Forces and Interactions (P)
What makes a toy car go? What makes it stop? This unit looks at forces, with an emphasis on friction, mass and magnetism. It concludes by asking students to complete a design task: a model to sort out scrap metal from trash, a magnetic door latch, a magnet-based device to keep two moving objects from touching each other, or a “magic trick” to make a paper clip float in the air.
Performance Expectations: 3-PS2-1; 3-PS2-2; 3-PS2-3; 3-PS2-4; 3-5-ETS1-1; 3-5 ETS1-2
Teacher supplied items (not supplied in kit): Access to long, smooth surface such as a linoleum floor, assorted metallic, magnetic and non-magnetic objects (such as soda cans, coins, foil, barrettes, clips, brads, etc.), 8 elevated work stations at least 5 feet long, glue sticks, scissors, quarter, plain letter sized paper, textbooks, various small lightweight objects that will fit at the end of a balance.
Teacher Prep Videos
Vocabulary Resources
Life in Ecosystems (L)Watch imaginations take flight as students explore ecosystems and how plants and animals adapt. Expanding on what they know about what living things need to survive, students learn about healthy ecosystems with butterfly larva and Wisconsin Fast Plants. They start to look at inheritance and traits as well as adaptation, creating models of different types of beaks to determine what kind of food sources work best for different birds. Fossils reveal how organisms change over time as the environment changed. By the end of the unit, they apply science concepts to design a new animal.
Performance Expectations: 3-LS1-1; 3-LS2-1; 3-LS3-1; 3-LS3-2; 3-LS4-1; 3-LS4-2; 3-LS4-3; 3-LS4-4; 3-5-ETS1-2
Teacher supplied items (not supplied in kit): Scissors, glue sticks, ruler, 8 sheets of construction paper (12"x18" or larger) in a color to match one of the transparent colored chips provided in the kit materials), stapler, timer or stopwatch, water, world map, art supplies, colored pencils, crayons, markers, etc.
Teacher Prep Videos
Vocabulary Resources
Weather and Climate Patterns (E)
This weather unit takes full advantage of the intersection of science, literacy, and math. Students calculate average temperatures and measure rainfall, temperature and wind — then create and present a local news weather forecast. They also research natural weather hazards. By the end of the unit, students formulate a plan to reduce the impact of a weather hazard and design a solution.
Performance Expectations: 3-ESS2-1; 3-ESS2-2; 3-ESS3-1; 3-5-ETS1-2
Teacher supplied items (not supplied in kit): 30 calculators, 1 relief globe, graph paper, water, area on school grounds where rain gauge can remain for entire unit.
Teacher Prep Videos
Vocabulary Resources
Making Work Easier (EiE)
In Marvelous Machines: Making Work Easier, students discover how engineers combine multiple simple machines to complete difficult tasks. The unit begins with the storybook Aisha Makes Work Easier, in which a girl named Aisha living in Massachusetts explores the field of Industrial Engineering to complete her summer project. Students then follow the steps of the Engineering Design Process to imagine, plan, create, and improve their own model of a simple machine to make work easier.