Heave-to and learn the science behind what makes a boat sail. Design a sail shape that works best in a classroom experiment.

• 1.

  What makes a sailboat move forward? How is the wind captured and why does that work? Look at photographs of sailing ships. Study the design of different shaped sails. Using Crayola® Pointed Scissors, cut sails from recycled plastic, envelop fabric. Try triangular, rounded and square shapes. Remember you need to balance the size of sail vs. size of boat’s base so the boat does not tip over when the wind fills the sail.

• 2.

  Decorate the sails using Crayola® Color Sticks™. Run a bead of Crayola® No-Run School Glue down inside edge of sail and roll around a thin skewer (or chopstick).

• 3.

  While the sail is drying, cut strips of duct tape and secure four corks together with the tape to form the boat’s hull (base).

• 4.

  Poke the sail’s mast (skewer with sail) into the cork base. Test your design in a basin. Try a fan or hair dryer to generate some gales of wind.

Standards

• LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.
• LA: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade level topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
• LA: Participate in shared research and writing projects.
• MATH: Understand that attributes belonging to a category of two-dimensional figures also belong to all subcategories of that category.
• SCI: Analyze data to determine the relationship between friction and the motion of objects.
• SCI: Plan and carry out investigations of how the change in motion and/or shape when objects touch or collide is related to the speed of the objects.
• VA: Select media, techniques, an processes; analyze what makes them effective or not effective in communicating ideas; and reflect upon the effectiveness of choices.
• VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: The Boat Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta; Learning to Sail: The Annapolis Sailing School Guide for All Ages by Di Goodman & Ian Brodie
• Students expand their experiment by adding additional skewers to the sail along the bottom of the sail or outer edge. Does this affect the boat's navigation? If so, explain how.
• Students work in small groups to brainstorm everyday expressions taken from nautical usage (such as "know the ropes", "cut and run", "toe the line", "square meal", "rummage sale"). What do these expressions mean to someone sailing? What do these expressions mean to a person in a non-sailing situation?
• Encourage students to think of expressions that are not related to sailing, and write an explanation of the meaning of each expression and provide an original illustration of the meaning. Display these on a classroom bulletin board.