“Gravity, Force, and Isaac Newton” Week 24 Fourth Grade
Force and Motion (Non-Fiction, Level 13, Stage 3) by Lisa A. Boehm
Gravity, mass, and Newton’s Laws of Motion, Oh my! Yes, it’s true that science never has been my thing, which could be a disadvantage to my fourth grader, who actually loves science. That is exactly why we love it when the AlphaSkills books for the week are all about science, and this one definitely did not disappoint. From professional bicycle races and tennis matches to Galileo, mass, weight, friction, and Newton’s Laws of Motion, this little book is packed with information, and the lesson plans are likewise full of all kinds of activities to explore the content.
The skill I want to highlight this week is the vocabulary list. Not only does the book itself highlight and define the words acceleration, air resistance, forces, friction, gravity, inertia, load sensors, maglev train, mass, matter, sea level, speed, sunspots, vacuum, velocity, and weight; but the Guided Lesson takes the vocabulary further in asking the student to define and/or apply his/her knowledge of the concepts inertia, velocity, acceleration, laws of motion, gravity, weight, mass, friction, and force. The suggested activities for these concepts vary, but my favorite one for this week is the writing question, “Think about and write a definition for force when referring to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony” because it requires the student to draw on his/her knowledge from last week’s book and to think about a different use of the word force, which goes way beyond other vocabulary lessons we’ve used.
Another reason we loved this week’s book choice is that Elijah happens to really be into the Who Was series by Janet B. Pascal, and we had already purchased the one called Who Was Isaac Newton? , so we read it as well and it complemented this week’s AlphaSkills curriculum perfectly. As a result we were able to learn about Isaac Newton as a person and his theories in the very same week! I love it when things like this come together! For more information about the AlphaSkills Read with Sarah curriculum and our family, see the AlphaSkills Blog Introduction.