• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Senses send information to the brain, which decides what to do). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. What does this sense organ detect: tongue? (tastes (chemicals in food) / sound / light / smells (chemicals in the air)) → tastes (chemicals in food)Prompt: Each sense organ detects one kind of information.
2. How does information get from your fingertips to your brain? (along nerves, as electrical signals / through the air / through the blood / through your bones) → along nerves, as electrical signalsPrompt: Nerves are like wires running through your body.
3. What does this sense organ detect: ears? (sound / light / smells (chemicals in the air) / touch, pressure, heat and cold) → soundPrompt: Each sense organ detects one kind of information.

• Show a picture of an unusual animal and ask where it might live and how it survives there.
• Share the objective: Animal senses: echolocation, heat-sensing and more. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which special sense does this animal use: rattlesnake (pit viper)?
• Step 1: It can strike warm mice in the dark.
• Step 2: So the answer is: heat-sensing pits that "see" warm prey
• Answer: heat-sensing pits that "see" warm prey
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Which special sense does this animal use: star-nosed mole? (heat-sensing pits that "see" warm prey / feels its way with 22 fleshy tentacles on its nose / sees ultraviolet patterns on flowers / tastes with its feet) → feels its way with 22 fleshy tentacles on its nosePrompt: Think about where it lives and how it finds food.
2. Many deep-sea fish live in total darkness. Which sense would be least useful there? (sensing movement in the water / smell / touch / sight in normal daylight colours) → sight in normal daylight coloursPrompt: What is missing in the deep sea?

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Which special sense does this animal use: rattlesnake (pit viper)? (tastes with its feet / sees ultraviolet patterns on flowers / feels its way with 22 fleshy tentacles on its nose / heat-sensing pits that "see" warm prey) → heat-sensing pits that "see" warm preyPrompt: Think about where it lives and how it finds food.
2. Owls hunt mice at night in the dark. Which sense helps them most? (a sense of electricity / seeing ultraviolet / excellent hearing that pinpoints rustling sounds / taste) → excellent hearing that pinpoints rustling soundsPrompt: Owls' ears are at slightly different heights on their heads.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-4.