- photographs or video of children’s explorations with ramps
- down
- farther
- ramp
- steep
- steeper
MA Standards:
English Language Arts/Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners during daily routines and play.
English Language Arts/Language/L.PK.MA.1: Demonstrate use of oral language in informal everyday activities.
MA Draft Standards:
Physical Sciences/Motion and Stability; Forces and Interaction /PS2.B: Using evidence, discuss ideas about what is making something move the way it does and how some movements can be controlled. [Cause and Effect, Stability and Change]
Head Start Outcomes:
Language Development/Receptive Language: Attends to language during conversations, songs, stories, or other learning experiences.
Language Development/Expressive Language: Uses language to express ideas and needs.
Social Emotional Development/Self-Concept and Self-Efficacy: Identifies personal characteristics, preferences, thoughts, and feelings.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 2: Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and answer relevant questions.
Talk Together: Even Steeper
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: A ramp is a surface with one end higher than the other; An object placed on an inclined plane will roll, slide, or stay put; Rolling and sliding objects move faster down a steeper incline
ELA Focus Skills: Speaking and Listening, Vocabulary
Review with children what happens when they increase the steepness of a ramp. To help guide discussion, prompt children with any photographs or videos you have taken of children’s explorations. Ask questions such as,
- What happened when you rolled the balls down the ramps at the same time?
- Which of these ramps is steeper?
- Which of these ramps would you use if you wanted your ball to go farther than the last time? Why did you choose that one?
Encourage children to use the words steep and steeper as they discuss the photographs.
English Language Learners: If children have difficulty understanding key vocabulary, have them act out the words with you. For example, use three sheets of paper or three books to show steep, steeper, and steepest. Then ask children to use their forearm to show the different inclines. Be sure to have children repeat key words as you act out and discuss.