Subscribe

2nd grade · Science · Unit 3 of 7

Push & Pull

Forces make things move

What your child practices

Pushes and pulls, magnets, gravity, and how surfaces slow things down.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 2P.2.2.1.1; 2P.1.1.1.1 · balanced and unbalanced forces, and asking questions about how objects move

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A force is a push or a pull.
  2. Gravity is a pull that brings things down to the ground.
  3. Rough surfaces like carpet slow rolling things down faster than smooth ones.

Example: You drop a pencil. What pulls it to the floor? Nobody pushed it down. The pull toward the ground is gravity. Answer: gravity

Push & Pull in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 3 of 7 in 2nd grade Science, after Changing Materials and before Water World.

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: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

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

    A force can change the…

    • 🧭speed or direction of a moving object
    • 🌤️color of the sky
    • 🎂age of a toy

  2. Question 2

    What can make a rolling ball stop or change direction?

    ⚽
    • 🗣️saying “stop!”
    • 👀looking at it
    • 🤲a push or a pull

  3. Question 3

    Which thing will a magnet pull?

    🧲
    • 🪵a wooden block
    • 🥤a paper cup
    • 📎a paper clip

  4. Question 4

    A magnet can pull a…

    🧲
    • 🪵wooden block
    • 📎metal paper clip
    • 🥤plastic cup

  5. Question 5

    Which would be hardest to push?

    • 🎈a balloon
    • 📦a heavy box
    • 🪶a feather

  6. Question 6

    What do you use to start a swing moving?

    🛝
    • 🎨a color
    • 🤫a whisper
    • 👐a push

More 2nd grade