• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Patterns on maps: mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. How did the Himalaya mountains form? (Rivers piled up sand. / A giant volcano erupted once. / Two plates pushed into each other and crumpled the land upwards. / Glaciers built them.) → Two plates pushed into each other and crumpled the land upwards.Prompt: What happens when you push two rugs together on a floor?
2. True or false? Earth's outer layer is made of large plates that slowly move. (True / False) → TruePrompt: Where do plates meet, and what forms there?
3. How did this feature form: the Alps? (formed where plates push together / formed where plates pull apart) → formed where plates push togetherPrompt: Is it a high mountain range or deep trench, or a crack and ridge where new rock appears?

• Pass round different rocks and ask how each one might have formed.
• Share the objective: Reduce the impact of earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which solution best reduces harm from earthquakes?
• Step 1: So the answer is: buildings with flexible frames and shock-absorbing bases
• Answer: buildings with flexible frames and shock-absorbing bases
• 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 solution best reduces harm from tsunamis? (buildings with flexible frames and shock-absorbing bases / monitoring gas and ground movement, and evacuation plans / retaining walls, drainage and planting on slopes / ocean sensors, warning sirens and signposted routes to high ground) → ocean sensors, warning sirens and signposted routes to high groundPrompt: What does each hazard do: shake, flood from the sea, erupt, or slide?
2. Two building designs are shaken on a test table. Design A falls at a weaker shake than design B. What should engineers conclude? (Design A is better. / Shake tables tell us nothing. / Both are equally strong. / Design B is better at surviving earthquakes.) → Design B is better at surviving earthquakes.Prompt: Which one needed a stronger shake to fall?

• 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. A town is near an active volcano. Which plan would help people most? (Painting the volcano / Ignoring warning signs / Building more homes right next to the crater / Mapping danger zones and keeping clear evacuation routes) → Mapping danger zones and keeping clear evacuation routesPrompt: Where do lava flows and ash usually go?
2. Which solution best reduces harm from earthquakes? (buildings with flexible frames and shock-absorbing bases / retaining walls, drainage and planting on slopes / monitoring gas and ground movement, and evacuation plans / ocean sensors, warning sirens and signposted routes to high ground) → buildings with flexible frames and shock-absorbing basesPrompt: What does each hazard do: shake, flood from the sea, erupt, or slide?

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