Learning About Motion

Last week we spent some time learning about how things move.  My kiddos were very interested in this topic!

I created a little fill-in-the-blank book for them to focus our discussions.  They love these little books as it gives them something to share with their families, and I love them because it gets them talking about our learning.

We started off by learning what force and motion are then talked about different ways things can move.

We practiced using a Venn Diagram to share things that you push and things that you pull.  I was concerned that they would struggle with this, so I googled ideas for each category and had a little cheat sheet ready to go for myself.  Oh my goodness, was I ever wrong!  They blew me away with their ideas.  While some of their answers could have gone in different places, they were able to justify their answers, so we went with it.

We were going to build cars, but it was going to be a busy week with other things going on, so I found some little wooden cars for them to paint.  We built a ramp with wooden blocks and a dry erase board.  The kids discussed what would happen as the ramp got higher.  We marked where their cars stopped after each "run" so they could discuss what happened.  These cars will be saved to use on our community unit as well.

Our 100th Day was Friday, so I wanted to incorporate our learning about movement with the 100th Day.  I made a "menu" of 6 different activities that we did for 100 seconds each. Students rotated in small groups to each activity.  When the timer went off, students looked at the "menu" with the group and decided whether they pushed, pulled or both to complete the activity.  After all activities were complete, we went back to the room to discuss what they recorded.

Kicking the ball (at the wall)

Dribbling a ball

Filling out their recording sheet between rotations

Completed recording sheet sample

Activities included: riding a scooter (we used the kind you sit on), jumping rope, shooting baskets, passing a ball, dribbling a ball and kicking a ball.  Our gym teacher suggested I use playground balls for dribbling and shooting rather than basketballs as they had more control over them.  For kicking and passing, we used dodge balls as they are a little more flexible.

My kiddos loved this activity; it kept their interest because they were not at each place very long, and they were very engaged in their discussions about what movement it took to do each activity.  In the room, they were able to give reasons to support their responses with the support of their groups.

You can download the recording sheet free.  I hope this is something you can use not just on the 100th day of school.  

This week we will finish our discussion of movement and start to talk about maps and community.