Keep this light and curious. Take three or four quick offerings, accepting anything they call out. Today we are putting on our STEM eyes. Don't define STEM yet, that comes in the next step. The goal is just to spark the urge to look around.

This table is the teacher's reference. Read each row aloud and point at a real thing in the room as you give the example (point at the clock for 'wondering', a leaf or a real object for 'noticing'). Keep the language playful.

Pick up one real everyday object (a pencil sharpener, a stapler, a tap if near a sink) and model the full noticing cycle out loud so the children hear every beat before they try it. Say each line clearly:

• I wonder about this pencil sharpener.
• What do I notice? I notice it has a little hole and a sharp bit inside, and it is made of metal and plastic.
• What does it do? I think it makes my pencil pointy when I twist it.
• How could I find out more? I could put a pencil in and twist it and look at what happens.

This modelling is the worked example — every child needs to hear all three questions answered before the walk, or they will only point and not wonder. Then say: Now it is your turn to use your STEM eyes outside our room.

Take the class on a slow guided walk: a few stops inside the room, then out to the yard and play area. Stop the group at five or six interesting things (a window catch, a drainpipe, a bench, a plant growing in a crack, a tap, the play equipment). At each stop ask What do you notice? What does it do? and let two or three children answer.

Look-fors

• Children pointing and naming, not just running.
• Children saying what a thing does, not only what it is.
• Encourage 'I wonder…' out loud.

Differentiation: pair a confident noticer with a quieter child; give a sentence stem 'I notice… It does…' for those who need it. Stay with the whole class outdoors; no picking or tasting anything.

Sit the class in a circle. Use think-pair-share first: tell the person beside you one thing you noticed and what it does. Then take six or seven offerings to the whole group, revoicing each as a STEM-eyes moment: So Aoife noticed the drainpipe, and she thinks it carries the rain away — great wondering! Draw out the words notice, wonder and does. This is a display-only science-talk beat; nothing is written here.

Hand out paper or use the Investigation Journal drawing page. Each child draws one thing they noticed and wondered about. As they finish, pin the drawings onto an existing noticeboard or wall space (or the IWB display area) — that pinned collection of drawings is the 'I wonder' wall; do not prepare a separate big sheet. This is the drawing record beat — the drawing is the reflection. Keep the wall up all year and add to it as new wonders arise.

Close the lesson on the wall the class just made. Point to two or three drawings and name the wonder. Homework (oral, recorded as a drawing if you wish): ask children to use their STEM eyes at home and find one interesting thing to tell the class about — what they noticed and what it does. Keep this a verbal, display-only reflection; nothing is typed or saved.