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3rd grade · Science · Unit 3 of 12

Magnets and Static

Magnets and static charge

What your child practices

Children explore how magnets attract and repel, which materials magnets pick up, and how static electricity works in everyday life. This is practice, not a report-card mark.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 3.3 · magnetic and static electric forces between objects that are not touching

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Magnets attract iron and steel. Like poles push apart. Opposite poles pull together.
  2. A magnet's force can pass through thin things, like paper.
  3. A compass uses a magnet to find direction. Static electricity makes a balloon stick to a wall.

Example: Two magnets snap together. Are the ends alike or opposite poles? Like poles push apart. Opposite poles pull together. Answer: opposite poles

Magnets and Static in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 3 of 12 in 3rd grade Science, after Speed & Motion and before Magnet Inventions.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which material can be magnetized?

    • wood
    • paper
    • glass
    • steel

  2. Question 2

    Why can a magnet still pull a paper clip through a thin sheet of paper?

    • The clip floats.
    • The paper is a magnet.
    • Its force goes through thin things.
    • Paper is magnetic.

  3. Question 3

    Which is a familiar use of magnets?

    • holding a note on the fridge
    • making rain
    • baking bread
    • growing seeds

  4. Question 4

    Can you make a paper clip into a temporary magnet?

    • Yes, by singing to it.
    • No, never.
    • Yes, by stroking it with a magnet.
    • Yes, by wetting it.

  5. Question 5

    What happens when two like poles, such as two north poles, are brought close?

    • They stick for ever.
    • They attract.
    • They turn into iron.
    • They repel.

  6. Question 6

    Which pair of magnet ends will pull together?

    • two north poles
    • two south poles
    • a north pole and a south pole
    • a north pole and another north pole

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