Keep this light and quick. Get the children looking and answering straight away, then land the one-line idea that noticing is how science starts. Take two or three wonders from the class, no more. Don't answer them yet, just say 'good wondering, let's hold onto that'. You don't need any props beyond pointing around the room.

Reveal one idea at a time. This is a static content step (nothing on screen moves). Read the first short paragraph aloud and point at a real thing in the room that swings or moves, before moving to the next. Then read the 'what does it do?' paragraph and point at a real tap or the fence out the window. Then read the 'how could we find out?' paragraph slowly. Pausing on each one keeps the slow readers with you, because there is never more than one new idea on screen to take in.

For your own delivery, here is the table of the three steps with why each matters:

The key idea to land: a wonder becomes a question when it starts with words like does, which, how or what happens if. You will model turning a wonder into a question in the next step.

This is the worked example. Model the full cycle out loud so the children hear every beat: I notice... what does it do... I wonder... my question is.... Pick any real feature you can point to (a drainpipe, a door hinge, a light, a tree). Say the question slowly and notice aloud that it begins with a question word. This is exactly the pattern they will follow on the walk.

Pair the children before you set off. Read out partner pairs (or use your usual talk-partners) and tell each pair who is carrying the clipboard for the first half, swapping later. Doing this in the room, before the door, saves a scramble outside.

Before the walk: push back to a tidy line, hand out clipboards and a few sticky notes per pair. Plan a very short route that you have pre-walked so the transitions out and back don't eat the time. With 7-8 year olds, getting out and back is the slow part, so keep the loop tight (just outside the classroom door and one stop in the yard is plenty).

On the walk

• Stop the class at two or three spots and ask 'what do you notice here? what does it do?'
• Remind pairs to star their favourite sticky note so it's easy to find at the recording step.
• Aim for one or two wonders each, not more, so they have time to think rather than rush.
• Encourage drawing as well as writing — this is 2nd class.

Differentiation

Children who find writing tricky can draw the thing and tell you what it does. Stretch confident pairs to find something that is hard to explain.

Suggested timing

This 14-minute window must cover the line-up, the walk out, the noticing, and the walk back — not noticing alone. Keep the route tight so real noticing time isn't squeezed: roughly 4 minutes to line up and travel out and back, leaving about 10 minutes at the stops. Settle back in the room ready to share.

Have the journal pages (or ruled three-box sheets) out on desks before the children return so they sit straight down to it — the only things they carried on the walk were clipboards and sticky notes. This is the paper recording beat. Children copy from their starred sticky note into the three boxes, so the walk recording flows straight into the journal.

Run it as two beats, not one. First get everyone to copy the 'I noticed' and 'it does' boxes — a quick, low-pressure copy. Only then point them at the harder 'how we could find out' box. Splitting it stops the copying and the question-making from landing at the same moment. The common stumble: children write a statement, not a question — gently reshape it, e.g. 'the puddle dries up' becomes 'does the puddle dry faster in the sun?'. Give a sentence starter on the board: 'I wonder... does... ?'

Circle-time share. Take a question from as many pairs as time allows and pin their sticky note (or journal-copied question) to existing wall or noticeboard space — the children's pinned notes are the wonder wall. Praise good question wording over getting an answer. Revoice statements into questions as you go. Keep it warm — every wonder is welcome.

Suggested timing: Share and pin: ~5 min.

Display-only close. Take a couple of voices on which wonder they'd most like to investigate — this sets up the year's inquiries. Homework idea (oral): ask children to use their STEM eyes at home and notice one thing and what it does, ready to tell the class.