• 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. How does sound reach your ears? (It does not need to travel / Vibrations travel through the air to your ears / Sound travels as light / Your ears pull the sound in) → Vibrations travel through the air to your earsPrompt: Sound needs something to travel through.
2. Sound: which statement is true? (Sound travels through space between planets. / Sound cannot travel through water. / Loud sounds do not involve vibrations. / Sounds get fainter as you move further from the source.) → 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 can travel through solids, liquids and gases. / Sound cannot travel through empty space (a vacuum). / Sounds get fainter as you move further from the source. / Sound travels through space between planets.) → 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. Which drum makes the lowest sound? (a tiny drum / a small drum with a tight skin / a drum with a very tight skin / a big drum with a loose skin) → a big drum with a loose skinPrompt: Big, loose skins vibrate slowly.
2. Pitch and loudness: which statement is true? (Loud sounds always have a high pitch. / Pitch is how high or low a sound is. / Hitting a drum harder makes a higher note. / Longer strings make higher notes.) → 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? (Longer strings make higher notes. / Pitch is how high or low a sound is. / Faster vibrations make higher-pitched sounds. / 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. 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 empty one / the one with the most water (shortest air column) / the one with the least water) → the one with the most water (shortest air column)Prompt: When you blow, the air inside vibrates.

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