One of my fourth grade cohorts, Mrs. K., found this great website for Simple Machines! You pick a room in the house and then find all of the Simple Machines. When you click on an item, it asks you a silly multiple choice question about how that item is used. Once you get that correct, it asks you to identify which simple machine it is. Finally, it shows you how that item works and why it is that type of machine. Great, right??
There is also a tool shed full of compound machines. Once you click on each, you must identify what other simple machines make up the compound machine. When you have correctly identified each Simple Machine, it shows you how they all work together to form the compound machine.
We did this as a whole class on the ActivBoard, but it could also work great as an independent assignment as well. When you finish, there is even an option to enter your name and print out your score.
Be aware, though, that this site identifies the gear as a simple machine, and KY core content does not. Also, some of them are pretty tricky!!
