• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Sound comes from vibrations). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Rice grains on a drum jump when the drum is hit. What does this show? (The drum is magnetic / Sound is made of rice / The rice is alive / The drum skin is vibrating) → The drum skin is vibratingPrompt: What makes the rice move?
2. Sound: which statement is true? (Sound cannot travel through water. / Loud sounds do not involve vibrations. / Sounds get fainter as you move further from the source. / Sound travels through space between planets.) → Sounds get fainter as you move further from the source.Prompt: Can sound travel where there is nothing at all?
3. Sound: which statement is NOT true? (Sound travels through space between planets. / Sounds get fainter as you move further from the source. / Sound cannot travel through empty space (a vacuum). / Sounds are made by vibrations.) → Sound travels through space between planets.Prompt: Can sound travel where there is nothing at all?

• Ask the class to make a wave with a rope or slinky and describe what moves and what doesn't.
• Share the objective: Pitch and loudness. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: How can you make a guitar string play a higher note?
• Step 1: Faster vibrations give a higher pitch.
• Step 2: So the answer is: make it tighter or shorter
• Answer: make it tighter or shorter
• 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. Water is poured into identical glass bottles to different levels. You blow across the tops. Which bottle gives the highest note? (they are all the same / the one with the most water (shortest air column) / the one with the least water / the empty one) → the one with the most water (shortest air column)Prompt: When you blow, the air inside vibrates.
2. Pitch and loudness: which statement is true? (Pitch is how high or low a sound is. / Loud sounds always have a high pitch. / Longer strings make higher notes. / Hitting a drum harder makes a higher note.) → Pitch is how high or low a sound is.Prompt: Pitch is about how fast; loudness is about how big.

• 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. Pitch and loudness: which statement is NOT true? (Faster vibrations make higher-pitched sounds. / Longer strings make higher notes. / Pitch is how high or low a sound is. / Humans can hear sounds from about 20 Hz to 20 000 Hz.) → Longer strings make higher notes.Prompt: Think about a long, low cello string.
2. Pitch and loudness: which statement is true? (Sounds get quieter the further you are from the source. / Hitting a drum harder makes a higher note. / Longer strings make higher notes. / Loud sounds always have a high pitch.) → Sounds get quieter the further you are from the source.Prompt: Pitch is about how fast; loudness is about how big.

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