Tables were set up to seat 8 - 10 children -3 groups.
An animal was placed in the middle of each table and children could choose an animal they wanted to observe.
Children were given time to talk, observe, ask questions and share their observations about the different animals before I posed the question of " What is an animal?"
Children wrote down their own definition and then were asked to form groups of 4.
The group needed to have someone in it that had observed a different animal.
They shared their ideas and then tried to come up with a group definition.
Each group then reported back to class.
As a teacher my role was to challenge their thinking and continually get them to clarify their definition by referring to other animals in the room.
Here is an example of their group definition
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