Have a live snail in a ventilated jar and a stone ready to hold up. Keep this light, just a curiosity hook. Ask Is it alive? How do you know? and let two or three pupils answer before moving on.

Do not lay out the full sorting tray yet, that comes next.

This table is the children's on-screen content for 2nd class. Read each row aloud and point at a matching real object from the tray as you go. The 'Concept' column is now just the group name plus a tiny phrase, so the 'A clue' column carries the detail children use while they sort. Keep the spotting clues concrete for 7–8 year olds.

Why each group matters (teacher framing): living things have needs, so we look after the snail and put it back; once-living is the trickiest group because so many everyday things came from plants or animals; never-living helps children notice the difference between things people made and things that grew.

Common misconception: children often put a fallen leaf or a feather in 'never-living' because it is still now. Stress that it once grew on a tree or a bird, so it is once-living. Ask Where did this come from? Was it ever part of something alive?

Model the full sorting cycle out loud for THREE items so children see noticing then justifying then placing. Use this script:

• I notice this snail is moving and it has a soft body. It is alive right now. So I think it is living. Place it in the living hoop.
• I notice this leaf is brown and dry. But I wonder where it came from? It fell off a tree, and the tree is alive. So this leaf was once part of a living thing. I think it is once-living. Place it in the once-living hoop.
• I notice this stone is hard and cold. Was it ever part of a plant or an animal? No. I think it is never-living. Place it in the never-living hoop.

This front demo uses the one live snail. Use a magnifier as you look so children copy careful observation. Then hand the rest of the sorting to the groups.

Groups of three or four. Each group gets a sorting tray, three labelled hoops and at least one magnifier. The one live snail stays at the front from the demo; groups use a snail photo card so every tray can show a living animal. Circulate and ask each group to justify one choice: How do you know the feather is once-living?

Record (light): in the last two or three minutes each child draws their one tricky item on the Investigation Journal page and draws a line to the hoop they chose. This gives you a record of one sorting decision per child to talk about in the share-out, without any writing.

Watch for: the feather and leaf landing in never-living. Prompt with where did the feather grow? The live snail at the front should never be left without air; keep the lid loose.

Differentiation: give a quieter group fewer, clearer items (snail photo card, stone, leaf). Stretch a confident group with the spare wooden peg or cork from the prep, asking which group it goes in.

Drive this on the IWB and keep it strictly one question at a time so children don't have to hold the whole rule at once. For each item, show Is it alive right now? first; ask children to tell their group, then take a hands-up vote; only then reveal and, if the answer was no, ask the second question Was it ever part of a living thing? and vote again before moving the item.

The two questions are Is it alive right now? and Was it ever part of a living thing?; the three groups are living, once-living and never-living. Move the plant and snail to living; the leaf and feather to once-living; the stone and plastic toy to never-living.

Teacher-paced reveal: the sorting-tree interactive is set to explore mode (not auto-grading), so you control when each item moves. Do not drag an item until the class has answered the question on screen and voted. If a class wants to debate, pause on the question before revealing the group. Fold in the whole class: Are they right? Where would you send the feather? Compare with how each group sorted their own tray.

Display-only science-talk, no writing here. Use the tricky items children drew on their Investigation Journal pages as talking points. Draw out that once-living was the hard group, and the clue is always where did it come from?. Revoice good pupil reasoning: Aoife noticed the feather came from a bird, so it was once part of something alive.

Link back to their tray sorting and the board check. Keep it to two or three voices.

Recap the three groups by holding up one real object for each. Make sure children leave able to point to a once-living example and say why.

Return the snail outside gently and have everyone wash their hands.