This is an engaging way for students to learn about the planets and solar system. Instead of a bedroom planetarium, this can be a classroom planetarium. They can all be involved in making the solar system pieces. There will be discussion in the classroom while showcasing our planetarium.
Have students brainstrom other ways to create electricity and then make connections to things they do everyday, like turning on a light switch or plugging in the toaster.
Use a balloon to light up a light bulb: Students build up static electricity with a comb or a balloon and touch a light bulb. Use this activity to begin a lesson on the transfer of electricity.
Students can plant all different types of plants. This project could be used for older students who are learning more details about plants or who are trying to do experiments on what makes plants grow best.
ELL and special needs students could help by planting the seeds in the box when first constructing the garden. Advanced students could draw and label the parts of the plants that were planted.
Extensions: Connect Life Science with LA - Write predictions and observations in an Ant Observation Journal.
Adaptations: ESL & Special Ed Students can draw pictures in their journal to show their knowledge. A movie on the topic could be provided to extend knowledge after journals are complete to assess accuracy of predictions. Gifted students can predict what the ants will need for their habitat/survival.
Make Your Own Ant Farm: - Life Science
After completion of ant farm, spend days or weeks observing these amazing insects.
Supplies: Small glass bowl or jar, glass fishbowl, sand, loose soil, sugar, water, 20 ants (from the same colony), rubber band, cheesecloth, black construction paper, bread crumbs, masking tape, and spiral notebook.
K-3 could do this project, but require more research, writing, or drawings of the project about habitat, colony structure, body-parts and function, etc.
Extensions: This activity can connect Science to LA using a writing prompt.
Adaptations: Gifted students can write a short essay on how an animal can use a tool to solve a problem. Teacher would allow time for research (tool-using animals at PBS.org). ESL & Special Ed students can draw a picture of an animal using a tool to solve a problem. Teacher would pair up students for the research phase.
Crow Creativity: 5th Grade / Can you solve a problem as creatively as a crow? Download PDF
1. Build a tricky tube puzzle to find out if your friends can solve a problem like a crow. A clear plastic tube is best, but a paper towel roll, cut down to about 8 inches, will work too.
2. Make a basket out of tin foil. The basket should be big enough to hold a small cookie.
3. Tear some strips off a roll of duct tape. Lay the roll of tape flat on a table and fit the tube inside the center of the duct tape roll. Then use the duct tape strips to tape the tube in place so that the tube stays upright. Tape along the side. Do not cover the openings of the tube in tape.
4. Put a cookie in your basket and drop the basket into the tube so it goes to the bottom of the tube with the handle facing up.
5. Place about 5 twist ties or a piece of long metal wire next to your tube.
6. Find a friend to solve this problem. Tell your friend that there is a cookie at the bottom of the tube. Your friend can have the cookie but has to get the cookie out of the tube first without lifting up the tube. If you are using a paper towel roll, let your friend look inside the tube to see how it's set up.
Supplies: See Downloadable PDF
K.1.1 "Use all senses as appropriate to observe, sort and describe objects according to their composition and physical properties, such as size, color and shape."
This would be a great cross- curricular activity to add to math/science stations. You could provide the classifications for the students, or challenge them to come up with the classifications themselves.
Students will help create a fake classroom garden out of craft materials to help them understand the design of a plant. They will have to understand the different parts a plant and how to put the parts together to create a plant.
Post-It (diigo would not let me place a post-it on this pdf page): Students can work in pairs to construct their plants (high ability with a low ability student). Advanced students could put labels on thier plants' parts. Students in higher grades could construct certain species of plants and descibe what makes their plant unique.
3.2.1. "Examine the physical properties of rock samples and sort them into categories based on size using simple tools such as sieves."
3.2.2 "Observe the detailed characteristics of rocks and minerals. Identify rocks as being composed of different combinations of minerals."
Students explore the differences and similarities between rocks and minerals by investigating samples of these earth materials, performing a series of tests similar to geologists' field tests, and reading about rocks and minerals and how they are used.
For a an extension to this activity students could drop the ball from three predetermined heights, record the height of the first bounce, and then predict the height of the first bounce for a fourth starting height.
This experiment can lead nicely into a social studies unit about the importance of water to human communities. It could also be used as a starting point for a discussion of how scarcity affects price.
The number of different properties that the teacher requires the students to observe can greatly affect the difficulty of this assignment. That offers a great opportunity for differentiation. This would probably be best as a long activity during a detailed unit.
Students with high literacy skills can read more information about worms and share it with the class. Students with low literacy skills can be in charge of making drawings of their observations to keep a visual record of the worms' progress.