• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Name the landform from its description). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which landform is this: land with water on three sides? (valley / peninsula / mountain / plain) → peninsulaPrompt: Is it high or low? Flat or steep? Is water around it?
2. Which description matches a plateau? (a wide, flat area of land / land with water on three sides / low land between hills or mountains, often with a river / a high, flat area of land with steep sides) → a high, flat area of land with steep sidesPrompt: Picture the landform from above and from the side.
3. True or false? A plain is a very steep landform. (True / False) → FalsePrompt: Picture each landform: high, low, flat or surrounded by water?

• Pass round different rocks and ask how each one might have formed.
• Share the objective: Patterns on maps: mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: On a world map, where are most earthquakes and volcanoes found?
• Step 1: Plate edges are where most earthquakes and volcanoes happen.
• Step 2: So the answer is: in long belts along the edges of Earth's plates
• Answer: in long belts along the edges of Earth's plates
• 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. On a world map, where are most earthquakes and volcanoes found? (in long belts along the edges of Earth's plates / only in the middle of continents / only near the North Pole / scattered evenly everywhere) → in long belts along the edges of Earth's platesPrompt: Earth's outer layer is broken into huge moving pieces.
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?

• 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. What is the "Ring of Fire"? (a circle of forest fires in Africa / the Sun's outer layer / a desert in Australia / a belt of volcanoes and earthquakes around the Pacific Ocean) → a belt of volcanoes and earthquakes around the Pacific OceanPrompt: Think of Japan, Chile and the west coast of the USA.
2. How did this feature form: the East African Rift? (formed where plates push together / formed where plates pull apart) → formed where plates pull apartPrompt: Is it a high mountain range or deep trench, or a crack and ridge where new rock appears?

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