze into tight cracks under bark and stones.
• Ant — small, six legs, narrow waist, lives in groups. It marches in busy lines to gather food; found in soil, in grass and along walls.

This is teaching content, provided in full; the teacher prints it, they do not write it.

Before you go out

Set boundaries and groups. Point out the three exact spots and the order each group will follow. Hand each group a clipboard, magnifier, collection pot and ID sheet. Three stops, a few minutes at each.

Suggested timing breakdown

• Settle groups and walk to first spot: ~4 min
• Survey the three microhabitats: ~21 min
• Return creatures, walk back, wash hands: ~4 min

Look-fors

• Are pupils recording where as well as what?
• Are they noticing conditions (damp under the log, dry on the wall)?
• Gently challenge: "Why is the slug here and not on the wall?"

If time runs short: drop to two microhabitats, but keep one damp/dark spot (under a log) and one warm/dry spot (a wall) so the damp-vs-dry contrast the whole lesson is built on is preserved.

Safety: mind nettles, brambles and stinging plants; do not handle anything that stings; wash hands on return. Lay logs back to protect the homes.

The Investigation Journal Observation Sheet is the pupil record here.

Drive the interactive on the IWB in explore mode. Eight creatures appear: worm, slug, snail, woodlouse, spider, ladybird, ant, earwig. The class answers "Does it have legs?" then "How many legs?" to sort into no legs (worm, slug, snail), 6 legs (ladybird, ant, earwig), 8 legs (spider) and many legs (woodlouse). The woodlouse has many short legs, more than eight, so it gets its own group: use this to spark talk about how it does not fit the three common boxes neatly, which is good science thinking.

Fold the whole class in: when one group is calling answers, ask the others "are they right? where will the spider go?" Link sorting back to adaptation: legs help a creature move in its spot.

Display-only science-talk. Take a quick show of hands or call-outs to build the class picture on the board (under a log: woodlice, worms, slugs; grass: ladybirds, ants, snails; wall: spiders).

Draw out

• Was your prediction right?
• Why does the slug suit the damp log and not the dry wall? (its soft moist body would dry out)
• Difference between an observation (we saw three slugs under the log) and an inference (so slugs like damp places).

Close by naming the big idea: living things are suited to where they live. This is exactly how field ecologists work, surveying a site to learn which creatures live where and why, which matters for protecting Irish wildlife.

Keep this verbal and quick. The last prompt is a thinking challenge (an earwig-like creature would squeeze under bark or stones), letting pupils apply the adaptation idea to something new.

Homework (hands-on, recorded in the journal): at home or on the way to school, find one small microhabitat (a crack in a wall, under a plant pot, a hedge) and draw or note one creature you spot there and one reason it might suit that spot.