• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. What type of rock is mudstone? (igneous / sedimentary / metamorphic) → sedimentaryPrompt: Did it form from cooled magma, from layers of sediment, or from heat and pressure changing another rock?
2. Which of these rocks is metamorphic? (pumice / obsidian / granite / slate) → slatePrompt: Look for clues: interlocking crystals, layers of grains, or bands made by pressure.
3. Granite has large crystals but basalt has tiny ones. Why? (Granite cooled slowly underground; basalt cooled quickly at the surface / Basalt was crushed / Granite is younger / Granite contains fossils) → Granite cooled slowly underground; basalt cooled quickly at the surfacePrompt: Crystals have more time to grow when cooling is slow.

• Pass round different rocks and ask how each one might have formed.
• Share the objective: The structure of the Earth. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which layer of the Earth is liquid?
• Step 1: The outer core is liquid iron and nickel; the inner core is solid.
• Step 2: So the answer is: the outer core
• Answer: the outer core
• 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. How do scientists know about the inside of the Earth? (By drilling to the centre / By studying how earthquake waves travel through it / By visiting the core / By looking at the Moon) → By studying how earthquake waves travel through itPrompt: The deepest hole ever drilled is only about 12 km deep.
2. Earth's structure: which statement is NOT true? (The inner core is solid. / The mantle is the thickest layer. / The crust is made of rock. / The crust is the thickest layer.) → The crust is the thickest layer.Prompt: Is the mantle really a sea of liquid?

• 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 5 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. Earth's structure: which statement is NOT true? (The crust is made of rock. / The mantle is the thickest layer. / The inner core is solid. / The Earth is hollow.) → The Earth is hollow.Prompt: Is the mantle really a sea of liquid?
2. Which layer of the Earth is liquid? (all of them / the outer core / the crust / the inner core) → the outer corePrompt: The inner core is solid because of huge pressure.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-6.