Lesson Sketch for EDT 313

Individual completing this lesson plan: Rachel Schuler

Lesson title: Investigating Friction Using Ramp Date that lesson was taught: April 9,
2015
Standards in 2 Domains:
Language and Literacy Development: Expressive Language: Use language to
communicate in a variety of ways with others to share observations, ideas and
experiences; problem-solve, reason, predict and seek new information.
Physical Well-Being and Motor Development: Small Muscle (Touch, Grasp, Reach
Manipulate): Coordinate the use of hands, fingers and wrists to manipulate objects and
perform tasks requiring precise movements.
Instructional objectives: list 2observable/measurable objectives for this lesson. Use precise
language w/ action verbs.

The student will be able to:

1. Use the given materials to build a ramp and then push cars and balls down
the ramp
2. Verbally distinguish through facilitated questioning from the teacher if
various materials on the ramp make objects roll down it slower or faster
Experiences: Describe authentic (real life, hands-on not representational) materials and enticing/
creative experiences in which children are actively engaged. Safety should be addressed if warranted.

Previously, students have been investigating ramps and how different heights of
the ramp make objects roll down faster.
For this second ramp lesson, the teacher will once again work with students in
small group time with 4-5 students.
The teacher will start with reviewing with the students what a ramp is, what it is
used for, what they liked rolling down the ramp last time which they should
remember from their previous ramp activity.
After this brief discussion, the students will once again be given ramps of various
sizes along with cars.
They will review their previous ramp lesson by racing cars down the ramp with
nothing on it. The teacher will ask review questions from last time such as What
happens when we tilt the ramp and make it higher? Which car do you think will
win the race? Was your prediction (guess) right?
Then the teacher will add materials (felt etc) to the ramp and have the students
race again. The teacher will remind students to look at the ramp that they are
racing as well as their own. The teacher will make sure students are close enough
to observe other ramps but far enough away that they will not run into/hurt their
classmates.
The teacher will ask questions such as, What did adding the felt do to the speed

of the car? Did the car roll down faster or slower? The teacher will also very
briefly introduce the vocabulary word friction.
The students will draw conclusions based on this experience through answering
the questions and observing their own and their classmates ramps.
This experience will conclude when the bell is rung and the students move to the
next station .
The teacher will continue to use the vocabulary used in this lesson and students
will be able to play with cars and smaller ramps in their play center in future class
time.

Modifications: This preschool classroom includes a boy with autism, many students on
IEPs, and a few Spanish and Turkish students who are learning English as their second
language. To help these students get the best possible learning experiences, I would make
sure that the boy with autism had extra attention and was placed in a smaller group of
children if possible so he could have more one-on-one time with the teacher. For the
ELLs, I would make sure that I explained the activity slowly and more than once, and
that I used a lot of hand gestures and modeling as well as verbal explanations. I would
also try to find a few of the key vocabulary words (ramp, height) in their first languages
to help them understand if I notice they are struggling.
Evidence of student learning:
We will use a check sheet with the name of each student provided to us by the classroom
teacher. We will use this sheet to mark whether or not each student is completing the
activity and to make observations of their learning. The teacher will write down
comments that the students are making throughout the activity ad comments or concerns
that they have as well. One of the adults present in the classroom will also take pictures
of the children (without faces) to document the activity for future reference and for
parents to see. All of the above evidence can be used for the teacher to decide if she
wants to review these lessons or go further into learning about ramps or if she feels that
both she and the students are ready to move on.