Sink or Float?A LESSON ABOUT WHY BOATS FLOAT.

Students will develop and create boats and test if they will float. They will become authors and write a story about their boat. The ending will reveal if the boat sank orFloat.

Common Core Standards

K.G.1 Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.

K.W.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

K.W.6. With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

Active Learning

Children will be given a ball of clay. They will be told to make it float like a boat does in water. They will be given 20 minutes to make their boat. They will be given supplies such as sails, anchors, etc., whatever they believe makes a boat float. After the children believe they have made a boat that will float, the students will watch a video on what makes a boat float. Then they will be given another 10 minutes to fix or make changes to their boat from the information in the video.

The next day the students will create a storybook about their boat. They will come up with a name for their boat and create a short story.

Before they finish the story, students will be test the boats and then come up with an ending to the story. Telling if the boat floated or sank.

Constructive Learning

Students will be creating clay boats. Before they finish their boats, they will make a prediction if the boats will sink or if they will float.

If the boat sinks, the students will need to decide what went wrong and how they can fix it.

They will try to fix it and observe what is happening to their boats. They will be able to discuss with their peers about issues that may be causing the boat to sink.

Cooperative Learning

Students will working in groups of two. They will make their own boats, but they will be able to talk and make decisions about their boats together.

Students will work with their partners to spell words and make proper sentences.

Student Expectations

Students will create a boat out of clay.

Students will create a book from www.storyjumper.com to go along with their boat. The books need to include:

A name for their boat

A title for their book

At least one picture per page

At least three pages for their book that include positional words from a list provided.

A conclusion to their book that tells if the boat sank or floated.

Materials Needed Book Captain Kidd's Crew Experiments with Sinking and Floating

by Mark Weakland

Boat Materials Clay

Paper , straws, fabric, supplies for decoration

Tub of Water for testing the boats

Computers Storyjumper link on the computer

Link to youtube video on sinking and floating

Learning Outcome

After completing this lesson, students will be able to understand what makes boats float. The weight doesn’t matter as much as the shape of the boat.

The clay needs to be flat and large rather than shaped likes a ship or canoe.

Students will learn how to type complete sentences and how to put pictures in a story book on storyjumper.

Students will understand what a prediction is and they will be able to explain why their boat didn’t float, if that was the conclusion of their boat.

Procedure Day 1-Read the book about sinking and floating. Have a tub of

water and have students make predictions about what will sink and what will float.

Day 2- The students will get into groups of two or three. Give each student a ball of clay. Tell them to remember the shapes of the items that floated the day before. Give them 20 minutes to create their boat. Encourage them to talk with their group partners to help them with ideas for their boats. They may add any materials that they think a boat needs to float.

Day 3- Show the youtube video about boats and why they float. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX0huEz0QUM After watching the video, the students will be given a chance to make any changes to their boats.

Procedure Continue Day 4- Students will be working on computers to make a story

book on storyjumper.com. They will need to have at least three pages. The teacher will need to show them how to use the website. They will need to name their boat. They will leave the end undone until they test their boats the following day. They will need to use at least three words from the positional word list below:

Left, right, across, over, next to, below, under, behind

Day 5-Test day. Before the boats are put into the water, each student will make a prediction about their boat. Will it sink or will it float? Each students boat will be put into the tub of water and will be observed to see if it sinks or if it floats. After the test, each student will get in their group and try to brainstorm if they can make their boat float by changing it. Then retest it. They will have three times to retest.

Procedure Conclusion

Day 6-Students will finish their computer storybook with the conclusion of their boat.

Day 7-Each book will be read to the class. Then a class discussion will be held to see why the boats that floated did and why the boats that sank did. If all of the boats sank, the teacher should provide a boat that does float to spark discussion.

Assessment4 3 2 1 0

Students completed two boats.

Students completed one boat.

Students did not complete a boat.

Students had a storybook with at least three pages.

Students had a storybook with at least two pages.

Students had a storybook with at least one page.

Students only had a title page.

Students did not complete a book.

Students had not grammar errors.

Students had two grammar errors.

Students had four grammar errors.

Students has six grammar errors.

Students had eight or more grammar errors.

Students boat was able to float.

Student was in a group that a boat floated.

Student boat didn’t float.

Students used creative sentences in their story. 4 adjectives

Students used some creativity. 3 adjectives

Students wrote simple sentences. 2 adjectives

Students wrote incomplete sentences. 1 adjective

No sentences were written.