1. Science and Children January 2012
A regular teacher resource found
In Science and Children magazine
Science and Children January 2012
Division of Science
Mary Tweedy, Curriculum Support Specialist
Keisha Kidd, Curriculum Support Specialist
Dr. Millard Lightburn, Supervisor Elementary Science
Please note: This book, I Fall Down by V. Cobb, was checked out from the Miami Dade County Public Library. First check your school library for a copy. Then try the Miami Dade public library. (There are 24 copies available.)
Before reading the book aloud to students, you’ll need the following material: various balls, keys, block, a jar of molasses or honey, a spoon, a penny, a dry sponge, a small bar of soap, two identical rubber bands, a child’s shoe, an adult’s shoe, and a bathroom scale to make the book interactive.

2. Class, stand up away from your chair
Class, stand up away from your chair. On the count of three, you are to jump as high as you can.
1.2.3, Jump
Why do you think you always come down after you jump?
Turn and get with a partner and watch each other jump one more time. Then talk about your ideas.
You will learn about why you always come back down after you jump up while reading the book,
I Fall Down by Vicki Cobb along with doing
some fun activities.
Engage: Tell students that on the count of three, you want them to jump as high as they can. Count “1.2.3, jump!” Then ask, “Why do you think you always come down after you jump?” Have students do think pair share. Last say they will be learning about why they always come back down after they jump up by reading a book and doing some fun activities.

3. Show the cover of the book
Show the cover of the book. Ask students to raise their hand when they hear the answer to the question ”What makes things fall?”
Students should signal you when you read p. 10, which says, “Know what makes things fall? It’s a force called gravity.”
When a student signals you click on the next slide which will show p. 10.

4. What makes things fall?
Explore: Continue reading the book aloud, stopping to try the different activities, and then read the explanations on the following pages.

5. It’s a force called gravity.
What makes things fall?
It’s a force called gravity.
Evaluate: Ask “Who remembers from yesterday’s book, I Fall Down, What makes thing fall? “ After students reply, show: It’s a force called gravity.
Extend and explore more: See Push and Pull at Play handout.
Tell students you are going to take them outside (playground with a slide if available) to see how gravity affects them when they play. When you get to the playground, have students sit together. Have one student throw a ball high up in the air and ask, “What pulled the ball back down to the ground?” If there is a slide have everyone watch as one student goes down the slide and ask, “What pulled him or her back down the slide?” continue to demonstrate with other things, being sure to use the word, “pull” so that students understand that gravity is a pulling force. You can also click on the link Gravity for a short Discovery video explanation on gravity.

6. Gravity is a force that is always pulling objects down.
What is gravity?
Gravity is a force that is always pulling objects down.
Try Discovery Interactive Book: Exploration: Gravity
Explain and evaluate: Ask, “what is gravity?” Have students draw and write about examples of gravity in action from the book and/or from their own experiences in their science notebooks.
Extension #1: If you have Discovery, click to play on the link in the slide for Exploration: Gravity. You can also put this interactive book link on your student computers for students to read again. This can be used as DI to meet individual needs for corrective feedback.
Extension: #2: click on the link What is gravity? to play a free video that explain gravity at a grade 3 – 5 level.

7. Gravity (Sung to “London Bridge is Falling down”)
Gravity is pulling down, Pulling down, Pulling down. Gravity is pulling down All around you! Take a ball and toss it high. Will it stay in the sky? Gravity will pull it down All around you.
Gravity is pulling down, Pulling down, Pulling down. Gravity is pulling down All around you! Jump up high and down you’ll go. There’s a force down below. All around you
Engage, explain and evaluate: Ask students to finish the sentence, “ Gravity pulls…” and create an illustration to go with it . Display all of the sentences and pictures on a bulletin board titled: “Gravity Pulls” for an interactive vocabulary word wall. Give corrective feedback as necessary.

8. Sir Issac Newton
300 years ago, this scientist was in his garden, when an apple fell from a tree. Newton had a sudden brainstorm. He connected the force that caused the apple to fall to the force that kept the moon “tied” in orbit around the Earth. In more scientific words, he began to discover the theory of gravity.
Elaborate and Explain: Ask if any one has heard of a scientist who famous for investigating forces and identifying gravity. Read the slide about Newton and discuss. If you have Discovery you can play the link theory of gravity.(grades 3-5)
Then say Let’s try to model the force of gravity that keeps us on the ground, preventing us from flying out in space as our planet Earth orbits around Sun.
Do the As the Bucket Turns Student Activity. Loop and attach a 60 cm piece of string to a plastic bucket handle. Then fill the bucket with tennis balls, and ask students what they think will happen if you spin the bucket in a circle above your head. (You should practice this alone first.) Will the balls fall out or will they stay in the bucket?
To demonstrate: Spin your arm widely in a circle. Have students notice that the balls stay in place! Why? It has to do with the law of inertia. The balls are not really spinning upside down, but rather outward, away form you. They continue to want to move in a straight line, away form the spinner, so they bump up against the bottom of the bucket.