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I really like how this site gives basic information about butterflies including area, habitat, food, size, and life cycle in a fun and coloful format. It also includes links to games and activity ideas.

This site includes games, lesson plans, worksheets and activities, and more. This website would be useful to gather information and plan lessons and activities for students. It also has the grade level expectations.

I found this while I was looking for a suitable experiment that might involve snacks. This activity has students constructing a "solar oven" out of an old pizza box, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, and newspaper. The idea behind this is that students can harness the ultraviolet energy provided by the sun to make an oven that will cook food. The experiment had the students cook s'mores, but it is also possible to cook a hot dog. I selected this resource because I was looking for a fun but relevant activity that would include snacks; this way, students can learn a lesson about the sun and the energy it provides while staying engaged with the promise of a snack afterward. I would use this as part of a lesson on the sun and energy, and would probably use it closer to the end of the school year, as the weather warms up and students are looking forward to summer activities.

This resource is a neat little activity that shows how plants absorb water using capillary action to transport water and nutrients from the trunk to the highest leaves. The activity involves cabbage and water colored with food coloring. The site gives a look at the cabbage leaves after 48 hours of "sucking" up the water. I chose this because I found it interesting and a neat, grade-appropriate way to explain plant biology to younger students. I would use this resource as part of a unit on plants, with a bonus use of the title if it is close to Halloween time.

This is an experiment in which students will compare three different solutions that have different levels of salt. Students will use food coloring in order to visually see which solution is the most dense and which is the least dense. They will also see how the density of a liquid affects the objects in it. I chose this experiment because while teaching about density, this will allow my students to receive a visual understanding. I also like this experiment's website because it offers questions to think about and has real life application as it talks about rivers, oceans, and the Dead Sea.

This activity is designed for lower level elementary students. It helps the students to realize and categorize the different parts of plants by sorting various veggies.

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 lab activity teaches students about convergent and divergent plate boundaries, structure of the earth, and the differences between oceanic and continental plates. Students use a fruit roll-up to present the oceanic crust, a graham cracker to represent the continental crust, and frosting to represent the asthenosphere. This hands-on activity shows students convergent and divergent plate boundaries, structure of the earth, and the differences between oceanic and continental plates. There are questions that go along with the activity to check for understanding. Then let the students eat the activity!

This is a fun activity that will show students the process of rain. They will take a glass of water, place shaving cream on top to represent the clouds, and drop food coloring through the "clouds" to depict rain. The lesson is also partnered with a book about clouds that describes each different type of cloud. I chose this resource because it will be something the students can get excited about while also being able to watch exactly what it looks like when rain comes out of the clouds. I would use this resource when introducing photosynthesis.

This is a really cool activity that could be used in a unit about weather. The students create a "cloud" inside a mason jar and watch as the food coloring "rains" down through the cloud. I could see myself creating a lesson very similar to the lesson depicted on this page. The students read a story about clouds and rain and then did this activity following the reading. Although this activity was done with pre-school children, I think it would be appropriate for first through third grade. I might use this at the beginning of a unit on weather. This could also be a cool center activity for a center day. All the centers could have a weather theme. Or I could also see this activity being useful when discussing the water cycle. Students would be able to see how the "cloud" holds the water for a short time but then releases it. I really can't wait to use this one!

This is a quick and easy science experiment on what happens when it rains. This would be a good experiment to do after a lesson or two on rain or clouds. It shows how the "clouds" (shaving cream) get heavy with water and causes "rain" (blue food coloring) to fall. I would use this in my classroom because it's cheap, quick, and easy. Shaving cream is always a big hit in the elementary classroom!!

This process is called 'capillary action'. In this experiment you will need a little bit of time. You need a minimum of two glasses, one filled with water and the other one empty. You then will twist a paper towel and form a 'rope' out of it. You will place this in the glass with water in it. You will also place the other end of it in the empty glass. If you do this in the morning first thing when the students get there you could check on it at lunch and maybe a gain before you leave for the day, either way this takes time. You cant start this right before science. What happens is the water travels up one side of the paper towel, across the cups, and down into the other cup until both glasses are evenly filled. This shows students how water is capable of travel. It also is a bridge into talking about how root systems work in plants. What the students will be able to observe throughout the day is the same process plants use when they take water from the soil and carry it to the other parts of the plant. I would do this as an all day thing. Maybe between every subject, or every other subject, I would have them record observations in their journal. This is great for observational skills. You can even use more cups and put food coloring in them, this helps you track the water as it goes from cup to cup.

Pinterest is a wonderful blog site for almost anything, including future teachers. This is a weather experiment that has students understand how rain comes through a cloud. Fill the cup with water. Put shaving cream on top for a cloud. Explain that when clouds get really heavy with water, it rains! Then put blue food coloring on top of the cloud, and watch it rain. Students would enjoy this hands-on experiment and help them to raise questions about weather.

This is an experiment for students to make their own snowflake. I would use this in my classroom as an extension of a weather and seasons lessons. I would try to do an experiment involving an element from every season.

This is a great experiment for students to see the process of crystallization. It's a great way to bring in the idea of crystals being formed by an arrangement of molecules in a pattern. Using household items like borax, food coloring, water, and a few other materials makes it very teacher friendly. I would use this experiment in class to expand on the movement of cold vs. hot water. I could also tie this experiment in while discussing liquids/solids, precipitation, or chemical reactions.

This website has 5 different experiments that students can do with plants. The experiments test the effects of light, water, food, talking to the plants, and soil content on the growth of plants. I selected this source because I think the experiments are good and will help students understand the best conditions of plants. It will help them understand that there are other components besides light and water that go into the growth of a plant. I would use this resource during a plant unit, likely in 3rd or 4th grade. This would be an ongoing project that could integrate measurement in math, graphing (with and without use of technology), and art (by drawing observations).  

I love this one! I really like plant experiments becuase these days, kids don't really get to appreicate and witness actual plant growth. I would any of these as ideas to use in my classroom.

The science movies teach kids educational topics like animals, habitats, plants, land, matter, forces, space, energy, and weather. I really enjoy the animals section since it talked about different types of animals and their habits such as hibernation, camouflage, migration and food chains. Throughout the early years i feel like this would benefit students since they are given videos, and text. This site is reliable and gears towards many learning styles.

For this activity you would need a glove, 5 cotton balls, and 5 different types of plant seeds. Label the fingers of the gloves, wet the cotton ball but rid the excess water, place one seed and one cotton ball in the correctly labeled finger of the glove and watch the seeds grow. You can plant cotton ball and seed in garden once they sprout. I chose this because I think that kids really enjoy growing their own plants. I have worked with children and done this before and they love to check on them daily and then be able to take home and grow. I also chose this because each individual child gets their own plants and individual participation for fairly inexpensive project. As we begin a lesson on plants, we would plant our own plants to watch them grown throughout the unit. We would also be able to journal about our plants and their changes over time.

This lesson involves watching plants grow from seeds. Students use a glove and place one seed in each of the fingers and thumb. A damp cotton ball is added to hydrate the seeds as they grow. Students can watch their seeds grow into seedlings and eventually transplant elsewhere to become full grown plants. I would add some things to this lesson (such as a daily or weekly journal to document the growth of the seeds). I chose this because during an observation I saw this lesson in action! The students (grade 1) loved it and were excited to see what their seeds were doing each day and excited to know that when the seedlings were big enough, they would be planting them outside their school. It's valuable to me because I think it's important for students to understand the plant cycle and to appreciate the act of growing things (not just trees or flowers, but we can grow our food too!) I would use this lesson with different books to get the students engaged; I would use journals to monitor and make predictions about our seedlings as well.

This website includes several different lesson plans on recycling. The one that I enjoyed the most is teaching them how long trash lasts, discusses decomposing along with other things. The lesson plan includes what subject areas are included in the lesson, a brief description, grades, objectives, keywords, materials, along with many other key components. It is a very good lesson for teachers to use as a guideline.

While this is interesting information, the activity focuses on a lot of guessing without linking to prior experience or involving students in finding out for themselves. You say "guideline" as a use, and I would suggest it be only that, perhaps related to a unit on food chains that involves the concept of decomposition. Students could design their own experiment to observe the decomposition of different objects over time.

An interactive woodland and pond scene where children aged 8-9 can spot plants and animals, and then place them into food chains. This also gives little factoids about each living thing in the picture and students are forced to identify living creatures in their environment as well.