Group items tagged

A great collection for K-8 teachers of free resources for experiments, lesson ideas and supplemental information. I would use this as a starting block to research different ideas to supplement my lesson plan...it really is the "trunk of the tree"...so many links to get you to what you're looking for.

From our small world we have gazed upon the cosmic ocean for thousands of years. Ancient astronomers observed points of light that appeared to move among the stars. They called these objects "planets," meaning wanderers, and named them after Roman deities-Jupiter, king of the gods; Mars, the god of war; Mercury, messenger of the gods; Venus, the goddes of love and beauty, and Saturn, father of Jupiter and god of agriculture. This activity assists students with facts and knowledge on how the solar system works. By providing a diagram that assists the student in the order and distance of each planet, this activity provides the student with a realistic vision of what outer space looks like. I believe that this resource can be used to help students memorize as well as find interested in how the solar system works and how each planet is arranged, what their made of, their distance from the sun, ect.

Edit your tag to be "solar system" so it is in one place. Remove "science" tag, as these are all science. Use teh grade level tags k-2, 3-5, 6-8, and/or 6-8 rather than broader ones like k-5.

Here is an in-depth introduction to the Solar System and the planets that are in it. From the sun to why poor Pluto is no longer considered a planet, come along for a ride across the Solar System. FreeSchool is great for kids! I like this video for a number of reasons. One thing I really like about this video is how it gives the students an accurate perspective of the size of the different bodies in our solar system. It's also jam packed with a lot of great information about the solar system and builds on possible vocabulary words such as matter and mass. The narrator also has a soothing voice, which is a plus. I would use this video after spending a little time defining the necessary vocabulary of our solar system. We could follow up the video by making our own solar system that we could hang in the hallway.

Good resource. Try tagging using K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and/or 9-12 as grade level options. For this one, for example, K-2 AND 3-5 rather than K-5. Thanks!

This was a fourth grade physical science experiment that can be used when studying electricity. Although it is not completely free it uses minimal household items so the cost is very low. The students are able to see what goes on inside a battery by completing a circuit. I would use this in my classroom because the students become actively involved in learning and it is something new and "shocking" for them to discover.

Grade level probably more like 4-8 than K-5

This website is a branch of The Butterfly House located in the Missouri Botanical Gardens. This website has an amazing list of classes/programs and their descriptions offered for grades K-6. The programs are designed to foster a greater understanding of butterflies and their importance to the balance of life on Earth. There is also information about times, fees, and dates. I think this is a great way to enhance a field trip by giving the students a fun, hands-on, and interactive experience.

The house is actually operated by the Garden but not located there.

This is a great lesson plan series that teaches 5th graders about the ecosystem. It goes into great detail about all the things that are necessary for it. It has things you can do for your more gifted students. It is a challenging lesson that pushes your students to critically think.

If it is for fifth grade, tag should say so, rather than K-5. 5-8 would be a better fit.

This is a video I found on YouTube featuring an experiment that shows how light can be "bent" using water and reflection. I selected it because it goes well with the Next Generation Science Standard that I was given (1-PS4-3). I feel that it lends itself well to explaining to students the reflective properties of light, and I would use the video along with my own version of the activity to explain this. I tagged both K-3 as well as 4-8, though I feel that the activity could be used at any grade level. The video itself uses more advanced language and vocabulary, but I feel that by using grade-appropriate terminology, it could be useful for younger students as well.

Students from all over our community participate in guided field trip tours at the Museum each year. The Museum's educators, all certified teachers, facilitate experiences that support 21st-century skills and core academics as well as creative problem solving and critical thinking. This seems like an amazing field trip opportunity that would keep the students interested as well as the adults and teachers. Just by reading through the descriptions it sounded as though they had something for whichever area peeked your interest, especially in science. They have several activities dedicated to science and what makes this even more attractive to teachers is that they actually have the NGSS standard underneath the individual activity. A few examples of what they offer are: science detectives, recycling, electricity and magnetism. Although, the older students could benefit from each of these if I were teaching between K-2 I would not focus on the science detectives as much as the others. However, pertaining to recycling I could then have an assortment of trash and have the students separate the items into what is recyclable and what isn't. In the end, this would be a beneficial experience for any age.

A great place to start for science activities for kids (chemical change, states of matter, motion, plants, human body, etc) This site includes free activies that can be done in the classroom and then a section where the teacher can asses his or her students on their knowledge of the content. I picked this website because it has so many ideas in different aspects of science that I can always come back to this site in order to get a new idea for an activity. I can use it in the classroom to either begin or follow up a lesson with because students are always engaged with hands on activities and that is what this site mainly includes.

This site poses questions for the kids and gives the answers. Nice 8 phases of the moon chart and provides more links.

This is a website that contains twelve books all about oceans. They talk about sharks, marine mammals, crabs, seashells, fish, and much more. I enjoy this website because it lists the title of the book, the author, and a summary of what you will get from the book. In the classroom, I would have these out for the students to freely view while we talk about our oceans chapter. Some of the books would even be helpful as a teacher in order to teach a lesson and further the student's understanding.

A popular St. Louis destination since 1954, Grant's Farm is the 281-acre ancestral home of the Busch family, named for Ulysses S. Grant who once lived on the land. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Everyone from the St. Louis area has probably visited Grant's Farm. Grant's Farm is very educational and fun for kids. Not only are students learning about the different animals at Grant's Farm, they are also able to interact with some of the animals. This allows the students to be more engaged in what they're learning. Grant's Farm has many opportunities for students to learn, starting from the second they board the tram. I chose Grant's Farm for my field-trip opportunity because I know that I loved going there as a kid, and I also learned a lot when I went. The hows they have allow students to learn a lot while also having fun. I think this would be a good field-trip for any school near the St. Louis Area. If I were to take my students to Grant's Farm for a field-trip, I would discuss some of the animals that are seen at Grant's Farm and certain aspects about each animal. If I were teaching older students, I would assign each group an animal. After the field trip, I would have each group present to the class information they learned about their animal.

I would love to take a class here! I worked at a daycare over the summer and we took our kids here. I wish you could have seen the excitement in their eyes when they were there. There were all kinds of interactive attractions that engaged my kids. I would also give my students a check list of attraction that I absolutely want their group to cover. This list would also have space for them to write down their questions about each attraction. We would discuss each question upon returning to the school.

As we have learned throughout our education, every teacher is a teacher of reading. Plus, by integrating science with literature, hopefully, more kids will become excited about science. This website offers literature books specifically related to individual content areas. While the website is directed toward elementary teachers, I think some of the books could be utilized by middle school teachers as well. These may be a fun way to introduce a new topic or just on shelves for students to learn more about a specific topic that interests them.

This is a link to the Missouri Botanical Garden website which makes for a great field trip. At the Missouri Botanical Garden, students explore plants from around the world and go into greenhouses. There is also a Children's Garden geared specifically toward younger students. I selected this resource because I have experience with the Missouri Botanical Garden. Kids really enjoy exploring and learning about the plants. A field trip to the gardens could be used to bolster units involving plant life, photosynthesis, and changing seasons.  I could use this resource at any grade level because the Garden does a good job at having activities for kids of various ages.

This website includes lesson plans and activities to use in conjunction with Weather Channel's classroom program "Elementary Weather". Specifically, it includes weather concepts, scientific method, climate, weather terms, and the water cycle. It gives five lessons with background information, objectives, procedures, outcomes, prep time, materials, and standards. I chose this resource for a number of reasons. It's cross-curricular in at least one other area, provides handouts, has extension and modification plans, includes hands-on lessons, assessment tools, and a long-term project. I see myself using this in the classroom because there are many different directions each lesson can take. Modifications and extensions are important in our districts to meet the needs of diverse learners. I put a $ in the tags in case purchase of the videos is necessary.

This pdf file provides many different lessons on weather for many different grade levels. The pdf file assist the students in understanding the meaning behind the weather as a whole and gives great insight into what students need to do during these weather conditions. I believe that these lesson while give students great insight into how weather works as well as provide the teacher with many different ways to teach the lesson or grade level.

This place always delivers fun, education and family friendly memories. Get the annual membership and come back often! It's the biggest and best children's museum in the world. It is worth the trip and plan to spend the whole day. There is something for all ages and it is a wonderful family experience. The Children's Museum of Indianapolis provides students with hands on experiences as well as exploring and adventuring in different science subjects. During this field trip students can understand how science works by the different hands on activities. The museum provides all types of subject matters that deal with science and therefore you can plan a field trip at anytime throughout the school year, that will work with the lesson you are teaching. I believe that this field trip can be fun and exciting as well as convenient for the teacher, when it comes to the science lesson that's being taught.

10 years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Why does it seem like storms are only getting worse since then? This video provides students with a realistic hurricane that occurred in the united states and gives facts about how hurricanes are made as well as what they cause. I love the information on the characteristics of how hurricanes develop and what they do when they hit land.I believe that students can most of their information on hurricanes from this video and because it ties in a real life event, student can relate to this subject matter even more.

InnerBody.com is a free virtual human anatomy website with detailed models of all human body systems. The Internet's best anatomy learning resource! This resource lets student interact with the human body in the different sunbject matter such as, muscular system, skeletal system, circulatory system and many more areas within the human body. This activity allows students to click on certain areas with the human body and the website increases that part of the human body in order to let the students explore and learn. I believe that this activity can help students study for their assessment as well as assist them within their memorization skills.

Because observation, prediction, and communication are all very important science skills, this project works perfectly to help students improve in all of those areas! As a teacher, I would use this activity to tie in with telling time and with our Solar System unit. This project would ideally be used in a third grade class and be a good hands on project. I thought that it would be fun to keep a classroom sun dial outside so we could keep a chart about how accurate it worked or even use it as some kind of experiment. I think it's a very unique lesson and project. It's something that you wouldn't see every day in a Science class with that age group.

Remove "science" tag and add something more specific, like "earth science." To keep words together, use " " around the word. For example, remove the tags "sun" and "dial" and add one that is "sun dial". Grade level tags should be k-2, 3-5, 6-8, and/or 9-12 to be consistent among all the resources.