• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Severe weather and staying safe). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. You hear thunder while playing in a field. What should you do? (go swimming / go indoors as soon as you can / stand under a tall tree / hold up a metal pole) → go indoors as soon as you canPrompt: Lightning tends to strike tall objects and open ground.
2. Which kind of severe weather is this: several days much hotter than normal? (flood / tornado / blizzard / heatwave) → heatwavePrompt: Is it about water, wind, snow or heat?
3. Severe weather: which statement is NOT true? (It is safe to walk through fast-flowing flood water. / Lightning can strike tall objects such as trees. / In a heatwave you should drink water and stay in the shade. / Flood water can be dangerous even when it looks shallow.) → It is safe to walk through fast-flowing flood water.Prompt: One sentence is a famous myth about lightning.

• Show today's forecast and ask what it means for the class and how forecasters know.
• Share the objective: Designs that reduce damage from weather hazards. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which design best reduces damage from this hazard: blizzard (heavy snow)?
• Step 1: Ploughs clear snow and grit melts ice.
• Step 2: So the answer is: snow ploughs and grit (salt) for roads
• Answer: snow ploughs and grit (salt) for roads
• 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 design best reduces damage from this hazard: hurricanes (strong storms)? (underground storm shelters / storm shutters and strongly fixed roofs / snow ploughs and grit (salt) for roads / shade trees, light-coloured roofs and cool public spaces) → storm shutters and strongly fixed roofsPrompt: What does the hazard do: bring water, wind, heat, cold or electricity?
2. Why do cities plant trees and build parks that can soak up rain? (Soil and plants soak up heavy rain, so less water floods the streets. / Concrete soaks up more water than soil. / Parks make storms smaller. / Trees stop rain falling.) → Soil and plants soak up heavy rain, so less water floods the streets.Prompt: What happens to rain that lands on concrete?

• 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 8 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. Why do weather services send out warnings before big storms? (To stop the storm. / To make the storm smaller. / To change the storm's direction. / So people have time to prepare and get to safety.) → So people have time to prepare and get to safety.Prompt: We cannot stop a storm. What can we do?
2. True or false? We cannot stop weather hazards, but we can reduce their damage. (True / False) → TruePrompt: Hazards cannot be stopped. What can people do?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-3.