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Ask for help > Float vs Sink
Float vs Sink
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izulia
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Float vs Sink
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Hi everybody, As part of my science lesson with my 4 year old students I am supposed to do a lesson on exploring which objects float/sink in the water. While the children are experimenting with different objects I will (obviously!) have to comment on what is happening.
My question is about the correct grammar of my comments. Please correct me if I �m wrong:
1) Objects that float (or floating objects?) Look! The (cork) is floating, it �s not sinking. So the corks don �t sink. Why is that? Because they are (wait for suggestions) ... very light.
2) Objects that sink (or sinking objects?) Oh, the crayon has sunk! That �s because (wait for suggestions) ... it �s heavy. So the heavy things don �t float, they sink.
Also do you say �in water � or �in the water �?
Thank you!!! |
16 Jun 2013
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cunliffe
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I did this recently. So corks don �t sink (if you leave out �the � you are making a general point.) Light and heavy - fine. You could also introduce a more scientific word - dense. They sink because they are dense (the particles are packed very closely together.) But I �m not a scientist - you may get some better comments.
I asked my students to predict/make a prediction - which objects will float and which will sink? They then made their observation - did it sink or did it float?
So you can get three tenses out of this - the prediction (future)/your commentary (present continuous) and then the observation (past simple).
We did this as a grid, with the names of the objects in the left hand column, then a column for their predictions and the third column for their observations.
�in the water �.
Hope it goes well! |
17 Jun 2013
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izulia
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Thank you, cunliffe for your comments and useful suggestions. Just one last question...
How about when a child �s toy just went down to the bottom of the container. Would you say, "It has sunk!" or "It sank."?
Thank you again |
17 Jun 2013
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emilydelpiero
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Hi dear friends. I �m a new member in this site. I have a lot of problems please help me. First of all I really want to download these nice exercises but I cannot . It says I have to send my contributions to get the permission to download them . I sent one and again I cannot download other works because I have to wait until others download my contributions and I get scores then I can dwl other exercises.... it �s a mess. What if others never find my contribution to download ?????????????????????
What if no body likes my printable ????????????????
Is there any way to download these great papers from the site or I have to quit it and find another good site ? Pleaseee help me I am so miserable.
user : emilydelpiero
thank you very much |
17 Jun 2013
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douglas
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In most cases I would say "it sank" because the phrase is more comfortable to annunciate, but actually, it �s a matter of when to use simple past vs present perfect.
Also the word "buoyant" may be of use to you in your project.
Cheers,
Douglas
PS-Emily, it is considered rude to post unrelated material on someone else �s post (and to beg for freebies,that �s not our style here). I suggest you make a worksheet or two, post them and wait for the results. |
17 Jun 2013
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cunliffe
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Emily, there is no other way. However, go to iSLCollective and you can have their worksheets free and they are similar to the ones on here. |
17 Jun 2013
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tirzah
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You can �t correctly say it sinks because it is heavy. It is actually to do with density. Large ships are extremely heavy and they don �t sink. If you don �t want to go into density then just say it sunk or it sank. |
17 Jun 2013
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cunliffe
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It has sunk or it sank. Like Douglas, I prefer the past simple here, so �it sank. � |
17 Jun 2013
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izulia
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Thank you guys for your help. Tizah, you are right about the heavy objects being able to float. To be honest it �s still mistery to me how those massive ships stay afloat :) Again, many thanks and have a nice day/night!
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17 Jun 2013
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cunliffe
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Oh izulia, I �ve just realised this is for your 4 year old students! My guys are 14. |
17 Jun 2013
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