Blow, Wind, Blow

Monday Large group Introduce the new study on wind and the book

Discussion questions  On a windy, day what kind of things do you see moving?  What kinds of thinks don’t move?

Make a list of things that move in the wind

Read, “Curious George Flies a Kite”

Discussion Add to the list things that move in the wind

Questions  How did Curious George know the wind was blowing?  What did you see being blown in the wind?  What objects didn’t fly in the wind?  Why do you think they didn’t fly? Tuesday Key concept: Wind can move things

Large group Question: Step outside Is the wind is blowing? How do you know?

The students will investigate objects to see which ones the wind will or will not move.

Small groups Students will make predictions on which objects the wind will move. Record predictions Each student will experiment, and then record the results on his/her paper.

Small group more questions: Does changing the position of the object change the way it moves in the wind? Experiment

Large group Reflect and debrief:  What is similar about the objects in each column?  What is different between objects in both columns? Wednesday Key Concept: Wind is moving air.

Large group Discuss different ways we can make air move objects (we will use a hanging balloon)

Small group All the students have an index card. Let them explore different ways to make the card move without touching it.

Question Can the student change the shape of the card to make it move easier? Discuss shapes and results.

Experiment again. Which shape will move the farthest with one gust of wind? Let’s measure the results with non-standard units of measurement. (calculator tape)

Large group Debrief and discuss results. Thursday Key concept: Wind can move things.

Large group Explanation of today’s experiment:

Students will work in pairs. Each pair will have three objects. Together they will blow each item along the floor from a starting line to a finish line, counting the number of breaths it takes for each item to travel that distance.

In a large group, the students will make predictions about which items will move easiest (with fewest breathes) or hardest (most breathes).

Small group The students will conduct their experiments, and then record their results on their bar graph.

Large group Compare results and debrief: Questions:  What did you discover?  Were any of your predictions correct?  The group will record their results on the class graph  Which items took the fewest number of breathes, moving the easiest?  Which items took the largest number of breathes, moving the hardest?  Why do you think that some items moved easier than others?

What do we know about the wind? (Student will make some generalizations after discussion the results of the experiments.)