- boxes and other objects (ramp bases)
- camera or cellphone (optional)
- cardboard sheets or wooden planks (inclined planes)
- drawing materials
- objects that roll, slide, or stay put on a slide (erasers, variety of balls, piece of cardboard, blocks, rolls of tape, toy cars, an orange, a football, a triangular block)
- sorting boxes (4)
- down
- move
- ramp
- roll
- shape
- slide
- sort
- stay put
- texture
- weight
MA Standards:
Language/L.PK.MA.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, listening to books read aloud, activities, and play.
MA Draft STE Standards:
Physical Sciences/Motion and Stability; Forces and Interaction/PS2.A: Plan and carry out investigations of the behaviors of moving things.
Physical Sciences/Motion and Stability; Forces and Interaction /PS2.B: Using evidence, discuss ideas about what is making something move the way it does and how some movements can be controlled. [Cause and Effect, Stability and Change]
Head Start Outcomes:
Logic and Reasoning/Reasoning and Problem Solving: Classifies, compares, and contrasts objects, events, and experiences.
Science Knowledge/Scientific Skills and Method: Uses senses and tools, including technology, to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 2: Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and answer relevant questions.
Science and Technology/Physical Sciences 19: Explore, describe, and compare the properties of liquids and solids found in children's daily environment.
Science and Technology/Physical Sciences 21: Explore and describe various actions that can change an object’s motion such as pulling, pushing, twisting, rolling, and throwing.
Small Group: Sort Roll, Slide, or Stay Put
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: A ramp, or inclined plane, is a surface with one end higher than the other; An object placed on an inclined plane will roll, slide, or stay put; The shape of an object affects whether it will roll or slide or stay put
ELA Focus Skills: Sorting, Speaking and Listening, Vocabulary
Educator Prep: Prepare four boxes for sorting, each with a label and illustration: Roll (ball), Slide (box), Stay Put (chalkboard eraser), Roll and Slide (roll of thick tape).
Tell children they will continue to explore sending things down the ramps they were exploring with earlier.
First have children focus their attention on the four boxes.
- Read each label.
- Explain to children that they will sort the objects in to the different boxes.
- Tell them you want them to decide which box each object should go in after they observe what happens when they send it down various ramps.
As children explore, continue the discussion on how the shape, texture, or weight of an object can affect the way it moves, or doesn’t move, down the ramp.
Once the children sort the objects into the boxes, ask questions such as,
- How are all the objects that roll alike?
- How are the objects that stay put different from the objects that slide?