Simple Machines - Levers

I used a wonderful book to teach my students about Levers. The book is 'Machines We Use' by Sally Hewitt. If this book can not be found, there are plenty of other excellent choices (Check back soon for my booklist). We talked about all different types of levers and how they are used. We made a list of simple machines that use levers in order to work. Afterwards students were asked to draw a house and cut around the door, turning it into a lever. The term hinges was introduced and students were able to think of places they had seen them before. The house was decorated, coloured in and glued onto an A3 piece of cardboard. Behind the door, students wrote "Hinges are levers". 

Students were then given  pictures of different machines. They were asked to identify the part of the machine that is the lever and colour it red. These machines were then cut out and glued to the back of the A3 cardboard. Students then thought of their own headings, such as "These are all levers", "The levers have been coloured in red" and "I have coloured the levers red".