Topic 32 Alive or not — what needs James (0)
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Question types (9)
One exemplar per question type in the test bank; approving a type approves every item written to it. The full type sheet.
Topic 32 · Alive or not · Type 1 · bank item PP-1 · tests LIF3-001
EasyMCQType 1 — four things got bigger: which one grew (by itself)
Four things got bigger. Which one grew?
- a) a bonfire heap as more logs are thrown on
- b) a caterpillar getting longer and fatter every day ← key
- c) a pile of leaves as the wind blows more leaves onto it
- d) a jug filling up under a tap
Why it is this type: The bonfire heap, the leaf pile and the jug got bigger because something was added from outside. / The caterpillar got bigger by itself. / So the caterpillar is the one that grew.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 32 · Alive or not · Type 2 · bank item PP-2 · tests LIF3-007
EasyMCQType 2 — how a named plant gets its food
How does a maple tree get its food?
- a) It eats the soil through its roots.
- b) It eats insects that land on it.
- c) It makes its own food in its leaves. ← key
- d) It gets its food from the rain.
Why it is this type: A maple tree is a plant. / Plants make their own food in their leaves, using sunlight and water. / The roots take in water, not food, and rain is only water. / So the maple tree makes its own food in its leaves.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 32 · Alive or not · Type 3 · bank item PP-3 · tests LIF3-009
EasyMCQType 3 — four things are making more: which is a living thing making more of its own kind
Four things are making more. Which one is a living thing making more of its own kind?
- a) a photocopier making copies of a page
- b) a machine stamping out toy ducks
- c) a potter making pots
- d) a mother sheep having lambs ← key
Why it is this type: A photocopier and a machine are non-living, and a potter's pots are not young potters. / Lambs are young sheep. / So the mother sheep is making more of her own kind.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 32 · Alive or not · Type 4 · bank item PP-4 · tests LIF3-002
EasyMCQType 4 — four things: which one is living
Which of these is living?
- a) a dandelion growing in a crack in the sidewalk ← key
- b) a waterfall
- c) a spinning top
- d) smoke from a chimney
Why it is this type: The waterfall, the top and the smoke move, but none of them feeds or makes more of its own kind. / The dandelion grows, makes its own food, opens and closes its flower, and makes seeds. / Yes to all four, so the dandelion is living.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 32 · Alive or not · Type 5 · bank item PP-5 · tests LIF3-008
MediumMCQType 5 — four moving things: which is a living thing moving by itself
Which of these is a living thing moving by itself?
- a) a windmill's sails turning in the wind
- b) a scarecrow's coat flapping
- c) a paper boat drifting down a stream
- d) a clover plant folding its leaves up at night ← key
Why it is this type: Medium because: the moving thing is a plant part, and the three distractors were moved by the wind or the water.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): The wind pushed the sails and the coat, and the stream carried the boat. / Nobody folds the clover's leaves: the plant folds them itself. / Only a part of the clover moves, but it moves by itself. / So the clover is the living thing moving by itself.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 32 · Alive or not · Type 6 · bank item PP-6 · tests LIF3-002
MediumMCQType 6 — a moving toy is non-living: which of the four questions gets the answer YES for it
A toy train runs round its track, but it is non-living. Which of the four questions gets the answer yes for the toy train?
- a) Does it move? ← key
- b) Does it grow?
- c) Does it feed?
- d) Does it make more of its own kind?
Why it is this type: Medium because: the rule is run backwards, from the verdict to the one question the toy answers yes to.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): The toy train runs round its track, so it does move. / It never grows, never feeds and never makes more toy trains. / Three answers are no, and one no is enough. / So the one question that gets a yes is: does it move?
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 32 · Alive or not · Type 7 · bank item PP-7 · tests LIF3-008 LIF3-002
MediumMCQType 7 — four things move: which one is living
Four things are moving. Which one is living?
- a) a ceiling fan
- b) a marble rolling across the floor
- c) a hermit crab ← key
- d) a falling raindrop
Why it is this type: Medium because: all four move, so "does it move?" sorts nothing and the other three questions must be asked.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): All four move. / The fan, the marble and the raindrop do not grow, feed or make more of their own kind. / The hermit crab grows, feeds, moves by itself and has young. / So the hermit crab is the living one.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 32 · Alive or not · Type 8 · bank item PP-8 · tests LIF3-002 LIF3-001 LIF3-009
HardtypedType 8 — a seed dry on a shelf all winter, planted, grows into a plant that makes new seeds: living or non-living, type the word
text entry
A pumpkin seed lies dry on a shelf all winter. Planted in spring, it grows into a pumpkin plant that makes new seeds. Is the seed living or non-living? Type the word.
Accepted answers (typed): LIVING_ACC — living · a living thing · living thing · alive · it is living · it is alive (the grader folds case)
Why it is this type: Hard because: two steps — the seed does none of the four things now, so the student must reason from what it grows into — and the verdict is typed; the register's "a seed is not alive" trap.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): On the shelf the seed looks still. / Planted, it grows into a pumpkin plant. / The plant feeds, moves its leaves and makes new seeds. / The seed is the young plant, so the seed is living.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
Topic 32 · Alive or not · Type 9 · bank item PP-9 · tests LIF3-007 SPA3-002
HardtypedType 9 — a plant in a dark cupboard is watered every day but makes no food: type the thing it is missing
text entry
A tomato plant stands in a pot inside a dark cupboard. Someone waters it every day, but it makes no food. Type the thing the tomato plant is missing.
Accepted answers (typed): sunlight · light · the Sun's light · the Sun · sun · sunshine · the light · daylight
Why it is this type: Hard because: two steps — recall what a plant makes its food from, then read which of those the scene supplies and which it takes away — and the missing thing is typed; the Sun's part is a retrieval from Topic 29.
The why line (what a student reads after answering): A plant makes its food using the Sun's light and water. / The plant gets water every day. / In a dark cupboard, no light lands on its leaves. / So the thing it is missing is sunlight.
Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar
The lessons (5)
Each lesson in teaching order: its one-line summary, the article, the script and the quiz, then your ruling.
Topic 32 · Lesson 1
Lesson 1 Living things grow
Calla plants a sunflower seed. The shoot just sits there, she says, but every Monday it is taller: 4, 9, 15, 22 cm on a drawn scale. It got bigger by itself: it grew. A puppy grows; Calla grows. A snowball rolling downhill gets bigger, but the snow stuck on from outside: not growing. Quiz: did it grow (a bean plant, a lamb, a sand pile, a balloon, a salt crystal on a string, a river after rain), Lua's oak (yes).
Topic 32 · Lesson 2
Lesson 2 Living things feed
Jolyon says the sunflower can't be alive: it never eats. A rabbit feeds by eating grass; Calla by eating her sandwich; the sunflower by making its own food in its leaves, using the Sun's light and water from its roots. The roots take in water; they do not eat the soil (Topic 26's hand-over, closed here). Quiz: what soil is made of (recall), how a cow and an apple tree feed, Alma's "roots eat the soil" (no), where and from what a plant makes its food.
Topic 32 · Lesson 3
Lesson 3 Living things move
the young sunflower's top faces left at breakfast and right at supper; nobody touched the pot. The plant turned itself to follow the Sun's light: only a part, slowly, but by itself. A cat runs; a snail slides. A flag flaps, but the wind pushed it. Quiz: did it move by itself (a kite, a bean plant's leaves at night, a fallen leaf, a tulip's petals, a pushed toy car), Rue's "a tree never moves" (no).
Topic 32 · Lesson 4
Lesson 4 Living things make more of their own kind
at summer's end the sunflower's flower dries out, full of seeds; next spring, new sunflowers along the fence. A cat has kittens; a hen's chicks grow up into hens. A cat never has puppies: its own kind. A kitten cannot yet; when grown, it can. Quiz: what kind the young are, Marta's "plants have no babies" (no), Olwen's bean plant (yes), Efa's toy robot (no).
Topic 32 · Lesson 5
Lesson 5 Living or non-living? Ask four questions
Sorrel says the robot dog in the toy shop is alive and the tree outside is not. Four questions in one fixed order, ticks and crosses in a table: the tree, four yeses, living; the river moves but grows, feeds and makes more rivers — no, no, no: one no is enough; the robot dog moves and nothing else: moving is not enough; the rock; the rabbit. Quiz: a wave, a goldfish, a bean seed (living), a music box, a wind-up mouse, a fern, Meg's cloud (no), Abel's "moving is enough" (no). Fire is used nowhere: the four questions cannot refuse it honestly at this age.
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