Assess students’ understanding of how things move and that air is a source of movement.

• Make observations while circulating around the room. Make note of student responses throughout your observation.

• Use the following checklist to assess students’ progress:

• The student experiments with moving a cotton ball and constructing an obstacle course.

• The student can work together with a partner and discuss the process and results.

• The student is able to participate in discussions about air as a source of movement and how wind is air motion.

• The student completes the blow-painting and constructing-airplanes activities.

• Individually assess students’ ability to describe their findings when constructing the airplanes. Ask students to explain their observations on what happened to their planes.

Have a short review about wind and emphasize that it is air in motion. Explain that it is hard to demonstrate air since you can’t see it. Have students go outside and observe how wind changes objects. Watch the trees, birds, and the clouds. Introduce wind vocabulary such as gust, breeze, blast, and words to describe wind like gentle, blustery, or refreshing.

Read aloud the book The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins. In the story the wind does indeed blow and it snatches something from almost everyone we see. Each person chases his/her possessions, and the chain of chasers gets longer as they approach the city. When the wind drops their things, they are all mixed up.

Activity 1

“In today’s lesson we will be exploring how things move or go and what are the causes.” Students will identify air as a source of movement.

Have students sit at their desks or on the floor with at least two or three feet between them. If the students are seated on the floor, place a small piece of tape about two or three feet in front of them. Give each student a straw and a cotton ball. Have students try to move the cotton ball across their desk or to the tape on the floor by blowing throw the straw. Give them time to experiment with this task. Come together to draw conclusions from the experiment and share their results and ideas on the chalkboard or poster. Review the vocabulary words and post them on the board. Communicate that directed air is a source of movement and that you were able to direct the cotton ball using air.

• “What kind of force caused the cotton ball to move?”

• “What are other examples of things that are moved by air?”

• “What does wind have to do with moving air?”

Finish with a discussion on their ideas, leading students to a greater understanding that wind is directed air that can cause things to move.

Activity 2

Have students work in small groups to make a blow painting. Demonstrate how to do this activity before letting students participate. Establish rules prior to activity. Have students work in groups of two to three or individually. Place drops of paint on a piece of paper. Have students use a straw to blow air to direct the paint in different directions. Reinforce the vocabulary introduced at the beginning of the lesson. Once they are dry, display the paintings for a Gallery Museum Walk. Talk about how the pictures are different, based on how each student made the paint go in different directions.

Extension:

• Students who are going beyond the standards can create an obstacle course and try to move an object through the course using a paper fan.

• Students who might need opportunities for additional learning can blow up a small balloon and hold the end. On a signal, students release the balloon. Discuss how the balloon moved. What was the cause?