Force and Motion

 
Standard D - The Physical Setting

Students understand the universal nature of matter, force and motion and identify how these relationships are exhibited in Earth Systems, in the solar system, and throughout the universe.

Pre K-2 - Performance indicator - D.4. Force and Motion

Students describe how objects move in different ways.

a. Describe different ways things move and what it takes to start objects moving, keep objects moving or stop objects.

How can you move a soccer ball from center field to the goal?
Midsummer each year our town has a bed race.  Name some ways they could move a bed in the race.


Group Activities: Give each student a choice of Matchbox car, ping pong ball, bouncy ball, or a marble.  Place on the front table paper towel tubes, sponges, tissue paper, masking tape, tissues, cotton balls, blocks, trays of sand, blocks, and Legos.  On the white board post this question, "How can I move __________  and what is the best way to stop the ______?"  Explain to students their assignment is to design a way of moving their object.  They must try to move it as far as possible.  Using a yard stick or tape measure they must measure the distance their object traveled. Using the same experiment students must devise a way to effectively stop their object.   Students will need to keep a journal describing their attempts at getting their objects to roll, the distances they moved the object, and how they stopped the object.  Students should use words as well as illustrations.



Classroom Activities: How can we move things from one place to another?  Each student will be given a ping pong ball.  Tell them they need to find as many ways as possible to move the ping pong ball across the table.  Give them a few minutes to work this problem out.
What ideas did you have to move the ping pong ball?  Did it travel in a straight line?  Did it zigzag? How did you stop it?  What as it easy to stop? 


Effective Questions:  What caused your object to travel the furthest?
What was the most effect method of stopping your object and why did it work?


American Association for Advancement of Science. (2012). Making Objects Move. Retrieved from      http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/making-objects-move/ 

b. Give examples of things that make sound by vibrating.

Group Activity: Have students bring paper towel tubes from home, or collect them from volunteers.  Assemble wax paper, a single hole punch, colored elastics and markers.   Give each child 2 squares of wax paper, two elastics, and markers.  Students will need help punching holes about 3/4 of an inch from one end of the tube.  Students then can put a wax paper square on the end with an elastic around the tube. Students can decorate their kazoos.  When everyone has completed their project the class can practice making music.



Classroom Demonstration: Call the group to the circle.   Call their attention to drum, guitar, violin and the trombone.  Each of these instruments create sound by vibrations.  With the drum and violin they both have strings that when strummed they create sound by vibrating.  Drums especially, the snare drum makes sounds by strings found on the bottom of the drum.  The trombone uses vibration to make sound as well. Introduce the guest speaker.  Dana F. Ross, Music Teacher at MSAD#22.  He will speak about these instruments and specifically how they make sounds.

Effective Questions:    How are all these instruments alike?
                                 How are they different?
                               
                            

 Community Television of Southern California. (2007). A place of our own. Retrieved from http://aplaceofourown.org