Santa's Sleigh: Force and Motion Unit, Part 1

I visited Santa’s top secret reindeer-training facility and discovered the secrets of Santa’s sleigh. It’s not all magic...some of Santa’s sleigh driving know-how is based on science. Remember my new unit?

Here are some pics from our activities last week.
The weather was beautiful, so we took our sleighs out to the slide. You'll see one kid at the top giving a sleigh a push to get the sleigh moving and another at the bottom to stop it.

We also talked about different paths of motion and did some creative writing.

"Santa's sleigh moved fast because the reindeer was late because Santa did not wake up."

"Santa's sleigh moved slowly because the presents were too heavy for the reindeer."

"Santa's sleigh moved straight because it was almost morning."

"Santa's sleigh moved zig zag because the front reindeer pooted."

And what a surprise…some of Santa's science words showed up in our stories.

                                           

But the BEST part of last week was the Santa's Sleigh roller coaster ride. (The link is in the previous post.) You just can't help but smile when you watch.

Time is slip-sliding away and we only have five days before vacation. We'd better get moving on the rest of our unit!

Santa's Sleigh Roller Coaster Ride…Wheeee!

Buckle your seat belts….You are going to LOVE this video I found on YouTube. I've been working on my new unit— Santa's Sleigh: A Science Unit on Force and Motion. I wanted to explain that riding Santa's sleigh would be much like riding a roller coaster. Even if you don't have time to teach the whole unit, you have GOT to put those classroom chairs in a group like a roller coaster. Put this video on and watch your riders lean left and right. I'm telling you…I almost got dizzy. After about one minute, the ride begins and lasts for about three minutes.

I'll be back on Friday with pictures of my own kiddos. Until then, here is the link to the unit. It is based on the disciplinary ideas of the Next Generation Science Standards: K-PS2 Motion and Stability.