To explore a range of sliders and levers

Key Stage 1

Design and technology

Mechanisms: sliders and levers

﻿Hello, everybody, and welcome to today's design and technology lesson. My name is Miss Larham. Can you tell me what your name is? Fantastic. It is great to meet you and welcome you to our lesson today. Now, in our lesson today we're going to be using our practical skills for design and technology. So we're going to make sure we're doing lots of modelling, cutting, sticking, and working with some different materials. So I hope that makes you really excited to start our lesson. Right, let's have a look at what we are learning today. Today, we are learning all about mechanisms, and we're going to explore a range of sliders and levers. Now, did you know you have lots of different sliders and levers in your home? And you probably use them every day without even realising you're using a special type of mechanism? But don't worry if you haven't heard of the word mechanism, or slider, or lever before because by the end of the lesson, you are going to be a mechanisms expert. Now, let's have a look at what our learning is going to look like today. First, we're going to look at our star words, and then we're going to have a think, what is a mechanism? Then, we're going to use our practical skills and make a simple slider. And then, we're going to make a simple lever. And then, at the end of the lesson, all together we're going to have a go at an end of lesson quiz to make sure all of that new learning that we're doing today is locked into our brains forever and ever. So, in this lesson today, you're going to need lots of equipment. You're going to need some card and some scissors, you're going to need a ruler, a pencil, and some tape. Now, this might be sellotape or masking tape, either is fine. And then, you're going to need our special equipment for today. You're going to need a paper fastener. You might also know these as split pins. So pause the video now, and off you go and collect all the equipment that you need. And when you're ready, press play and join us again. Okay, off you go. Fantastic. Welcome back and well done for collecting all of the equipment that you need for today's lesson. That's fantastic. So let's start with our star words. I'm going to say star words, and then you're going to say star words. Are you ready? Fantastic. My turn, star words, star words. Your turn. Fantastic. I'm going to say it a little bit louder this time. Star words, star words. Your turn. Wow, that was brilliant. Well done, everybody. Now, let's have a look at our star words for today. I'm going to say the word, and then it'll be your turn, your turn to say the word. Okay, let's see. Our first star word is mechanism. Your turn. Brilliant. My turn, mechanism. That was fantastic. Well done. Let's see our next star word. Slider. Your turn. Slider. Excellent. Our next one, lever. Your turn. Lever. Fantastic. You are so good at this. Our next one, slot. Your turn. Slot. That's great. Our last star word for today is straight line. Your turn. Straight line. That was brilliant. Well done, everybody. Now, don't worry if you don't know what any of these words mean, because as we move through our lesson, we will be talking about all of these, so you'll have a really, really good understanding by the end of the lesson. Okay, now we're going to put on our special thinking caps. Can you put yours on? Great. Tie up tight. Make sure it's turned on. We've got our special thinking to do now. We're going to think about the question, what is a mechanism? And I'm going to put some picture clues up on your screen to help with your thinking. Are you ready to see them? Me too. Scissors, a seesaw, a stapler, a clothes peg, a wheelbarrow, and a blind. Now, all these pictures on your screen give you a clue to what a mechanism might be. So I would like you to pause your video and have a think, have a guess. Look at all of those pictures on your screen and come up with an idea of what you think a mechanism might be. So pause the video and press play when you're ready. Fantastic. Hope you've done some amazing thinking. Can you tell me now the ideas that you came up with? Wow, that sounds like you have done some amazing thinking. Let's have a look at what's coming next to see how close you were. So a mechanism is where materials or components are connected to make movement. Did that come close to your guesses? I thought it might've done. Well done, everybody. And let's have a look at a pair of scissors. I've got some on my screen, and I've got some in front of me here. Now, the scissors are a special type of mechanism. They use a lever. And they have a special component called a pivot, which is this bit here. Now, without this pivot, our scissors wouldn't work. They wouldn't open and close. So when we open the lever and close the lever, without this pivot here, we wouldn't be able to do that. So can you have a look at your scissors next to you and see if you can point to the pivot? Fantastic. So this pivot helps our mechanism to open and close. It helps them to work. Well done. Let's have a look at our seesaw. Give me a wave if you've been on a seesaw before. Me too. Now, a seesaw is mechanism as well, and it's another type of lever. And a seesaw has a pivot just like our scissors. And that helps to connect our materials and our components together to make sure that our seesaw can move up and down. I want you to close your eyes and imagine you're on a seesaw with your best friend, and you're pushing your feet off and on the floor to help your seesaw move up and down. Without that pivot, our seesaw wouldn't work. So it has to have that special component joining our materials together to make our seesaw move up and down. Fantastic. Now, my thinking cap is flashing and vibrating. That must mean I have done some careful thinking and some careful listening. Is your thinking cap flashing and vibrating too? I thought so. We're going to have a go at doing a true or false question. Are you ready? A mechanism is where materials or components are connected to make movement. Is that true or is that false? I would like you to point on your screen to the true or the false. Show me what you think the answer is. Off you go. Point to your screen. Brilliant. Let's see if you're right. True. Were you pointing to true? I thought you might be. I thought you'd done some careful thinking. Well done. It is true. A mechanism is where materials or components are connected to make movement. Brilliant job, everyone. Okay, now it's time to do our practical activity, so make sure you've got all the equipment you need. Have you got your card, scissors, tape, pencil, and ruler? If you need to pause the video to make sure you have everything you need, that's absolutely fine. And join us when you've got everything. Okay, so we're going to making a simple slider. And a slider is a type of mechanism, and it's got a special type of movement. Let's have a look at what type of movement a slider makes. So a slider can move from side to side in a straight line. Use your finger and do it with me. A slider can move from side to side in a straight line. One more time. Remember, follow me with your finger. A slider can move from side to side in a straight line. Well done. A slide can also move in another direction. A slider can also move up and down in a straight line. Can you use your finger and follow along with me? A slider can also move up and down in a straight line. One more time together. A slider can also move up and down in a straight line. So it's always straight, either side to side or up and down. It's always moving in a straight line. Let's do the last bit together, one more time. Side to side in a straight line or up and down in a straight line. Well done. I think you're ready to get started. Okay, now we're going to have a go at making a simple slider, and we're going to work together step-by-step to be able to do this. So firstly, put all of your equipment to the side because you need this space here in front of you. And you're going to need your card to start with. And what I suggest is you cut it down the middle in half so you've got two pieces here. Pop one of those pieces to the side just for the moment. This piece of card here is going to be our background card. So just pop that away from you for a minute and grab your other piece of card that you cut off. The first thing we need to do is draw ourselves a card strip that we're going to use for our slot. So you're going to use your rule and your pencil. You're going to line your ruler up with the bottom of the card and draw a line across. Hold your ruler tight, drawing carefully. Fantastic. So I've used my ruler to draw a line across my page, which is going to become our slot. So pause the video now and draw yourself the line that you need here with your ruler. Off you go. Fantastic. Welcome back. So now, what we're going to do is we're going to cut down this straight line, and we're going to cut it into a card strip. So cutting neatly and safely. Now, we don't want this card strip to be the same length as our background card. So what I'm going to do is just going to snip off a little bit from each end. There we go. So now, I'd like you to pause the video and cut out your card strip, snipping a little bit off on the ends, and then play when you're ready. Off you go. Brilliant. Now, this card strip is going to become our slot, so you need your background card again, and we're going to stick it onto our background. So I'm going to use masking tape here, but you can use masking tape or sellotape, and you're going to stick down each end. Make sure you've got this little gap along the bottom here, and put some on the other side as well. There we go. And now, I can get my finger underneath. So we've created our slot. So I'd like you to pause the video, put your slot on your background card, and put a bit of tape on each end to make sure you can get your finger underneath, and then play when you're at this stage. Brilliant, welcome back. Well done. So can we just check together? Put your finger underneath your slot, and make sure you can move it from side to side, brilliant. Now, pop that bit out of the way, and I want you to grab the other half of your card. I'm going to use green card this time to make it stand out, but you can use your white card, the other half that you cut off. We need to create ourselves a card strip that we're going to use for our sliders. So we're going to need our ruler and our pencil again. Across the bottom of our card strip, we're going to make it three centimetres long. And we're going to make it 15 centimetres tall, 15. Draw a straight line as tall as 15 centimetres, and then we're going to join it at the top. So I'd like you to pause your video now. using your ruler and your pencil to draw 15 centimetres tall and three centimetres at the top and the bottom. Press play when you're at this stage. Off you go. Brilliant. Welcome back. Did you remember to use your ruler? Fantastic. I thought you'd remember that part. So now, we're going to cut it out along the line, cutting safely and accurately. And now, we have our card strip that we're going to use as our slider. So pause the video now and very carefully and neatly cut around your card strip, and press play when you're ready. Brilliant. Welcome back. We now have our background card with our slot, and we now have our slider. So we can put it underneath our slot and slide it. Move it side to side in a straight line. Can you put your slider underneath so we can practise together? Ready? Side to side in a straight line. Brilliant job, everybody. We have just created a simple slider. Well done. Now, we're going to have a go at making a simple lever. So just make sure you have everything you need again, your card, your scissors, your ruler, and your pencil, and this time you need your special equipment. You need your paper fastener. So if you need to pause the video to make sure you've got everything you need, that's fine. Do that now and press play when you're ready. Okay, now do you remember our slider moved from side to side and up and down in a straight line? A lever has a different type of movement. And a lever has to have a pivot. Do you remember when we looked at our scissors and we talked about the pivot? That's right, we're using a pivot to make sure that our lever can move. Now, you can see this isn't moving from side to side or up and down. It is moving around the pivot. And we can move it in a curved motion, side to side in a curved motion. Can you use your finger and you're going to do your curved motion? You ready, let's do it together. A lever moves around a pivot. We can move it in a curved motion. Brilliant, so you can see it's a different type of mechanism from a slider. Pivot, curved motion, side to side. Excellent. I think we're ready to make one. Well done, everybody. Now, we're going to have a go at making a simple lever, and we're going to work step by step all together, like we did before. So make sure all of your equipment is to the side to make sure you've got some space in front of you. And you're going to use your card like you did before. So you're going to cut it in half so you've got two parts. So put one part to the side, and we're going to use this as our background. Now, what we're going to do is we're going to make our card strip for our lever. So pop the background card just out of the way for the moment and find yourself your other piece of card. I'm going to use green again, but you can use the other half of your white card. That's absolutely fine. And we're going to make ourselves a card strip. So who can tell me how many centimetres did it need to be along the bottom for today? You're right, three centimetres. Well done. Who can tell me how tall did our card strip need to be? Can you remember? Brilliant, 15 centimetres. Well done. So draw the line 15 centimetres long, and just like we did before, join it across the top. So pause your video and draw yourself a card strip. And when you're ready, when you're at this stage, press play. Fantastic. Welcome back. Did you remember to use your ruler? Excellent. I knew you would remember that part. So now, we're going to cut it out safely and accurately just like we did before. And cut the bit across the top. There we are, okay? So you should have your card strip. So pause your video, cut out your card strip using your scissors safely, and press play when you're at this stage. Excellent. Well done, everybody. Now, we have our background card, and we have our card strip that this time we're going to use as a lever. So you remember a slider moved from side to side in a straight line, but a lever has a pivot that can move in a curved motion. So we're going to add in our pivot now. And our pivot is going to be our paper fastener, our split pin. Okay, so make sure you've got that ready. So we're going to put our card strip so it is poking off the top of our card. And to put our pivot in, to put our paper fastener in, you need to and go find something squashy and squishy. So I'm going to use a bit of Blu Tack. You might have Blu Tack or you might use something that is squashy and squishy similar to Blu Tack. Okay, so make sure your card strip is poking just off of the top. What we're going to do is we're going to put our Blu Tack behind our card and push it down nice and tight. And then, we're going to use our pencil to make a hole all the way through our card strip and our background card, going through the Blu Tack. So I'm going to poke my pencil in, give it a little wiggle, make sure it's gone all the way through, okay? And then, you're going to use your paper fastener, and you're going to put it through the card strip and through the background card. Then, turn it over, and this is where you need to be very careful. You need to open up your paper fastener. And what I like to do is give it a few twists and a few turns to make sure that our lever can move really smoothly. So pause the video now, and I'd like you to put your pivot, your paper fastener through the card strip and the background. Don't forget to use something like Blu Tack or something squishy to put behind so you're doing it safely. Okay, pause the video and press play when you are at this stage. Brilliant. Well done, everybody. Have you made sure you've done a few twists at the back to make sure our lever can move really smoothly? Well done. We've done it. We've made ourselves a simple lever. We can use it this way up, or we can turn it round and use it this way. So we can move it in a curved motion side to side. You did it. Well done, everybody. Okay, after the lesson today, you might like to decorate your slider and lever. I have made mine into a dolphin jumping through the waves. On the screen, there are a couple of examples of what you could do. And if you open up your worksheet, I've made a couple of templates for you. But don't worry, you don't have to follow those templates. You can use your own imagination and think up your own ideas. Okay, so that's something you might like to do later on today. We've come to the end of our lesson, so we're going to do an end of lesson quiz all together to make sure we have locked in all of that new learning that we have done today. So what I would like you to do is I'd like you to put your lever one side of you and your slider to the other side, and I'm going to ask you a couple of questions, and you're going to see if you can point to the right answer. Are you ready? Brilliant. Using your pointing finger, can you point to the mechanism that uses a slider? Off you go. Fantastic. Did you point to the mechanism that moves side to side behind the slot? Brilliant. I knew you'd get that answer the right. Well done. Using your pointing finger, are you ready for our next question? On your lever, can you point to the pivot? Off you go. Pivot. Fantastic. Did you point to this part? Did you point to your paper fastener? 'Cause that's our pivot, isn't it? It helps us to move our lever in our curved motion. Well done if you pointed to your paper fastener. I knew you'd get that one right as well. Well done, everybody. You have done such a great job today. Now, finally, before you go, what you might like to do is ask one of the grownups in your house to take a photo of your work, and you could send it to your teacher. You could also upload it to Twitter, tagging in @OakNational, and then I will get to see all the amazing work that you've done today. So if you'd like to do that, ask a grownup to take a photo for you and send it to your teacher and upload it to Twitter. Well done, everybody. I'll see you again next time.

To explore a range of sliders and levers

To explore a range of sliders and levers

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UnitDesign and technology / Mechanisms: sliders and levers

Design and technology