Check It Out! Forces and Motion is written by Clint Twist. It is a short book that introduces force and motion to students with great color photographs of people and animals. It explains direction, force, friction, motion, position, slopes, and speed with real-world examples. The left page explains a new topic and the right page asks the reader a question regarding the topic. The answers with explanatory photos are in the back of the book. There is also a glossary with a kid-friendly pronunciation guide.
Curriculum Connections: This book would be a great introduction book for grades K-3. It describes pushing and pulling and how that can change the movement of an object. It discusses slopes which would be an introduction to simple machines such as an inclined plane and wedge. VA Science SOL 1.2(c) and 3.2.
Additional Resources:
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SCIENCE ONLINE is a great website for students. It covers many different topics of science. It has a page on force and motion. The site provides lesson plans for teachers, interactive games for students, science video clips and worksheets. It’s your one-stop shop for all things science!
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This Harcout website has great interactive videos for science. It divides the activities by grade level. The physical science activities are at the bottom of the page.
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Forces Make Things Move is another great book on force, push, pull, friction and gravity. This book is more advanced. It would be appropriate for grades 3-5. It uses interesting examples that students should be able to easily conceptualize. It is written by Kimberly Bradley and illustrated by Paul Meisel. -
An Invisible Force: The Quest to Define the Laws of Motion talks about the lengths scientists had to go from 1493 through the 1600’s to tell the world about gravity, stars and the solar system. This books gives students the background on who made these discoveries, how the rest of the world came to learn of them and how important the discoveries are in modern day life. This book would be appropriate for grade 5 and beyond. The back of the book has a glossary and scientific websites. National Air and Space Museum has a site that explains ‘How Things Fly.’ -
Another website has a more in depth discussion on Sir Isaac Newton and the laws of gravity.
General Information:
Book: Check It Out! Forces and Motion
Author: Clint Twist
Illustrator: Clint Twist
Publisher: Bearport Publishing Company, Inc.
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 24
Grade Range: K-3
ISBN: 9781597160612