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This activity shows students how strong the hollow bones of birds are. Students roll computer paper into a hollow tube (3 of them), tape a paper plate to the top of the rolls (which are standing up), then add pennies to the plate to see how strong the "bones" are. This is a great activity to help explain to students that birds' bones are hollow in order to allow them less weight for flight and hollow bones require less food for the bird. But their bones are still strong! I like this activity because it's hands on and I think it would be engaging for children learning about birds and their bones. It's also an easy activity to put together.

This website actually contains a list of the "10 iPad Apps for Teaching Kids About Science." This app is listed as number five but I feel it is probably the coolest. This app allows you to view the moon from many different angles. You can view it from Earth or get closer with satellite views. The coolest thing about this app is that it is HD. So you can zoom in and really examine the moon's surface. There are places where you can read facts about people and modules that have landed on the moon. This app could be used by students of any age. It would be a valuable tool in a high school astronomy class and I think it would pair nicely with that Moon Dust activity I posted before. I could simply show my kindergarten students what the moon's surface looks like and then allow them to play with "Moon Dust." I would probably use this as an early lesson in a unit on the moon. It is not stated on this site how much this app costs exactly, just that it is under $20.

This website contains an interactive game on food chains. Users are to place the animals in the correct order they would appear in the food chain. It allows you to choose between two different food chains. I chose this website because it includes this fun game, but also challenges students to understand food chains. I also think the game is engaging for students. One thing I really liked about this game is the ability to tell the user if they have chosen the correct order. I would allow my students to play this game in their own time, after they have finished their work, or during computer time.

In this lesson you go over 6 different habitats in the world. The list contains grasslands (or savanna), temperate forest, tropical rain forest, desert, polar ice, tidepools. You separate your class into six groups and assign each group a habitat. Each habitat has its own assigned question that the students need to find the answer to through research of their habitat using a computer. For example the grassland group has to explain why speed is such a good thing for animals who live there, while the temperate forests are going to explain what tree leaves have to do with frozen water available in their climate. When the assignment is done students have to present their work to the class and teach each other what they learned through their own research. The lesson is basically about adaptations and how they come in handy in certain parts of the world but not others. This link also has web links embedded in it to help students look for their answers. I think this is great for a unit on adaptations and habitats. I would have loved to do this in my upper elementary classes. i feel like i would have learned and remembered so much more. It definitely fosters more constructive learning. I don't tell you about adaptations and then ask questions, you are sent to find the info on your own.

After learning about Pangea and the different continents, this activity can help the students review and determine where the different continents once were. Using the computers to enhance learning is what this generation needs in order to remain stimulated.

This site is an interactive lab teaching about volcanoes. The students need to have a variety of outlets for learning. This is a all computer based lesson to give them a new way to learn instead of just listening to me. I would instruct them at first, but then I would let them explore this lab.

Introduction Diigo is a powerful information capturing, storing, recalling and sharing tool. Here are just a few of the possibilities with Diigo: Save important websites and access them on any computer. Categorize websites by titles, notes, keyword tags, lists and groups. Search through bookmarks to quickly find desired information.

This resource is my technology source. In this resource you are able to chose air, water, or glass. Then you press the light button which allows you to send a light ray or wave through one of those. You then can see how it reflects, bends, or bounces through each one of these. I would use this resource as part of a way to summarize a lesson. This will allow students to play around with it on the computer.

In this motions and mass lesson plan, which is adaptable for grades 1-4, students use a free online science game to explore the principles of physics, mass, force, and motion. Interactive whiteboard Computers with internet access for BrainPOP This lesson plan uses a free online game called SpaceForce.

This online activity will be done at the end of our science lesson on different environments. This game requires that students place the different animals, plants, and objects that would best survive in each given environment. Based on what the students have learned about different environments, they will be able to correctly place each object given. I selected this resource because animals and their environments is a huge content area in first grade. This online game will be available for students to play during centers. Whoever is at computer centers that day will be able to play this game. Having such a fun interactive game will allow them to be very engaged, but still learning at the same time.