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

1. Which energy store is most important here: a drawn bow? (thermal (heat) / elastic potential (stretch or squash) / gravitational potential (height) / kinetic (movement)) → elastic potential (stretch or squash)Prompt: Is it moving, raised up, stretched, hot, or able to release energy by reacting?
2. A ball is dropped. Which energy store decreases as it falls? (elastic / nuclear / kinetic / gravitational potential) → gravitational potentialPrompt: It is getting lower.
3. Which of these mainly has a gravitational potential (height) energy store? (a piece of coal / water behind a high dam / a drawn bow / a sandwich) → water behind a high damPrompt: Think about what each object is doing.

• Wind up a toy or stretch an elastic band and ask where the energy goes.
• Share the objective: Renewable and non-renewable energy resources. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Is this energy resource renewable or non-renewable: wind?
• Step 1: Renewable resources will not run out; they are replaced naturally.
• Step 2: So the answer is: renewable
• Answer: renewable
• 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. Is this energy resource renewable or non-renewable: geothermal? (renewable / non-renewable) → renewablePrompt: Will it run out, or is it replaced naturally?
2. Which energy resource is most reliable at any time of day or night? (solar / waves on a calm day / geothermal / wind) → geothermalPrompt: Which one does not depend on the weather or daylight?

• 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 fossil fuels called non-renewable? (They took millions of years to form and are used much faster / They come from the Sun each day / They are made in factories / They cannot be burned) → They took millions of years to form and are used much fasterPrompt: How long did coal take to form?
2. Energy resources: which statement is NOT true? (Coal, oil and gas are fossil fuels. / Nuclear power stations do not release carbon dioxide while generating electricity. / Solar panels do not produce electricity at night. / Nuclear fuel is renewable.) → Nuclear fuel is renewable.Prompt: Will uranium last forever?

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