• 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. What is a drought? (a long period with very little rain / a very windy day / a flood / a snowstorm) → a long period with very little rainPrompt: Rivers and reservoirs dry up.
2. Which kind of severe weather is this: heavy snow blown by strong winds? (flood / tornado / blizzard / heatwave) → blizzardPrompt: Is it about water, wind, snow or heat?
3. Severe weather: which statement is NOT true? (In a heatwave you should drink water and stay in the shade. / Lightning never strikes the same place twice. / Weather forecasts help people prepare for storms. / Flood water can be dangerous even when it looks shallow.) → Lightning never strikes the same place twice.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: lightning? (a lightning rod on top of a building / shade trees, light-coloured roofs and cool public spaces / storm shutters and strongly fixed roofs / underground storm shelters) → a lightning rod on top of a buildingPrompt: What does the hazard do: bring water, wind, heat, cold or electricity?
2. Why are new homes in flood areas sometimes built with the living rooms upstairs? (To see the river better. / Upstairs is warmer. / Stairs stop water. / Floodwater is less likely to reach the upper floor.) → Floodwater is less likely to reach the upper floor.Prompt: Where does floodwater go first?

• 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 are new homes in flood areas sometimes built with the living rooms upstairs? (Floodwater is less likely to reach the upper floor. / Upstairs is warmer. / To see the river better. / Stairs stop water.) → Floodwater is less likely to reach the upper floor.Prompt: Where does floodwater go first?
2. Which design best reduces damage from this hazard: river floods? (flood barriers and houses built on stilts / snow ploughs and grit (salt) for roads / shade trees, light-coloured roofs and cool public spaces / reservoirs and rain barrels to store water) → flood barriers and houses built on stiltsPrompt: What does the hazard do: bring water, wind, heat, cold or electricity?

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