Are you looking for new ways to supplement your force and motion lesson plans? These activities and anchor charts are the perfect addition to your new science unit. With these lesson plans, students will:

• understand that motion is the way an object moves

• identify the characteristics of forces: push and pull

• understand how simple machines help people do work efficiently

Understanding the Ways Objects Move

Start your force and motion unit off by reviewing the different ways that objects can move. You can use a rolling chair to demonstrate how to roll and spin and discuss the direction of each motion. Ask students to describe other types of motion like sliding and bouncing.

Students can keep track of their learning with an interactive notebook page in their science journal. Students will also love applying their learning to this interactive motion activity.

Using classroom materials, students will create a maze that shows different kinds of motion. As students create their maze, they will label each type of motion.

Identifying Characteristics of Forces: Push and Pull Activities

Now that students know the ways objects can move, they’re ready to learn what causes objects to move.

With help from a rolling chair, ask:

• What needs to be done to move the chair from point A to point B?

• Does the chair move towards you or away from you?

• How can the chair be moved towards you?

• How can the chair be moved away from you?

• What forces caused the chair to move?

Students will continue their learning by reading a nonfiction reading passage about force. Students will practice finding text evidence to answer each question.

Get students up and moving to complete the write the room activity. Students will find each card and write whether the picture is showing an example of a push or pull.

Force and Motion Exploration

Give students the opportunity to explore how forces are used in the game Dominos.

Materials:

• 20-30 Dominos

Procedure:

1. Students will work in a small group to build a Domino train.

2. Students will draw a diagram of their train.

3. As a group, they will discuss what force they used to knock down their Domino train.

4. Lastly, they will write each step that they followed to build their train and knock it down.

Simple Machine Activities

With force and motion comes simple machines. Help students identify types of simple machines with interactive notebook pages that students can refer to throughout the year.

Students can continue learning how each simple machine works by reading a nonfiction reading passage. Students will develop their comprehension strategies by finding text evidence to support their responses.

Wrap-Up

With these hands-on learning activities, your students will understand the forces that make objects move and the simple machines that they use in their daily lives.

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