Levers, tests and better builds: 3rd to 5th science
Simple machines, fair tests and the design process. A free 3rd to 5th lesson plan with a hook, practice that links to free activities, and an exit ticket. Copy it and make it yours.
Lesson plan
Goal
- Students work toward: simple machines, fair tests and the design process.
Hook (5 min)
- Ask the class: How can a little push lift something heavy?
- Take two or three answers and write them where everyone can see them.
Teach (15 min)
- Say the big idea in one plain sentence: levers, tests and better builds.
- Show one example, then one that is not an example, and ask how the two differ.
- Have students tell a partner or a small group the idea in their own words.
Practise (20 min)
- Choose one for the whole class or let groups pick:
- Learn: Levers and Pulleys (https://peabody.kids/world/build/build-levers-and-pulleys)
- Learn: Design, Test, Improve (https://peabody.kids/world/build/build-design-test-improve)
- Make: A craft-stick catapult (https://peabody.kids/build/craft-stick-catapult)
- Play: Stone Age (https://peabody.kids/games/stone)
- Try: Quiz: machines and builds (https://peabody.kids/practice/sci/how)
Exit ticket (5 min)
- On a slip or aloud: one thing I learned about levers, tests and better builds, and one question I still have.
- Sort the slips into: got it, nearly, not yet. Start tomorrow with the last pile.
Written by Peabody from its own skill pages. Free, no ads, no sign-in. Children can practise this on Peabody. More from teachers: teacher-shared resources.