The Wheels on the Bus Key Words: back and forth, fast, motion, motionless, pull, push, roll, round and round, slow, straight, zigzag Desired Outcomes Goals: SKP2. Students will investigate different types of motion. a. Sort objects into categories according to their motion (straight, zigzag, round and round, back and forth, fast and slow, and motionless). b. Push, pull and roll common objects and describe their motions. SKCS1. Students will be aware of the importance of curiosity, honesty, openness, and skepticism in science and will exhibit these traits in their own efforts to understand how the world works. a. Raise questions about the world around you and be willing to seek answers to some of the questions by making careful observations (5 senses) and trying things out. SKCS3. Students will use tools and instruments for observing, measuring, and manipulating objects in scientific activities. b. Make something that can actually be used to perform a task, using paper, cardboard, wood, plastic, metal or exiting objects. SKCS4. Students will use the ideas of system, model, change, and scale in exploring scientific and technological matters. a. Use a model-such as a toy or a picture-to describe a feature of the primary thing. b. Describe changes in size, weight, color, or movement, and note which of their other qualities remains the same. (For example, playing Follow the Leader and noting the changes). SKCS5. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly. a. Describe and compare things in terms of number, shape, texture, size, weight, color, and motion. b. Begin to draw pictures that portray features of the thing being described. MKG1. Students will correctly name simple two and three-dimensional figures, and recognize them in the environment. a. Recognize and name the following basic two-dimensional figures: triangles, rectangles, squares, and circles. c. Observe concrete objects in the environment and represent the objects using basic shapes, such as drawing a representation of a house using a square together with a triangle for a roof. ELAKR1. The student demonstrates knowledge of concepts of print. The student a. Recognizes that print and pictures can inform, entertain, and persuade. ELAKR5. The student acquires and uses grade-level words to communicate effectively. The student a. Listens to a variety of texts and uses new vocabulary in oral language. 20
ELAKR6. The student gains meaning from orally presented text. The student a. Listens to and reads a variety of literary and informational texts and materials to gain knowledge and for pleasure. g. Connects life experiences to read-aloud text. ELAKW1. The student begins to understand the principles of writing. The student a. Writes of dictates to describe familiar person, places, objects, or experiences. Understandings: Students will understand that things move in many different ways; there are different types of motion; and the way to change how something is moving is to give it a push or a pull Students will know different types of motion; and how to push or pull an object in order to move it a certain direction Essential Questions: How do things move? How do objects move differently when given a push or a pull? Students will be able to sort objects into categories according to their motion; and push, pull and roll common objects and describe their motions. Lesson Hook: Provide a mystery box and let students reach in and pull something out. Discuss how each object moves. Suggested objects (ball, top, toy car, toy frog, toy insect, yo-yo, toy snake, and a figurine or statue). Give each child (or group or pair) a toy (wind up toys, toys with only wheels, toys that you pull back and they shoot forward). Simply ask the students to explore to determine how to put each toy into motion. Have them explain what they did and what happened to the class (they should use words like push/pull). Record their responses on chart paper. Show the students another toy (one you have to push, pull, or roll) that they have not yet seen or played with. Ask them to predict what will happen when you push, pull, or roll it. Put the toy into motion and have them observe. Assessment Performance Tasks: Race track design with verbal description Bus creations Other Evidence: Action responses to the reading of the book Participation in Follow the Leader Teacher Observations 21
Plan of Action Tasks: The Wheels on the Bus, by Raffi or Paul O. Zelinsky or any other version/author available 1. Read the book and teach students the song. As you read it or sing it, have students act out the movements. Look at the bus and identify shapes (circle/tires, rectangle/door, windows, etc). Give students shapes cut out of colored constructions paper and let them construct a bus and glue it to a sheet of paper. They should then use invented spelling to write how their bus is moving. A yellow rectangle could be the body of the bus, black circles could be the wheels, white squares could be windows, a white rectangle could be door, a yellow square could be the front of the bus, etc. 2. A bulletin board idea: Draw a bus and in the windows of the bus, place photos of your students. Have each child describe a particular motion they experience when riding in a vehicle. Let them imagine they are really on this bus how would they move? Have student show you. 3. Talk about other things that move. Create a list of students ideas. Look at the items on the list and read them back to the students. Have them describe how those things move using descriptive words like: straight, zigzag, round and round, back and forth, and fast and slow. 4. Play Follow the Leader. The teacher should be the leader. Go through the following movements (straight, zigzag, fast and slow, and motionless). As you transition from one movement to the next, name your movement. For example, Follow me in a straight line. Now we are going to zigzag down the hall. Walk fast. Walk slow. Freeze. 5. Have students sit on the floor across from a partner. Roll balls back and forth to each other. Describe the motion of the balls (straight, etc.). After allowing them some time to play, stop them by telling them that you want the ball to become motionless. 6. Get toy buses and long blocks/boards for ramps. Have students roll the buses down the blocks-set the blocks at different angles to create inclined planes. Compare how things move at different angles. 7. Have pull toys in one of your centers. Let the students play with the toys and discuss how they are getting the toy to move. 8. Have students get in pairs. Sit opposite from each other with their legs stretched our forward. Students should touch soles of feet to soles of feet. Have them reach in and hold hands. Then have students move back and forth. 22
9. Take digital pictures or video of students playing on the play ground (swinging, spinning around, ). Put the pictures into a powerpoint and project them. Have the students look at the pictures and describe the motions they see (swinging-back and forth, etc.) Go Dog, Go!, by Dr. Seuss 1. Read the story. Tell students they are going to be race car drivers. Let them take turns pretending to drive their cars from one end of the room to the other. Have the children not driving watch the driver carefully. When the student returns from his drive, the students who watched will describe how the student moved. 2. Give students a large sheet of paper and have them draw a race track. Give them a small toy car and let them drive on the track they drew. Have students verbally describe their race track/course. 3. Take a piece of pipe insulation foam and cut it in half. This can be purchased cheaply from any hardware store. Tape it to the wall. Let students drop marbles of different sizes down the foam chute. Catch the marbles with a cup at the end of the foam chutes. Now, try to create a loop in your roller coaster or race track. What happens if you change the height of the initial drop? How is it moving? Fast? Slow? The Science Behind it for the Teacher: Roller coasters do not have engines, accelerators, or brakes. For most of the ride, a roller coaster is moved only by the forces of inertia and gravity. As the coaster gets higher in the air, there is a greater distance gravity can pull it down. You experience this phenomenon all the time think about driving your car to the top of a big hill. The potential energy you build going up the hill can be release as kinetic energy the energy of motion takes you down the hill. 4. Set up a computer center and have students visit this animated site in which they can pull and push a toy horse: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6/pushes_pulls.shtml The Bicycle Race, by Donald Crews 1. Read The Bicycle Race aloud. Discuss how the bicycles moved. 2. Engage students in a discussion about the order of the finished race. Introduce ordinal works: first, second, third, fourth, etc. 3. Write the words first, second, and third up on the board. Under those words write first, second, and third. Add the numbers 1, 2, and 3 and then 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd. 4. Choose several students and have students pretend like they are in the bike race (instruct them to move in slow motion and safely). Have students act out the finish line scene. Discuss order. 23
5. Give students any type of counters (teddy bears, etc) and have each student act out the race. Have students record the outcome of their race by drawing the race, the finish line, and bear colors in order. Have them tell you which is first and help them label, or depending on their abilities have them label each using the words/numbers you put on the board. Additional Resources: Books The Ogs Invent the Wheel. Usborne Books. Archambault, J. and B. Martin. (1991). Up and Down on the Merry-Go-Round. Holt 24