Skill: course-build → review-content (Olivia's notes triage) → write-mcqs (items), write-explanation (fb and why lines), video-brief (edits by id in the R100 form), write-like-james (cards 9 and 10) @ b08f945
Olivia's notes on Grade 4 Topic 1 "Why sliding things stop" — triage (10 October 2026)
Source: reviews/olivia/G4T01_2026-10-09.md (Olivia Mullins; 85 notes, 24 marked high priority, on the intro, the five lessons, their quizzes, the practice, the summary and the bank). James's rules: her TEXT notes on articles and questions are applied at once, even for a marginal improvement, and recorded (2 Oct; 1 Oct); a VIDEO note is an edit by its Peps id, never a re-render unless new narration is unavoidable, and a single-word change edits only the moments where the word occurs (29 Sep); only a major restructure, a change that is scientifically wrong or misleading, or a note that contradicts a rule he gave goes to him as a card; every note, applied or flagged, is logged. Topic 1 was reviewed and approved by James on 5 Oct and rebuilt to his notes — his structure and his rule sentences stand; Olivia's notes refine them. Nothing was sent; nothing was committed or deployed; the coordinator does both.
What happened, in plain words
- Her biggest point is about wrong answers that are secretly right. A moving thing does rub the air (air resistance), a thing's weight does press it onto the floor and add to the friction, socks in a drawer do rub each other, a rope does rub its knot. So every distractor that named the air (eleven items), the thing's weight (six items), the socks, or a place where friction genuinely acts has gone, replaced by a place where nothing rubs ("the top of the box and the floor", "the inside of the puck and the ice"). Her phrase for the term items — "a force pushes against the direction of the sliding" — is now in every stem that asks the force's name; the lesson's own coining sentence ("a force pushes against the sliding. That force is called friction.") is James's and stays.
- "The same gentle push" is gone from every question. Her form — "X slides it with a gentle push across A. X pushes it with the same force across B." — replaces it in L04's quiz, the attached question, the summary, the practice and the bank, so the push being the same is said as a fact a child can picture, not as a phrase to decode. Where her rewrite ran to three or four sentences, the stem is cut back to two (James's S23 rule: a stem of three or more sentences is a hard item) with her content kept.
- Six items are cut and three rebuilt in her words: the wordy true / false opener of L01; the zipper and the shower curtain in L05 ("I'm not sure the kids will understand the context"); Darnell's sled that "keeps sliding" with nobody pushing it; Reed's puck claim; the "who wants more friction" sort ("I don't think there's a correct answer"); the toy-car "pushed harder" claim; the toy robot ("it has its own mechanism for moving"); the sandpaper comparison ("we haven't introduced sandpaper"). The wagon that "rolls toward Elena" and is "pulled back" is now Reed walking behind a sliding sled and pulling back on its rope — her point that a thing coming toward you and pushed usually goes the other way, not still, is logged for Grade 3 too. Two more why-items (reasons as options) sit in L05's quiz as she asked.
- Three video edits by id, written and not sent (
handoff/G4T01/videos/FEEDBACK_2026-10-10.md): L01's box gets ONE push, the arm leaves on the words "Now the arm moves away", and the box slows and stops once instead of stopping and "mysteriously" restarting (VISUAL only — the audio already says her sequence); L02's question becomes "what stops her push from moving the bed?" (the authored line the voice had dropped); L04's "The carpet makes more friction" / "the wood makes only a little friction" become "Friction is greater between the book and the carpet" / "friction is less between the book and the wood" — in James's form, because the delivered wording is the one he ruled out of this video on 5 Oct, and her suggested words kept it. No edit adds on-screen text. - Two things go to James (
REVIEW_NEXT_G4T01.md, cards 9 and 10): whether the airborne "no friction" items stay (her explicit ask on L01-q3: air resistance "is a form of friction… can you surface this question for James?"; recommendation keep — the items ask about rubbing, and his 5 Oct design named the air once as a simplification), and whether Grade 4 gets a short "what a surface is" video before L01 (recommendation: one added sentence in the L01 video — written and HELD — not a new video now; the article has the line already). - Four things she suggested were not done, under James's rulings: "gravity" (PP-q19) stays "Earth's pull"; her L04 rule wording ("smoother surfaces create less friction") is the form he ruled out; her proposed key "Friction only slows things down; it never speeds things up" (PP-q38) is wrong — friction under a shoe speeds a runner up, which L05 teaches — so the key is "Friction is sometimes helpful and sometimes unhelpful."; PP-q42 keeps James's own 5 Oct wording of the cardboard-box item. None is a card: each is a ruling he has already given.
- Eight notes are saved as future notes, at her request, and not applied (section below).
Pages that now differ from their live video
| lesson | the page says | the live video says | why |
|---|---|---|---|
| L01 | "The bottom of the box is one surface, and the floor is another." (article) | nothing — until the HELD one-sentence edit lands, if James picks it (card 10) | her L01-q2 note |
| L01 | the box slides, slows and stops (figures box_headache_cartoon, box_friction) | the box stops and restarts — until Edit 1 lands | her L01-script note; the edit restores agreement |
| L02 | "So what stops Carmen's push from moving the bed?" | "So... what stops her push?" — until Edit 1 lands | the voice dropped the authored words |
| L04 | "Friction is greater between the book and the carpet" / "Friction is less between the book and the wood" | "The carpet makes more friction" / "the wood makes only a little friction" — until Edit 1 lands | James's 5 Oct language rule; her note points at the moment |
| L04 | the quiz says "with a gentle push… with the same force" | the video says "the same gentle push" (chip SAME GENTLE PUSH) | her PR-q5 preference applied to items only; the video's phrase is James-approved and unchanged |
The table — every note, her words verbatim
| note id | her words (verbatim) | kind | our call | status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| INTRO-script | "low priority - future fixes, sled starts going faster too early, review the "where it rubs, why it stops, which surface" please remind us in the future" | video | FUTURE NOTE — the sled's pacing and the three-chip map line; her mark low, 'future fixes'; no edit | noted |
| L01-script | "high priority, what this video is supposed to be showing with the box is that it is sliding across the floor and then slowing down because of friction but that's not at all what's happening in the video. The box moves while the hand is on it and then when the hand is removed, it actually stops and then it mysteriously starts moving again. This is not presenting students with the phenomena that they're trying to understand. What I would just do instead is have someone push the box or whatever and have them let go immediately and the box slows down. Why does the box slow down and stop? Don't have the arm stay with the box for half the frame. One push, the box is going fast. Why does it slow down? You might say something like, "Have you ever thought about why it stops?" There's probably not time now but for the future I would add: - a video short, 30 to 40 seconds, with 7 or 8 questions on the meaning of surface - a video that focuses on surfaces rubbing together - this video That can be for the next iteration but please take this note and save it." | video · high | VISUAL edit by id (FEEDBACK_2026-10-10.md, L01 Edit 1): one push, the arm lifts clear on the words 'Now the arm moves away', the box slows and stops ONCE, no restart — modelled on L03's block beat as she suggested; her three-video plan → card 10 and a FUTURE NOTE | video edit |
| L01-q1 | "This is too wordy and confusing, in my opinion. Maybe someone else disagrees but I would remove it." | quiz | applied: the true / false FOR3-003 opener cut ('too wordy and confusing'); the L01 quiz is ten items | applied |
| L01-q2 | "Now that I'm seeing these questions, I think you actually should do that video I mentioned earlier. I would say high priority: have a short video that describes what a surface is. Have them define surface and perhaps at the end of that video you can talk about how surfaces can rub together (like the surfaces of your hands can rub together and make heat). Have that video first and then have this because you didn't define surface in the video and now there are all these questions about surfaces." | quiz + lesson design · high | card 10 for James (a new 'what a surface is' video before L01 is a new lesson in an approved topic; recommendation: one sentence in L01, not a new video — the HELD edit in FEEDBACK_2026-10-10.md); applied now: the article line 'The bottom of the box is one surface, and the floor is another.' | open |
| L01-q3 | "James, are you worried about creating a misconception because the basketball does encounter air resistance, which is a form of friction. To the LLM, can you surface this question for James?" | quiz | card 9 for James, as she asked: is 'no friction' on a thing in flight a misconception risk? The four airborne items wait for his word (L01 q3 basketball, q5 acorn; PP-4 apple; PP-7 ball over the net, a grade-test item the site does not show) | open |
| L01-q4 | "Medium-high priority. A better questions, "Which two surfaces are rubbing in this scenario?" Then I also would pick a different situation because the answer here would have to be 'the bottom of the legs of the bench" So instead maybe, a hockey puck is pushed across the ice. Which two surfaces rub together? A. the surface of the puck and the surface of the ice . Wrong answer : the inside of the puck and the surface of the ice." | quiz · medium-high | applied: 'A hockey puck is pushed across the ice. Which two surfaces rub?' — the bottom of the puck and the ice (key) / the inside of the puck and the ice / the top of the puck and the ice | applied |
| L01-q7 | "Sorry I can't help it but there is friction among the socks ... can it be like, "between the socks and the knob" -> I know this makes the question easy but I think it's an okay "for now" fix" | quiz | applied: 'inside the drawer, between the socks and the knob'; the air option went too ('between Reed's feet and the drawer') | applied |
| L01-q8 | "confusing imo, medium high priority, "between carmen's clothes and the slide" for the correct answer. "Underneath the slide" works for an incorrect answers, and "between the top of Carmen's shoes and the slide" for another incorrect answer" | quiz · medium-high | applied: her three options word for word (clothes and the slide = key; underneath the slide; the top of her shoes and the slide) | applied |
| L01-q9 | "at least here remove "between the book and the air" because there is friction there and then the kids have to unlearn. There is also friction between the pages. So I'd say "between the bottom of the book and the desk" "between the top of the book and the desk" "between the pages of the book and the desk" medium high priority" | quiz · medium-high | applied: her three places word for word (the bottom of the book and the desk = key; the top of the book and the desk; the pages of the book and the desk) | applied |
| L01-q10 | "Reword, easy fix so high priority "Reed leaves his classroom and drags a heavy backpack across the grass. As he drags the backpack away from the door, a force pushes towards the door where the backpack rubs the grass. What is this force called." Alternately it could be "a force pushes against the direction of the sliding." either way it's hard..." | quiz · high | applied, her alternative: 'a force pushes against the direction of the sliding' — in every term stem of the topic (L01 q10, q11; L02 q1; L03 q1; PR-13, PR-14; PP-5, PP-27's key, PP-42); the lesson's own coining line 'pushes against the sliding' stays (James, 5 Oct) | applied |
| L01-q11 | "see comment on previous question" | quiz | applied: the typed term item's stem says 'against the direction of the sliding' | applied |
| L02-script | "Medium priority, at 0:28 it says "what stops her push" But nothing stops her push. Her push is happening. It should say "what stops her push from moving the bed?" I think these things are kind of important because this is so easy to not understand. Otherwise I like a lot of this video. I feel like this explains the concept in the previous video better than the previous video did. I think, since now we are addressing this friction working against something, all the questions about the direction of friction should be confined to this video and removed from the previous video. I think this is somewhat important because I think they were hard to answer previously." | video · medium | AUDIO edit by id (L02 Edit 1): 'So... what stops her push from moving the bed?' — the authored line the voice had dropped; the chip reworded to match (no new text). Direction items: L01's quiz has none; the bank's two direction items (the box to the right, the sled to the left) re-tagged from L01's atom to L02's (FOR4-002) | video edit |
| L02-q1 | "See my notes on this language on the previous example." | quiz | applied: 'against the direction of the sliding' (see L01-q10) | applied |
| L02-q3 | "Change the second part to: Friction is making it hard for him to push the table. Where does this friction exist? This gets around this idea of the air having friction because that's not really what's blocking it from pushing the table. I would say this is a medium priority." | quiz · medium | applied: 'Reed pushes the heavy picnic table, and it does not move. Friction is making it hard for him to push the table. Where does this friction act on the table?' ('act', the course's verb, for her 'exist') | applied |
| L02-q5 | "I know I'm only supposed to be doing major things but I think this needs to be made more explicit in the video. This can be a down-the-line thing." | video | FUTURE NOTE: the voice already says 'Friction pushes back on the bed even before it moves. The bed hasn't moved yet.'; more emphasis is new narration — her 'down-the-line thing' | noted |
| L02-q6 | "Low priority but easy fix. I would just add the word "force" in the second question: What force pushes back against Reed's push?" | quiz · low | applied: 'What force pushes back against Reed's push?' — and the same word in PR-3 and PP-11 | applied |
| L02-q8 | "Just want to put a note for future fixes to make a big deal about the fact that you can push without having movement. I think I've said this before so hopefully the AI is just keeping a note of things to change when we have time later on." | video | FUTURE NOTE: 'make a big deal about the fact that you can push without having movement' — saved with L02-q5 | noted |
| L02-quiz | "I think this lesson is pretty strong and it's still, though, a really hard concept so I'm curious to see if students get it right. I think we can break things down even more before they get here to make it more likely that they'll be successful here. Sorry, I know I'm supposed to be going quickly but honestly it's just almost as fast for me to just say these things." | quiz | noted: her read of the lesson ('pretty strong… a really hard concept'); no change asked; the surface video is card 10 | noted |
| L03-script | "I really like how frition was shown in this video, and in the first video I made a comment on how it didn't do a good job showing friction. I think you could honestly just take the first part of this and put that in the first part of the first lesson, at least the visuals. Low priority, or for the future I might put a little more emphasis on the fact that 'push ran out" is a misconception say: Sometimes kids think the push ran out but that's not what happened. Pushes don't run out. That's not why things stop" | video · low / future | no edit: the L01 edit is modelled on this video's block beat, as she suggested; the 'pushes don't run out' emphasis is a FUTURE NOTE (the voice says 'Did the block stop because the push ran out? No. The push is not inside the block.') | noted |
| L03-v1 | "I like this to make it clear that that's a misconception." | attached question | praise; noted | noted |
| L03-q1 | "Please see previous notes about the language "a force pushes against the sliding."" | quiz | applied: 'against the direction of the sliding' (see L01-q10) | applied |
| L03-q2 | "This is potentially high priority unless I misunderstand the physics but isn't the carton's weight pulling it down creating more friction than it would have otherwise? Isn't the first answer indirectly slowing it down? If that's true, if I'm correct, I would replace "the carton's weight pulling it down" you could make a tricky one: to say the friction between the milk in the carton and then contrast that with the friction between the tile and the carton or something similar." | quiz · high | applied — she is right: the carton's weight presses the surfaces together and adds to the friction. The weight option went here and in every what-stopped-it item (L04 q1 sponge, PR-2 sandal, PP-11 cooler → 'a pull from Elena', PP-25 ice cube, PP-27 checker); here 'friction between the milk and the inside of the carton' takes its place | applied |
| L03-q3 | "Good question." | quiz | praise; the air option replaced all the same under her general note ('on the top of the carton') | applied |
| L03-q5 | "I don't think this is quite right so I think I would remove it because she doesn't keep sliding because there's only a little friction against her socks. She stops sliding because of the friction eventually. I just don't think it's quite correct. Maybe ask why. Elena runs and slides along her smooth kitchen floor in her socks. She slides for 5 ft. Elena tries to do the same thing again on the carpet but on the carpet she doesn't slide at all. Why doesn't she slide on the carpet? Answer: The carpet has more friction." | quiz | applied: her item ('…on the carpet she does not slide at all. Why doesn't she slide on the carpet?'), the key in the course's form — 'Friction is greater between her socks and the carpet.' — never 'the carpet has more friction' (James, 5 Oct) | applied |
| L03-q6 | "Medium priority but easy fix. I would say, "What happens to the coin after it leaves his hand?" so you're adding "after it leaves his hand."" | quiz · medium | applied: 'What happens to the coin after it leaves his hand?' | applied |
| L03-q8 | "Similar to the above, just change or add "what happens to the bin after he lets go."" | quiz | applied: 'What happens to the bin after she lets go?' (Carmen) | applied |
| L04-script | "This is very good. If you're going to make adjustments, just a small thing: at 39 would say the carpet makes more friction than the wood. - Medium-low priority but the rule at the end gets a little wordy. I would say the rule is that smoother surfaces create less friction and rougher surfaces or bumpier surfaces create more friction. - This is a small thing but they say "surface" kind of weirdly. - Again very low priority but the carpet is a little weird looking. I love how the carpet looks in the close-up when you see the carpet on the block. If you can redo the carpet to make it look more like carpet, that might be nice." | video · medium-low / very low | AUDIO edit by id (L04 Edit 1) at the two moments she points to, in James's form ('Friction is greater between the book and the carpet' / 'friction is less between the book and the wood'): the delivered 'The carpet makes more friction' is the wording James ruled out of this video on 5 Oct, and her words keep it. Her rule rewording NOT applied (same form; the rule is James's sentence); 'surface' pronounced oddly — noted (text-to-speech); the carpet's look — FUTURE NOTE | video edit |
| L04-v1 | "Medium-low priority but I would change this object to a block or something. I'm not sure all the kids know what a comb is and it's also just kind of a weird object to slide across the floor. I would just do the block." | attached question · medium-low | applied: a toy block, in her 'same force' form ('Reed slides a toy block with a gentle push across a smooth table. He pushes it with the same force across a rough rug.') | applied |
| L04-q1 | "Again the sponge's weight definitely indirectly contributes to friction so I would say medium-high priority. Remove that choice and I would put a distractor question where it's friction but friction between something else: friction between the top of the sponge and the floor." | quiz · medium-high | applied: the weight option went; 'friction between the top of the sponge and the floor' in its place | applied |
| L04-q2 | "Medium priority but I don't like the same language. I would say this: Reed slides a shoebox with a gentle push across a tile floor and then across a thick rug. Which surface is rougher? Or you could just delete the whole first part and just ask, "Which of these two surfaces is rougher?" Up to you." | quiz · medium | applied: her stem for Part 1 ('…with a gentle push across the tile floor and then across the thick rug. Which surface is rougher?') | applied |
| L04-q4 | "I would add a second sentence: He pushes with the same amount of force both times." | quiz | applied: 'He pushes with the same amount of force both times.' (Part 3); Part 2 says 'with the same amount of force' too | applied |
| L04-q9 | "For the answer I would say there is less friction between the glass and the cork (in case I don't know the word "excerpts"" | quiz | applied: 'Friction is less between the cork and the glass.' — no 'exerts' in the key; PR-8 the same | applied |
| L04-q10 | "I don't like this question because it's essentially a reading comprehension question and it requires understanding this "same gentle push" language. Maybe instead you can say: "Reed says that if he slides a flip-flop using the same amount of force on a smooth deck, and on a grass lawn, the flip-flop will go the same distance on each. Is Reed correct?"" | quiz | applied in part: her 'same amount of force' wording replaces 'the same gentle push'; the claim stays Reed's 'I pushed harder' (FOR-12, the documented belief a claim item needs — James, 7 Oct) rather than her 'the same distance' | applied |
| L05-script | "Fine for now. For the next iteration I would put in some little more accessible examples. One thing that kids really relate to is monkey bars. Friction is really helpful when you want to grip on the monkey bars and when you have less friction, when your hands start sweating, you lose the grip and that's unhelpful. Friction's helpful. It's unhelpful when you get a rug burn. If your friend drags you across the carpet and your knee scrapes up the carpet, that injures you and it's unhelpful. The shoe example is very good. I would also do friction with tires and the road when we have a chance. Those are the examples I do. I think the door and the drawer are a little less obvious maybe." | video · future | FUTURE NOTE: monkey bars (grip; sweaty hands lose it), rug burn, tyres and the road — her examples for the next iteration | noted |
| L05-q4 | "I don't really feel like friction is the issue here unless I'm wrong scientifically. Remove this." | quiz | applied: cut (the zipper) | applied |
| L05-q5 | "Add context: You're trying to sled down a hill but it gets stuck on a bare patch of dirt and stops." | quiz | applied: 'Darnell is sledding down a hill. His sled gets stuck on a bare patch of dirt and stops.' | applied |
| L05-q8 | "I would remove this. I'm not sure the kids will understand the context." | quiz | applied: cut (the shower curtain) | applied |
| L05-q10 | "I think lower priority but I might have a few more of these questions. I think things are okay but I am a little concerned that the kids won't quite be able to figure out what's helpful or not. This question basically gives you context and so it might be helpful to add some more of these and intersperse. Like I said I'm not really sure if this is low or high priority because I'm not positive how kids will do with this." | quiz | applied: two more why items, interspersed (a climber's shoes grip the rock wall — why helpful; Carmen drags a heavy box across the carpet — why unhelpful); the quiz stays at eleven | applied |
| L05-q11 | "No this is confusing because the first part's true and the second part's not true. That's too much for this concept. This concept is too hard. We can't be tricking the kids. Carmen says friction is only unhelpful. Is Carmen right? Medium priority." | quiz · medium | applied: 'Carmen says friction is only ever unhelpful. Is Carmen right?' (no); the feedback names the grip and the brake | applied |
| SUMMARY-script | "Medium-low priority. The arrows here are not consistent. I think probably the images were just taken from previous videos but it's a little confusing. At the end there's a bullet list with words but there's no time to read them and the narrator is saying something different. Again I think it's fine. You don't have to change it now but please put a note to change these things for the future, especially those bullet points at the end. They should either say them or give kids time to read them." | video · medium-low | FUTURE NOTE, as she asked: the arrows across the five stills; the closing bullets (James, 9 Oct: a video prints only CAPS chips and short closing bullets — the standing form; her ask that they be spoken or given time to read is saved) | noted |
| PR-q3 | "Low priority but I think it'd be nice to add the word "force" into the last part: "what force pushes back against Darnell's push."" | practice · low | applied: 'What force pushes back against Darnell's push?' | applied |
| PR-q4 | "I don't think this question makes sense. I don't know what "pulls back" is in this context and I honestly don't know. I think what would happen is it would change direction and go backwards and that's not an option. Remove this question and replace it with something else. I think it's high priority that, as a general rule, when someone pushes something that's coming towards them, it doesn't necessarily stop it. It often pushes it in the other direction. These questions that have the object stopping from being pushed, that's just not always what happens." | practice · high | applied: replaced — Reed walks behind his sliding sled, holding the rope, and pulls back on it; nothing comes toward anyone. Her general point (a push on a thing coming toward you often sends it the other way) is logged for the Grade 3 pack too | applied |
| PR-q5 | "I said this earlier but I prefer the language: "Reed slides a plastic lid with a gentle push across a counter. He pushes it with the same force across a bath towel." That would be my preferred language but I would say "on top of a bath towel" instead of "across."Medium priority." | practice · medium | applied: her wording ('…with a gentle push across a counter. He pushes it with the same force on top of a bath towel.'); the 'same gentle push' stem form replaced across the topic (L04 quiz, L04 attached, summary Q3, PR-5, PR-8) | applied |
| PR-q9 | "This is a really convoluted question. I would remove it. You could replace it with this: Darnell pushes an empty shopping cart gently. His friend pushes an identical cart more strongly. Whose cart will move faster, Darnell's or his friend's?" | practice | applied: her replacement ('Darnell pushes an empty shopping cart gently. His friend pushes an identical cart more strongly. Whose cart will move faster?') | applied |
| PR-q11 | "Good question." | practice | praise; noted | noted |
| PP-q1 | "There is friction between the ball and the air so remove that answer choice. I would do the question: Friction between what surfaces slows the bowl down? Another question can be: The top of the bowl and the floor." | bank | applied: 'Friction between which two surfaces slows the bowl down?' with her 'top of the bowl and the floor' distractor; the air option went | applied |
| PP-q2 | "Again remove the air example." | bank | applied: the air option → 'between the top of the cardboard and the grass' | applied |
| PP-q3 | "Remove the air example. I think this is high priority." | bank · high | applied: the air option → 'between the top of the snowboard and the snow' | applied |
| PP-q4 | "I think this is a little confusing because when the apple eventually falls it does rub the ground and it will create friction or the two surfaces will rub. I would just remove this." | bank | card 9 for James (the airborne 'where do two surfaces rub? — nowhere' shape is his 5 Oct design) | open |
| PP-q5 | "At the very least say a force pushes against the direction of the sliding. I think the idea of the sliding is confusing." | bank | applied: 'a force pushes against the direction of the sliding' | applied |
| PP-q7 | "Remove the air example." | bank | applied: the hose item's air option → 'between the top of the hose and the lawn' (her q7 is the hose; the ball-over-the-net item is PP-7 in the file, a grade-test item the site hides — card 9) | applied |
| PP-q8 | "Remove Eric example." | bank | applied: the ruler item's air option → 'between the top of the ruler and the desk' (her 'Eric example' is 'air example', heard by the transcriber) | applied |
| PP-q9 | "We don't really say "wardrobe" in the United States. I would call it a dresser. Medium-high priority because the kids might not know what that is." | bank · medium-high | applied: wardrobe → dresser throughout the item; 'What force pushes back…' | applied |
| PP-q11 | "Again I would remove the cooler's weight because I feel like it indirectly contributes. You could say "a pull from Elena."" | bank | applied: 'the cooler's weight' → 'a pull from Elena' | applied |
| PP-q13 | "Reword. Not a high priority but also very easy to change. Reed slides a coin across four different surfaces. He uses the same force for each push. On which surface does the coin slide the farthest?" | bank | applied: her stem, in two sentences ('Reed slides a coin across four different surfaces, using the same force for each push. On which surface does the coin slide the farthest?') — James's S23: a stem of three or more sentences is a hard item | applied |
| PP-q14 | "Change a doormat to a thick carpet because a plastic laundry basket is generally bigger than a doormat so it wouldn't make any sense to slide it and I think that will confuse the kids. High priority and an easy change." | bank · high | applied: the doormat → a thick carpet | applied |
| PP-q15 | "Change the wording to high priority because it's easy to do and it's a little confusing as written. I would write: A boy slides a bar of soap across bathroom tiles. He then uses the same amount of force and slides the soap across a bathmat. On which surface does the soap stop sooner?" | bank · high | applied: her stem with Darnell named, in two sentences | applied |
| PP-q16 | "No this makes no sense. It's a comparison without anything to compare it to. Say this: An object is pushed and slides across a rougher surface. The same object is pushed with the same amount of force and slides across a smoother surface. Which sentence is true? 1. Friction is greater between the object and the rougher surface. 2. The surface pushes the object forward. 3. Friction is less between the object and the rougher surface. 4. No friction acts on the object. Also use "object," not "thing." Hopefully we taught them that at some point in third grade?" | bank | applied: her stem and her four options ('object'), the stem in two sentences | applied |
| PP-q18 | "Remove a sliding door that drags on its track. I actually do need friction there or it would just slam into the wall. To be honest you kind of need friction for all of these but I guess it's okay." | bank | applied: the sliding door went; 'a heavy rug that is hard to drag across the floor' in its place | applied |
| PP-q19 | "Low priority but can we start using "gravity"? A decent question. I would not label this as easy, though. I think this is hard." | bank · low | NOT applied, 'gravity': James's language rule (25 Sep) — 'gravity' names the happening, the force is Earth's pull, and students never say 'gravity is a force'; a standing ruling, not re-asked. Applied: re-graded easy → medium (her 'I think this is hard'; a one-step true-sentence pick is DOK 2; hard items carry a 'hard because') | declined |
| PP-q21 | "Friction does act where the rope is tied to the ceiling. The general comment that's high priority is to be really careful not to have answer choices that are correct. You're just trying to think about the friction between Carmen and the rope but that doesn't mean that friction doesn't exist elsewhere. To fix this you can say, "Friction helps her from going down the rope too quickly. Where is the friction that slows her descent?" This way the question is asking specifically about the friction that we're focusing on, not just saying where friction is generally. High priority." | bank · high | applied: 'Carmen slides down the climbing rope in gym class, her hands around the rope, and friction keeps her from sliding down too fast. Where does the friction that slows her act?' | applied |
| PP-q22 | "Remove the air one because technically it does, even though it's not a big deal. Instead you can say "friction between her hands and the trunk."" | bank | applied: the air option → 'friction between Elena's hands and the trunk' | applied |
| PP-q23 | "I would ask: Why does the curling stone go farther on ice than it would on most other surfaces? there are just a lot of assumptions made in the way it's asked now. I think wording it the other way is a more scientifically correct question." | bank | applied: 'Why does the stone go farther on ice than it would on most other surfaces?' | applied |
| PP-q24 | "This is a little bit worded confusingly. I would say, "Reed gives a plastic bucket a push and it slides along the porch. What happens to the bucket next?" This is medium priority because the way it's worded now, it seems like, "What happens after she pushes it?" but it's actually: 1. She pushes it. 2. It slides. 3. What happens next? Changing the wording will fix that" | bank · medium | applied: 'Reed gives a plastic bucket a push, and it slides along the porch. What happens to the bucket next?' | applied |
| PP-q25 | "Remove its weight pulling it down. You can say, "friction between the table and the baking tray."" | bank | applied: 'its weight pulling it down' → 'friction between the table and the baking tray' | applied |
| PP-q26 | "This doesn't make any sense. Why is it moving if nobody pushed it? Just remove this question." | bank | applied: cut (Darnell's sled) | applied |
| PP-q27 | "At a minimum say "friction push against the direction of the sliding."Also remove the Earth pull because, again, I think that has an indirect effect. All right actually, I'd also remove the air one. Keep the first answer, which is correct. Keep the incorrect answer. The checker used up its flick. Then you can add friction between Elena's finger and the checker, and friction between the table and the board stopped the checker" | bank | applied: her four options (the flick used up; friction between Elena's finger and the checker; friction between the table and the board; friction pushed against the direction of the sliding = key) | applied |
| PP-q28 | "I could be wrong but I suggest removing this. I think it's more likely to confuse the kids than help them learn." | bank | applied: cut (Reed's puck claim) | applied |
| PP-q29 | "I like this. low-priority but easy fix. I would add the word "both" in the correct answer choice: "Friction acted both before the sofa moved and while it slid," just to make it crystal clear what the answer choice is saying." | bank · low | applied: 'Friction acted both before the sofa moved and while it slid.' | applied |
| PP-q30 | "reword : A sled was pushed over packed snow. It was then pushed with the same amount of force on gravel. The sled went farther on the snow than on the gravel. Which sentence explains why?" | bank | applied: her stem, in two sentences; the options keep James's 'exerts' form (5 Oct) | applied |
| PP-q32 | "reword: A puck is pushed twice over two different surfaces with the same amount of force. It goes 3 m on the first surface and 9 m on the other surface. Which surface exerts less friction on the puck?" | bank | applied: her stem, in two sentences | applied |
| PP-q33 | "Change the marker to a crayon and remove flick because the notebook's really small and we need these questions to make sense in the world. Darnell gently rolls a crayon across his smooth desk. He then rolls the crayon with the same amount of force across the carpet underneath his feet. The crayon goes farther on his desk. Why?" | bank | applied: a crayon, no flick, the carpet under his feet — 'slides' for her 'rolls' (James, 5 Oct: every moving case slides); two sentences | applied |
| PP-q34 | "Two identical cans are pushed with the same amount of force on two different surfaces: one on a mat and one on a tile floor. The can on the mat stops first. Which surface exerts more friction on the can? Reward them." | bank | applied: her stem, in two sentences | applied |
| PP-q35 | "I might add a little instruction to the front of this: "The bottom of your shoe is called a sole." I think I would say medium-high priority and it's fine to tell them what it is." | bank · medium-high | applied: 'The bottom of a shoe is called a sole.' opens the stem | applied |
| PP-q36 | "Reed's desk drawer sticks and he has trouble getting it open. Someone told Reed that if you add a little wax to the sides of the drawer, it'll slide in and out more easily. So he gets a candle, which is made of wax, and rubs it along its sides. It works. Afterwards the drawer slides in and out freely. Why did the wax help make his drawer not stick? The answers can be: - The wax increased the friction between the side of the drawer and the desk. - The wax decreased the friction, etc." | bank | applied: her version, in two sentences, with her two answers as options ('The wax made friction less / greater between the drawer and the desk') and two more | applied |
| PP-q37 | "This is a little bit too subjective. All these people have an optimum amount of friction that they want so I don't think it's quite right. I'm actually not even sure what the answer is. I guess it's supposed to be a gymnast landing on the mat but all of these people: if the curler pushed the stone too far, then they want more friction. If the skier is new, then they might want a lot of friction. High priority because I don't think there's a correct answer." | bank · high | applied: cut (no one right answer) | applied |
| PP-q38 | "I'd remove the first answer because I don't really know what that means. I would say, if you want to make this tricky, I would say, "Ice creates no friction." For the correct answer I suggest changing it to say, "Friction only slows things down; it never speeds things up." I would make this kind of high priority because I don't think the first answer makes much sense. Also it's easy to fix. I would also change the last answer because, again, I don't really know what "same force" means. I know what you're getting at there but let's do this: how about "friction can never be helpful"?" | bank · high | applied in part: the two 'same force' options went; her ice and 'can never be helpful' distractors are in. Her proposed KEY 'Friction only slows things down; it never speeds things up' NOT used — it is wrong (friction under a shoe speeds a runner up; L05 teaches the push-off); the key is 'Friction is sometimes helpful and sometimes unhelpful.' | applied |
| PP-q39 | "Isn't friction helpful in two of these: a car seat that stays put and a chalked hand? I would remove "I think this is helpful." I think "helpful" is a little tricky for these kinds of questions because you always want an optimum amount of friction. High priority because I think there are two very obviously correct answers. You could change it to select two answers as long as there won't be logistical problems if the kids select two answers." | bank · high | applied: the car seat (a second right answer) → 'a heavy box that is hard to drag across the floor' | applied |
| PP-q40 | "I think you need a little instruction here. "Roller skates often have a rubber stopper on the front of the skate that can be used to press into the sidewalk to help slow you down or stop. Carmen is roller skating. She presses the rubber stopper into the sidewalk to slow down. Why is friction helpful?" Medium to high priority because I suspect a lot of kids aren't going to know what this means." | bank · medium-high | applied: the stopper explained first, in two sentences | applied |
| PP-q41 | "Add some instruction. A toboggan is a type of sled. Put that before the rest of it. Also at the minimum say a force pushes in the direction of the sliding but I dislike that language. Medium-high priority because I don't think they're going to know what a toboggan is." | bank · medium-high | applied: 'A toboggan is a type of sled.' first; 'against the direction of the sliding' | applied |
| PP-q42 | "Lower priority but since the next question says "pushes against it," I would say cardboard. Quote: "A cardboard box is pushed and slides along the floor. There is a force that slows it down and then stops it. Type the name of that force."" | bank · low | NOT applied: the stem is James's own wording (5 Oct: 'a cardboard box is pushed and slides along the floor and then slows down because one force is pushing against it … type the name of that force'); hers is the same question in other words | declined |
| PP-q44 | "I would remove this one. I don't want to confuse this harder push because it's already fairly unrealistic that you're pushing with the exact same amount of force. I think this starts to bring in too much reality. Just remove it altogether. I would say medium to high priority." | bank · medium-high | applied: cut (the toy-car 'pushed harder' claim) | applied |
| PP-q45 | "I don't understand the premise of this question. What does "dormant" have to do with anything? Also is he pushing the toy robot? The fact that it's a robot suggests that it has its own mechanism for moving, which doesn't make sense here. Remove this and replace it completely." | bank | applied: replaced — a plastic tray on the hall floor, which change takes it farther ('dormant' is 'doormat', heard by the transcriber; the robot, which moves itself, went) | applied |
| PP-q46 | "I would delete this because we haven't introduced sandpaper and I'm not sure how much experience kids have with sandpaper. I think what actually might make me more interesting is to say: Which of these surfaces probably creates the most friction? If you slide a tub over each of these surfaces, which will create the most friction? You can have: - glass - a tile floor - ice - asphalt, or whatever, or the road A lot of kids don't know the word asphalt . You could do asphalt (the road)" | bank | applied: her four surfaces, 'asphalt (the road)', the ask 'which surface exerts the most friction on the tub?'; L04 q7's sandpaper → a wool blanket too | applied |
| PP-q48 | "Remove the last answer choice: "Without friction Elena would walk faster." Because over and over we've told them how friction slows things down, I don't know that we've given them enough to be able to really think through the fact that the friction is acting on the shoe, not the whole person. I would expect a lot of kids to get this wrong and for it to introduce confusion without further explanation. If you remove that last option then I think it's just three answer choices. I think it's good (high priority) AI, if you could have a list of things for the future, I think this is really important to address, perhaps in its own video: how friction is not slowing down a person per se. It's slowing down. It's like gripping their shoe. I'm not even sure how to articulate this, to be honest, but you know what I'm saying? Without friction we actually go slower because we start to slip. Our feet go faster but our bodies go slower." | bank · high | applied: 'Without friction, Elena would walk faster.' → 'Without friction, Elena's shoes would stick to the ground.' (the bank keeps four options); her walking-and-friction video → FUTURE NOTE | applied |
Counts: 85 notes → 68 applied (text, in the files; two of them in part), 3 video edits by id (written, not sent; plus one HELD edit), 3 to James on two cards (L01-q2 → card 10; L01-q3 and PP-q4 → card 9), 2 declined under James's standing rulings (PP-q19 gravity; PP-q42 his own wording), 9 noted with no change (6 future-only notes — INTRO-script, L02-q5, L02-q8, L03-script, L05-script, SUMMARY-script; 3 praise or read-only — L02-quiz, L03-v1, PR-q11). Future notes are saved from 9 notes in all. Several notes carry more than one action (a card and an applied line; an edit and a future note), so the parts sum past 85.
Future notes — saved, not applied (her words are in the table above)
- INTRO-script: the sled starts going faster too early; review the "where it rubs, why it stops, which surface" line.
- L01-script: a 30–40 s "meaning of surface" short with 7 or 8 questions, then a video on surfaces rubbing, then L01 (card 10 carries the near-term choice).
- L02-q5 and L02-q8: make it more explicit in the video that friction acts before the thing moves, and "make a big deal about the fact that you can push without having movement".
- L03-script: more emphasis that "the push ran out" is a misconception — "Pushes don't run out. That's not why things stop."
- L04-script: the carpet in the wide shot drawn to look more like carpet (she likes the close-up).
- L05-script: more accessible examples next iteration — monkey bars (grip; sweaty hands lose it), rug burn (unhelpful), tyres and the road; the door and the drawer "a little less obvious maybe".
- SUMMARY-script: the arrows across the five stills are not consistent; the closing bullets cannot be read in time and differ from the narration — "They should either say them or give kids time to read them."
- PP-q48: a video on how friction grips the shoe rather than slowing the person — "Without friction we actually go slower because we start to slip."
- PR-q4 (general): "when someone pushes something that's coming towards them, it doesn't necessarily stop it. It often pushes it in the other direction" — for the Grade 3 pack's stop items too.
Not applied, with the reason
| note | what she asked | why not | what was done instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| PP-q19 | "can we start using 'gravity'?" | James's language rule (25 Sep): "gravity" names the happening; the force is Earth's pull; students never say "gravity is a force" | re-graded medium as she asked |
| L04-script | "the carpet makes more friction than the wood"; the rule as "smoother surfaces create less friction…" | the form James ruled out of this very video on 5 Oct (friction is a force between two things, never a thing a surface makes) | the two moments edited in James's form; the rule sentence stays |
| PP-q38 | key "Friction only slows things down; it never speeds things up." | scientifically wrong at the course's own level: friction under a shoe speeds a runner up (L05's push-off) | key "Friction is sometimes helpful and sometimes unhelpful."; her two distractors kept |
| PP-q42 | reword the cardboard-box typed item | the stem is James's own wording (5 Oct) | left as he wrote it |
| L04-q10 | Reed says the flip-flop "will go the same distance on each" | a claim item tests a documented belief (James, 7 Oct); "same distance" is not one, "I pushed harder" (FOR-12) is | her "same amount of force" wording, the FOR-12 claim kept |
| PP-q33 | "Darnell gently rolls a crayon" | every moving case in the topic slides (James, 5 Oct) | "slides" |
Checks run
python3 build_tools_check_topic.py grade4/topic01_build/content/G4T01.py→ 0 FAIL, 51 WARN (S36's standing word list — "puck", "asphalt", "crayon", "climber", the names; S8 on untouched script beats; S46 B=0). Ten S23 FAILs on the first pass (her rewrites ran to three or four sentences in bank stems) cleared by cutting each stem to two sentences with her content kept.python3 grade4/check_g4_articles.py grade4/topic01_build/content/G4T01.py→ 0 FAIL (L01 article 182 words after the surface line; scripts unchanged 138 / 140 / 138 / 150 / 148).check_key_tells.py→ KEY TELLS: 0 of 116 MCQs flagged (five flagged on the first pass — PP-24, PR-9, L03-q5, L05-q4, L05-q9 — equalised by lengthening the distractors, never the key; PP-24's key returned to its original shorter form once the stem said "on ice").check_svg_ids.py grade4/topic01_build/content/figures.py→ PASS (31 figures; no figure changed).python3 build_tools_check_sequences.py→ S118: 0 FAIL (Topic 1 carries no sequences[] block).- Counts after the pass: quizzes L01 10 (was 11) · L02 10 · L03 10 · L04 10 · L05 11 (two cut, two added); attached questions 5 + the polls; summary 3; practice 14; bank 52 (was 56: 20 easy · 21 medium · 11 hard; FOR4-001 12 · 002 17 · 003 12 · 005 11; keys A 12 · B 14 · C 12 · D 10).
- Pages:
build_tools_build_topic_site.py→course_preview/g4/topic01/index.html;build_tools_needs_you.py;build_tools_olivia_tracker.py(see the end of this record). - Videos: 3 edits by id and 1 HELD edit in
handoff/G4T01/videos/FEEDBACK_2026-10-10.md; nothing sent. - No vault write-back: her points are this topic's own wording and scenes; the general rules they lean on (no distractor that is secretly right; name the object; a stem of three or more sentences is hard) already stand in the vault. One observation is PROPOSED, not applied (James, 7 Oct: rules come from his words): "no option names the air or a thing's weight as the cause of a sliding thing stopping" — shown here for his word, not written as a rule.
Blind read of the changed items (10 October 2026) — every key agreed; two construction fixes, no key changes
The bundle grade4/topic01_build/blind/2026-10-10-olivia/BLIND_BUNDLE_G4T01.md (116 MCQ, 6 typed, 3 FRQ; options shuffled; keys in KEYS_SEQUESTERED_G4T01.json, never shown) with CHANGED_IDS.md naming the 78 changed or new items (their bundle ids; the list is computed by diffing every item's stem, options and key against the morning's snapshot). A cold reader who had not seen the lessons (READER_A, review-lesson Role A) answered all 78 as a Grade 4 child taught the topic's rule sentences. build_tools_blind_adjudicate.py → 78 rows, agree 78, MCQ disagreements 0, typed off-list 0.
| finding (READER_A) | our call | fix |
|---|---|---|
| L03-02 — "option C says 'the milk' inside a juice carton; a child stops to wonder why" | right; a scene a child cannot picture | "friction between the juice and the inside of the carton" (and its feedback line) |
| PR-04 — "TWO DEFENSIBLE (mild): the sled is on a slope, so a child who learned 'balanced forces, same speed' could say Reed's pull back just balances the slope" | right; the slope let Earth's pull into the scene | "Reed's sled slides along the flat snow after a push. He walks behind it, holding its rope, and pulls back hard on the rope, against the direction the sled moves." — flat snow, a hard pull; key unchanged (slows down and stops) |
| L04-03 / L04-04 — "Parts 1–3 are a chain; L04-V-01 above gives Part 3's answer in another scene. Scaffolding by design" | by design (James, 5 Oct: the three-part item ships as three consecutive one-stem items; card 3, decided) | none |
| PP-49 — "'asphalt' is new to many 9-year-olds; the bracket '(the road)' carries it" | Olivia's own wording ("asphalt (the road)") | none |
| ACCEPT-LIST MISS ×3 (L01-10, PR-14, PP-42) — the reader wrote "frictoin (a child's misspelling)", "fricshun (…)", "friciton (…)" | the bracketed note was graded as part of the word; "fricshun" and "friciton" are on the accept list, and "frictoin" is within the shipped grader's two-character near-miss | none; the list stands |
Both fixes re-cut as a v2 bundle of exactly those two items (blind/2026-10-10-olivia-v2/, CHANGED_IDS.md: L03-02, PR-04) for a second cold reader; result below. Gates after the fixes: build_tools_check_topic.py 0 FAIL, 51 WARN · check_key_tells.py 0 of 116 · check_g4_articles.py 0 FAIL · check_svg_ids.py PASS · check_sequences.py 0 FAIL.
Second cold read (READER_B, the v2 bundle, 10 Oct): L03-02 and PR-04 — agree 2 of 2, no flag ("both stems set a complete task in plain Grade 4 words and neither neighbouring item on the page gives the answer away"). Blind read closed: 78 of 78 keys agreed on the first pass, 2 of 2 on the second; no key changed in this triage. Topic page rebuilt (course_preview/g4/topic01/index.html: 5 lessons, 14 practice, 52 bank items, 31 figures); build_tools_needs_you.py run (Topic 1: 2 questions open — cards 9 and 10 — and 71 applied edits in the collapsed list); build_tools_olivia_tracker.py run. Not committed; nothing sent; the coordinator sends handoff/G4T01/videos/FEEDBACK_2026-10-10.md and the HELD edit only on James's click.