Subscribe

2nd grade · Science · Unit 4 of 14

Push & Pull

Forces make things move

What your child practices

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

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 2.7(A); 2.7(B) · how the strength of a push or pull changes an object's motion

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 Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 4 of 14 in 2nd grade Science, after Animal Life Cycles and before Mixtures & Materials.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    When you throw a ball up, what pulls it back down?

    ⚾
    • ⬇️gravity
    • ⭐a wish
    • 🪢a tiny rope

  2. Question 2

    A magnet has two ends called…

    • 🛞wheels
    • 🧲poles
    • 🏠chimneys

  3. Question 3

    A force can change the…

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

  4. Question 4

    Is it a push or a pull? Tap an item, then tap its basket.

    Sort into: 👐 push · 🪢 pull

    • 🔔ring a doorbell
    • 🎣reel in a fish
    • ⚽kick a ball
    • 🛷pull a sled
    • 🎳bowl a ball
    • 🌱pull a weed

  5. Question 5

    Which surface makes a rolling ball stop fastest?

    • 🪵a shiny wood floor
    • 🧶thick carpet
    • 🧊smooth ice

  6. Question 6

    Wind pushes a sailboat. What does that make the boat do?

    • 😴fall asleep
    • ⛵move across the water
    • 🌊sink at once

More 2nd grade