Mohonasen Central School District - Elementary Curriculum Support Materials

This unit guide made possible by the collaborative efforts of Lauren O'Brien & Melanie Weinlein  - Grade 1 Teachers and Lori Lynch- Science Lab Specialist

Key Vocabulary

Resource List

All references to "Standards" below are the New York State Elementary Core Curriculum Science Standards 

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Key Vocabulary

Resource List

Title: “Thinking About Balance”

Objective(s):

• S balance a symmetrical object on a pencil

• S observe effect of additional weight on balance

• S record what they know and ?s they have

• S discuss their ideas about balancing

Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

Standards: PS [MU:] 5.1a

Balancing

Weight

Weighing

Title: “Building Structures that Balance”

Objective(s):

• S build structures that balance

• S describe structures and share observations about balancing

• S list real world examples of balancing and weighing

Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

 Standards: PS or LE [MU:]5.1 a, b, f

Fulcrum

Unifix cubes

Balance

beam

Title: “Exploring the Beam Balance”

Objective(s):

• S build a beam balance

• S explore HOW amt of weight & position affect balance

• S discuss various ways to balance the beam

• S read about gymnast

Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list 

Standards: PS or LE [MU:], 5.1a, b, f

Fulcrum

Unifix cubes

Balance

Beam

weight

Title: “Moving the Fulcrum”

Objective(s):

• S balance a beam with Unifix Cubes by changing posn of fulcrum

• S describe and compare observations

• S record their results

• S add observations of balancing and weighing in real world to class list

Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list 

Standards: PS or LE [MU:]5.1a, b, f

Cubes

Weigh

Beam balance

fulcrum

Title: “Building Mobiles”

Objective(s):

• S build simple mobiles that balance

• S describe and compare how mobiles balance

• S construct more complex Mobiles

• S read about Alexander Calder, the “Mobile Man”

Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

Standards: PS or LE [MU:]5.1a, b, f

Mobile

Balance

Fulcrum

Beam

Weight

Title: “Exploring the Equal-Arm Balance”

Objective(s):

• Students assemble and equilibrate an equal-arm balance

• S observe and describe how equal arm balance reacts when they place objects in pails

• S compare and contrast equal arm balance and beam balance and record their observations on a class Venn diagram

Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

Standards: PS or LE [MU:]3.1c  5.1a, b, f

Equal-Arm Balance

Beam balance

Venn-diagram

Title: “Using the Equal-Arm Balance to Compare Objects”

Objective(s):

• S use equal-arm balance to compare objects

• S records comparisons using binary symbols {greater than (>), less than (<), and equal to (=)}.

• S discuss comparisons and problem solving strategies

• S discuss the concept of fair comparisons

Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

Standards: PS or LE [MU:]3.1c , e 

Equal-arm balance

< > =

Title: “Developing Strategies for Placing Objects in Serial Order”

Objective(s):

• S predict serial order (from lightest to heaviest) of four objects

• S use equal-arm balance to help them place objects in serial order

• S record serial order of objects and discuss the relationships among them

• S describe strategies they devised to make predictions of serial order

Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

Standards: PS or LE [MU:]3.1c, e

Serial order

Weight

Equal-arm balance

Title: “Placing Six Objects in Serial Order”

Objective(s):

• S predict where two new objects will fit in serial order of four objects established in lesson 8

• S use equal-arm balance to confirm their predictions

• S record and discuss their findings

Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

Standards: PS or LE [MU:]3.1 c, e

Serial order

Weight

Equal-arm balance

Title: “Balancing with Unifix Cubes”

Objective(s):

• S use Unifix cubes to balance objects on equal-arm balance

• S record results on individual record sheets and class data table

• S compare and discuss information on class data table

• S discuss relationship between balancing and weighing

 Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

Standards: PS or LE [MU:]3.1c, d , e

Equal-arm balance

Weigh

Unifix cubes

Balance

Title: “Graphing the Weights of the Objects”

Objective(s):

• S review the information on data table from Lesson 10

• S make bar graphs that show the weights of six objects

 Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

Standards: PS or LE [MU:]3.1c, d

Bar graph

Unifix cubes

Title: “Describing the Four Foods”

Objective(s):

• S observe & describe properties of four different foods

• S record descriptions of four foods

• S share observations of foods and create a class chart

• S compare & contrast observations of foods

 Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

Standards: PS or LE [MU:]3.1 b, c

Bar graph

Unifix cubes

properties

Title: “Comparing Cupfuls of Food”

Objective(s):

• S predict a serial order for a cupful of each of the four foods, from heaviest to lightest

• S compare weights of four cupfuls of food

• S discuss results of their comparisons

 Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

Standards: PS or LE [MU:]3.1 c

Serial order

Weight

Equal-arm balance

Title: “Weighing Cupfuls of Food”

Objective(s):

• S weigh a cupful of each of the four foods

• S record weight on class line plot

• S identify the weight obtained by the most members of the class for each cupful of food

Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

 Standards: PS or LE [MU:]3.1 c, d, e

Range

Mode (Weight)

Line Plot

Equal-arm balance

Unifix cubes

Title: “Which Food Occupies the Most Space?”

Objective(s):

• S measure out equal weights of the four foods

• S observer which of the four foods occupies the most space

• S explain the reasons for their observations

 Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

Standards: PS or LE [MU:]3.1 c, d, e

Equal-arm balance

Unifix cubes

Title: “Where are the six Marbles?”

Objective(s):

• S apply a strategy to discover which of five sealed containers contains 6 marbles

• S discuss the importance of the weight of the empty canister in solving this problem

Assessment: See Balancing and Weighing Prompts in the resource list

Standards: PS or LE [MU:]3.1 c, d, e

Canister

Weight

Equal-arm balance

Unifix cubes