ALEX Lesson Plan Resources

ALEX Lesson Plans  
Subject: English Language Arts (K), or Science (K)
Title: Ramp Exploration
Description: In this lesson, students will work in groups to design a ramp to increase the speed of a ball. The teacher will guide students' work through careful questioning. After creating different ramps, students will record and report their findings to the class. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

Subject: Science (K)
Title: Tug of War!
Description: This lesson,"Tug of War!" is Day 3 in a series of lessons that help to explain how forces affect objects. In this lesson, students describe relative strengths and directions of the push or pull applied to a ball's movement.  Students will work in a whole group and then with a partner, sitting in a circle, to push and then receive a ball, with a flattened palm, from another student. Students will observe the "collision" of the ball and hand. They will then go outdoors or in the gym to kick the ball with the side of the foot to direct the ball in different directions. The ball will be stopped or redirected in the same way. Students will then pull a ball toward themselves and describe the difference in the push and pull of the ball. Students could play a "Kickball Game" to watch the "collision" of the ball. In Day 1, “Move It! students identify objects that can be moved and demonstrate how movement puts objects in motion. In Day 2, “Push Me, Pull You”  students demonstrate that objects can be moved by pushing or pulling them. This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.