Force and Motion First Grade Style

If you follow my Facebook page, you might have seen my recent confession about how insecure I am about science. I avoided science in high school and college and, most of the time, I do not get it . I literally STUDY for my first graders. I want so badly to understand it very well so I can teach it well to them. In a way, "not getting it" has helped me to be a better teacher. Things have never really come easy to me (yes I was in the lowest reading group in grade school), but that's actually made me really motivated to teach things in a way that will help my students "get it". I get "not getting it". Wow, those of you who are sticklers for grammar are probably cringing. Back to science. Well, I study, I read, I reread and I "experiment" until.... I GET IT! 

Sooooo... then came force and motion. Oh... my my my. I can do animals. I can do habitats. I can do plants. Force and motion?! Newton's laws?! Say what? I have spent way too much time trying to figure out how to make this unit engaging, ACCURATE, and easier to understand for my firsties. As my bloggy friends, I'm hoping you can all leave help me out a bit. Please tell me if/when I'm wrong. "Sarah, that's actually not  true. You're confused again. Nice try, but actually this is how it is..." Seriously, help a sister out. 

So here's what I've done so far:

Sorry, I don't have a ton of pictures. :( 

I started by introducing the words object and position. Then I had students try to move some objects. We discussed how the word motion means to change an object's position. In one word, motion is movement. We experimented with different ways to make an object move. Then we defined the word force. Students learned that a force is a push or a pull. An object needs a force to be set into motion. We  explored different ways to get objects to move and pointed out how everything is a push or a pull. 

Then we went onto the playground to look for  examples of pushes and pulls:

Of course they loved when we busted out the toy cars!  

After the last investigation (in green), we talked about why the car stopped. We reviewed Newton's law  (an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force). We talked about those outside forces. Then we investigated friction. 

Next week we'll be doing some investigations with more ramps, pulleys and levers. We'll see how it goes!

For more on Force and Motion, click here to see my post about my unit.