Introductory Activity: Before sending this card home with students, it is important for your students to have an understanding of balance. One of the best ways to do this is to encourage students to discover balance by using their own bodies. Use the "Science is in a Mobile Introductory Activity" for an activity, and good questions to ask students to help them understand the concept of balance in a mobile. This activity supports concepts and skills of Balancing and Weighing Objects, and Comparing and Measuring Scope and Sequence.

Resources for follow-up lessons/introductions: Our hope is that your students will be able to connect what they have learned about balance in this card to other concepts they are studying in science class and beyond. For this purpose, we have included other resources that you might like to use to enrich your students' learning experience.

In follow-up lessons, you may want to guide your students to clear up their misconceptions about balance. Below is a list of common misconceptions, and potential scenarios that would challenge their misconceptions. Materials can vary.

1. "Greater numbers of objects always weigh more than a single object."
   (Students would find that three paper clips will not weigh more than a single crayon.)
2. "You always need an equal number of objects on either side to balance."
   (Students would find that one crayon would not equal one plastic spoon. One crayon may equal several spoons.)
3. "To balance, a fulcrum always needs to be in the middle."
   (Students would find that moving the center string or fulcrum toward the heavier object would make the mobile balance.)
4. "Anything metal is heavier than non-metal objects."
   (Students would find that a ball of aluminum is much lighter than a crayon.)
5. "Bigger objects always weigh more than smaller ones."
   (Students would find that a plastic spoon does not weigh more than a crayon, although a spoon is bigger.)

http://www.dcs.edu/HASP/Balancing/index.html - "HASP Balancing and Weighing" provides an overview of the objects of a balancing and weighing unit. Use this page as a starting to point, and link to all kinds information on mobiles and balance. These links are an especially good source for mobile/balance lessons in Math, Art, and Reading.

http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/littlekids/archive/lesson_balancing_in_world.htm - A good lesson, which encourages students to think about balancing and weighing in the real world. You may need to make modifications to this lesson so that it fits your age group.

http://www.scilitlinks.org/balancingact.htm - Math and Art lessons involving the book, Mirette on the High Wire.

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/mccully.htm - An Emily Arnold McCully author page that lists suggested lessons for the book Mirette on the High Wire.

Movement Stories for Children Ages 3-6, by Helen Landalf and Pamela Gerke, A Smith and Kraus Book, 1996.
This book contains different stories which students act out to demonstrate various concepts like balance.

Mirette on the High Wire, by Emily Arnold McCully, Putnam and Grosset, 1992.
This is the story of a young girl who helps "the great Bellini" regain his confidence to walk the high wire.

Weighing and Balancing, by Jane Jonas Srivastrava, Ty Crowell Co, 1970.
This book instructs readers in how to make a balance device to compare the weights of objects.

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