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Explore Ramps

Teaching Strategies

Full Curriculum Stand-Alone Activities

Week 1: Roll or Slide?

Curriculum Planner

Children will explore the way things roll and slide down ramps and hills, both indoors and outdoors. They’ll discover the different ramps around us—roofs, parking garages, hills, wheelchair access ramps, seesaws, and slides. They’ll also explore how the steepness of a ramp affects how things roll or slide down it.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Morning Circle

25 – 35 minutes

Introduce Ramps

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Ramps Around Us

(10 – 15 min.)

Watch and Discuss: The Whatchamacallit

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Sliding Peep

(10 – 15 min.)

Read and Discuss: Roll, Slope, and Slide

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Up or Down?

(10 – 15 min.)

Watch and Discuss: Snow Daze

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Toy Sleds

(10 – 15 min.)

Read and Discuss: Ten on the Sled

(15 – 20 min.)

Explore and Play: Snowy Hills

(10 – 15 min.)

Learning Centers

15 – 30 minutes

Learning Centers

Click here to go to this week's learning centers.

Guided Activity

20 – 30 minutes

Down the Slide

(20 – 30 min.)

Ramps All Around

(20 – 30 min.)

Roll or Slide? (Outdoors)

(20 – 30 min.)

Roll or Slide? (Indoors)

(20 – 30 min.)

Steep and Steeper

(20 – 30 min.)

Closing Circle

10 – 15 minutes

Share the Day’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Share the Day’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Share the Day’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Share the Day’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Share the Week’s Discoveries

(10 – 15 min.)

Learning Centers

Learning Centers

15 – 30 minutes

Read books about ramps and movement.

Technology Center

Watch PEEP episodes about slides and sleds.

Discover different ramps outdoors and build some of your own.

Make ramps out of flat pieces of cardboard and other materials.

Draw pictures of the ramps around us.

Day 1

Day 1

Today children are introduced to ramps and test one of the most fun ramps of all—the playground slide.

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes

Introduce Ramps

What’s a ramp and what can it do?

Time: 10-15 Minutes

Explore and Play: Ramps Around Us

Find ramps around the room.

Learning Centers

Read books about ramps and movement.

Technology Center

Watch PEEP episodes about slides and sleds.

Discover different ramps outdoors and build some of your own.

Make ramps out of flat pieces of cardboard and other materials.

Draw pictures of the ramps around us.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes

Explore things that go down a playground slide.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes

Share the Day’s Discoveries

Review today’s explorations and ideas about ramps.

Day 2

Day 2

Today children learn more about slides and explore the different ramps around the neighborhood.

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes

Watch and Discuss: The Whatchamacallit

Peep, Chirp, and Quack discover the thrill of zipping down a slide—quite accidentally!

Time: 10-15 Minutes

Explore and Play: Sliding Peep

Make a slide for Peep like the one Raccoon made in the video.

Learning Centers

Read books about ramps and movement.

Technology Center

Watch PEEP episodes about slides and sleds.

Discover different ramps outdoors and build some of your own.

Make ramps out of flat pieces of cardboard and other materials.

Draw pictures of the ramps around us.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes

Ramps All Around

Notice ramps and slanted surfaces in the neighborhood.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes

Share the Day’s Discoveries

Review today’s explorations and ideas about ramps.

Day 3

Day 3

Today children try the first of many experiments with objects that slide, roll, or stay put.

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes

Read and Discuss: Roll, Slope, and Slide

Discover different ramps in our world.

Time: 10-15 Minutes

Explore and Play: Up or Down?

What’s easier: going up or down a ramp?

Learning Centers

Read books about ramps and movement.

Technology Center

Watch PEEP episodes about slides and sleds.

Discover different ramps outdoors and build some of your own.

Make ramps out of flat pieces of cardboard and other materials.

Draw pictures of the ramps around us.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes

Roll or Slide? (Outdoors)

Discover whether an object rolls, slides, or stays put.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes

Share the Day’s Discoveries

Review today’s explorations and ideas about ramps.

Day 4

Day 4

Today children explore sliding and rolling in great depth.

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes

Watch and Discuss: Snow Daze

Peep, Chirp, Quack, and Beaver Boy discover the fun of sliding down a snowy hill.

Time: 10-15 Minutes

Explore and Play: Toy Sleds

Make a toy sled and send it down a hill.

Learning Centers

Read books about ramps and movement.

Technology Center

Watch PEEP episodes about slides and sleds.

Discover different ramps outdoors and build some of your own.

Make ramps out of flat pieces of cardboard and other materials.

Draw pictures of the ramps around us.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes

Roll or Slide? (Indoors)

Explore the way different objects move when placed on a ramp.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes

Share the Day’s Discoveries

Review today’s explorations and ideas about ramps.

Day 5

Day 5

Today children explore the steepness of ramps.

25-35 minutes

Morning Circle

Time: 15-20 Minutes

Read and Discuss: Ten on the Sled

Ten adventurous animals speed down a slippery, snowy slope.

Time: 10-15 Minutes

Explore and Play: Snowy Hills

Make two snowy hills, one steep and one gentle

Learning Centers

Read books about ramps and movement.

Technology Center

Watch PEEP episodes about slides and sleds.

Discover different ramps outdoors and build some of your own.

Make ramps out of flat pieces of cardboard and other materials.

Draw pictures of the ramps around us.

20-30 minutes

Guided Activity

Time: 20-30 Minutes

Steep and Steeper

Explore what happens to a rolling object when you increase the steepness of the ramp.

10-15 minutes

Closing Circle

Time: 10-15 Minutes

Share the Week’s Discoveries

Review your explorations and ideas about ramps.

© 2024 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Peep and the Big Wide World and the Peep characters and related indicia are trademarks of WGBH Educational Foundation. All third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Used with permission. “Peep,” “Quack,” “Chirp,” “Tom” and “Nellie” were originally created by Kai Pindal for the National Film Board of Canada productions The Peep Show, © National Film Board of Canada, 1962, and Peep and the Big Wide World, © National Film Board of Canada, 1988. Peep and the Big Wide World ® is produced by WGBH and 9 Story Entertainment in association with TVOntario. Major funding for Peep and the Big Wide World is provided by the National Science Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1222607. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.