Skill: course-build → write-like-james (this page) → review-lesson (the adjudication it summarises) @ dea5d9e
Topic 40 — Life cycles and family likeness — what I need from you (29 September 2026)
1. Is the ring right: three stops on the ring, and "dies" hanging off the grown-up?
The rule says every life passes through four stages: it begins, it grows, it makes more of its own kind, and it dies.
The ring draws the first three as stops and hangs DIES under the grown-up's stop on a dashed line, off the ring.
The words say why: "a dead thing does not begin again. Its young do." No line says dying is "not a stage" or "not a stop".
My recommendation: keep it — a stop for "dies" would draw a dead thing beginning again.
Choices: keep as drawn / put DIES on the ring as a fourth stop / another wording for the "why"
2. Do we coin "offspring" in Lesson 3?
The atom's title and the state tests say "offspring". Lesson 3 coins it after three cases: "a living thing's young ones, its babies, its chicks or its seedlings, are called its offspring." Lessons 1 and 2 say "young ones".
My recommendation (the reviewer agrees): coin it.
Choices: coin (as built) / say "young ones" throughout
3. Do the ten question types stand?
Ten types, eleven exemplars (type 1 is shown as a four-option question and as a typed one), on TYPES_G3T40.html. Two hard typed types: name the resting stage only a butterfly has; decide from the evidence where a puppy's thin shape came from and type the word. One reorder type on four cards.
Five exemplars were rewritten after the review so no bank item is a lesson scene with a noun changed.
My recommendation: approve.
Choices: approve / strike or edit by type number
4. Does "cocoon" earn credit when the typed item asks for a butterfly's resting stage?
Lesson 2 teaches both words in one sentence each: the butterfly's hard case is a chrysalis; the moth's soft case is a cocoon. The typed hard item says "a resting stage in a hard case" and accepts "chrysalis" and four near-spellings, not "cocoon". The cold reader thinks many children will type "cocoon".
My recommendation: no credit for "cocoon" — the distinction is the lesson's — but accept the near-spellings.
Choices: as built / accept "cocoon" too / accept only the exact spelling
Applied without asking: hard bank items typed · attached questions stand alone with their own drawing · intro ends on a ready line and a poll · three summary questions · "let's" at scene changes · no verdict-plus-reason options · positive stems · reorder items for a sequence · colour figures, photos for real living things · surprising members first · the four stage nouns (birth, growth, reproduction, death) in one glossary line only, never in a video · Topic 34's "feature" quoted exactly, the one-word widening noted for its owner · "a resting stage in a case", never "pupa" · one yes-keyed claim in every lesson · every name checked course-wide.
At a glance
| Lesson | Opens on | The point | Check type | Items |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L01 Every life runs in a cycle | Dorotea's dead bean plant and the five beans in her hand | it begins, grows, makes more of its own kind, dies — and its young begin again: a life cycle | fluency on the four stages; two drawn rings | 11 |
| L02 Put a life cycle in order | Lucian's caterpillar became a butterfly — four cards out of order | find the beginning; young before grown-up; the grown-up makes the next beginning | three scaffolded steps on a moth, then four reorders | 11 |
| L03 Offspring take after their parents | Theodora's saved poppy seeds all came up red | offspring share many features with their parents | which form of the parents' feature the young have | 11 |
| L04 Same kind, small differences | two black dogs, five puppies, one brown | alike, but not the same: some features differ, even in twins | which feature is shared, which differs | 10 |
| L05 Surroundings can shape a feature | Guinevere's two bean plants from one pod, one in the shade | some features come from the parents; some from the light, water and food a thing gets | from its parents / from its surroundings, the evidence in every stem | 10 |
Where it stands. The non-author review found three blocks, eighteen fixes and eight suggestions; every row is ruled and applied (BUILD_RECORD_G3T40.md, "Adjudication"). One cold reader then answered the 33 changed and new items: every key agreed (27 of 27 questions, all six ordering and written answers). Its eighteen flags are ruled in the same record; the fixes it earned are in. Checker: 0 failures.
What happens next. Your rulings on the four questions above, then the bank of about fifty is generated from the approved types, the whole topic gets its two cold reads, and the hand-over folder goes to David for the photos and cartoons (22 photos, 6 cartoons briefed).
The lessons, in brief
L01 Every life runs in a cycle
A bean plant first — because many children think a plant has no life cycle — then Topic 35's frog in its own words, then a hen. Each is drawn as a ring whose last arrow comes back to the beginning. The old plant dies; its seeds have already begun. Coins "life cycle".
L02 Put a life cycle in order
The butterfly, because its young looks nothing like the grown-up. Three steps: find the beginning (the egg or the seed); the young before the grown-up; the grown-up makes the next beginning. Coins "chrysalis" (the butterfly's hard case) and "cocoon" (the moth's soft case), one sentence each. The bean cards as the scaffold, the frog cards bare.
L03 Offspring take after their parents
Red poppies from red poppies' seeds, a giraffe's calf with a long neck, a black cat's black kittens, each read off a likeness table. Coins "offspring". The quiz asks which form of the parents' feature the young have (brown, white or gray coat), so it tests the rule, not what a horse looks like.
L04 Same kind, small differences
Two black Labradors can have a brown puppy — true, and told that way round. Then the twins (alike, but Alaric is taller), then three pumpkins on one vine. Each feature gets one tick: shared, or differs.
L05 Surroundings can shape a feature
Two bean plants from one pod: same parents, so the pale tall stem came from the shade. A pine bent by cliff wind; a flamingo pink from its food. Coins "surroundings". Every quiz stem carries its evidence: one pod, one litter, one mother — and the difference in light, water, food or wind.
<details><summary>The non-author review and how each row was ruled</summary>
See grade3/topic40_build/records/REVIEW_G3T40_2026-09-29.md (the review) and the "Adjudication (29 September 2026)" and "Cold read A" sections of grade3/topic40_build/records/BUILD_RECORD_G3T40.md. Three blocks: the butterfly ring's footnote hung under the chrysalis (fixed — it hangs under the butterfly, and the chrysalis is drawn as a second young stop); the lambs' photo did not match its question (fixed — a black-faced ewe and lambs); five bank exemplars were lesson scenes renamed (all five re-instanced). The eighteen fixes and eight suggestions are all taken; the reviewer's "judged and not acted" list is agreed.
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<details><summary>Where the files are</summary>
Page: course_preview/topic40/index.html. Blueprint: course_preview/review/BLUEPRINT_G3T40.html. Type sheet: course_preview/review/TYPES_G3T40.html. Records: grade3/topic40_build/records/ (build record with the James stage, the adjudication and the cold read; the type sheet; the figures record; the atom proposals — no new atom, four register notes). Blind bundle and Reader A: grade3/topic40_build/blind/2026-09-29/.
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