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This page is easy to navigate and could be used the first day of the lesson to get students interested in the topic. It briefly covers the basics of weather.

Salt water is denser than ordinary tap water, the denser the liquid the easier it is for an object to float in it. When you lower the egg into the liquid it drops through the normal tap water until it reaches the salty water, at this point the water is dense enough for the egg to float. I think this is a neat activity that kids would enjoy, and yet it requires very few supplies and clean up. I would first group students, giving each group a glass of freshwater and an egg. They would first put the egg in the freshwater only to see it sink to the bottom. They would record what they observed and possible reasons for why it sank. I would then give them another glass that is about half full along with a salt shaker. The students would be told to mix a lot of salt into the half cup and then slowly pour some of the freshwater into it. The egg is expected to float in this solution. The students would record their observations and possible explanations. This is a good way to start a lesson about density.

This resources lists instructions on how to make Ice Cream in a bag. I think this is a great way to reward students for all the hard work they do while not completely letting them rest their brains (like they would if they were watching a video). Another thing I like about this lesson is that it could be performed with students at various ages. I could definitely see my future classroom participating in this activity after a lesson on reactions. I would also plan to use this activity on a partial day to keep the learning going instead of an activity like watching a movie. This is also a great way to incorporate an educational activity into a party.

Garden Classes represent our signature field trip experiences for school groups visiting the Garden! Each program begins with an introductory program in the Jordan Education Wing. Trained instructors engage students with storytelling, group-participation activities and inquiry-based hands-on experiences. All activities are standards-based and age-appropriate, and each student will pot a plant of their own to bring home! I would combine the "Heaps of Seeds" class with my garden in a glove lesson plan. Upon return to the classroom, the students could write about the differences in the growing environment at the Botanical Garden and in their Glove Garden.

This resource has many ideas on the study of the ocean. The content is spread out from kindergarten all the way to eight grade with exploring the sea by different types of activities and experiments. One of the activities goes with our sensory ability to feel different sea objects and guess what they are. This would be a good activity to talk about the scientific reasoning. (Kinda like the first day of class activity.) In regards to studying the ocean, their are many topics that will be discussed and learned through the lessons on this topic.

When you drop an egg in a glass of plain water it sinks. If you drop the same egg in a glass of salt water, it floats. This experiment link explains this. If you start class with the two glasses and the eggs and just have students make observations you could really spark some interesting conversations. I would use this in part of a density lesson. This might even be my introduction to density. It is definitely a way to grab the students attention because you almost play a mind trick on them. As a student I know this would have really captured my interest, it also sparks more exploration. What else could you add to water to get the same results?

This is an interactive site that provides a range of information and resources for students and teachers. The site includes videos, lesson plans, quizzes, games, projects and other resources. I chose this specific topic about animals because it can be used to teach students about the food chain. Students can interact with animals and other living things like plants and learn the process of how the food chain works.

This is a very good site for finding information about a variety of events and subjects in class. This is good for K -6 teachers. It is broken into several topics: Lesson Plans, Professional Development, Technology, Administrators, School Resources, Specialties, and Subject Resources. I could definitely use many of these resources in my own classroom.

The link below takes you directly to the science portion. I found some broken links, but also so great images/diagrams (e.g. the cell) that could be linked into presentations. http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/archives/sciencemachine.shtml

This experiment uses a plastic bag, string, scissors and a small action figure. As you might have guested you are going to make a parachute. After you construct the parachute you will drop it as slow as you can. This shows air resistance. This is a great start to a lesson, an experiment, and even an example of a fair test! I would use this to start a lesson on air resistance ( or maybe even gravity). I would first drop my parachute in the class and ask students what happened. I might even drop both an action figure by himself, and an action figure on a parachute to farther demonstrate the air resistance. I might ask questions such as "why did this action figure fall more slowly? What was stopping him? Why/how? Then after a discussion I would get out materials for the whole class. I would ask students "What could we test using what we now know to create different parachutes and find out which one will work the best?" We would talk about how larger surface area creates more resistance and will make a parachute fall more slowly. In the aspects of a fair test I would try to guide the idea towards testing out maybe 5 different parachutes. The controlled aspect would be using the same material, and same size parachute. What would change would be how many holes we would put in the top of it. Holes in the top cause air to go through the parachute not around it, this causes the parachute to fall more straight. (This is something we might have found out through research.) The goal would be to make a parachute that falls as slow and straight as possible. The challenge would be where to place the holes and how big the holes should be.

In this field trip opportunity, the students will receive the chance to go apple picking, go to a petting farm, go through a fun house, and watch an educational variety show. I chose this field trip location because it fits multiple topics that are learned in elementary science classes including nutrition and animal biology. I would like to go on this field trip at the end of a nutrition lesson and use it to lead into an animal biology lesson.

This would be such a great field trip after studying about how some of the food you buy in stores actually comes from a farm. The students would have the opportunity to walk around the farm and see different kinds of fruits that are grown on the farm, as well as, the students being able to do some apple picking! The tour includes apple or pumpkin picking, petting farm, educational variety show on the grand stage, tractor and wagon ride, and the students would enjoy free apple cider and one free apple per child. This field trip would give the students a visual of where different fruit comes from.

This activity shows students how certain animals stay warm in the winter by providing a life-like representation of the effects blubber. A zip-lock baggy containing Crisco is placed into a bucket of ice water. Students then place their hand into the baggy and note the temperature. I chose this activity because it provides an actual representation of how animals stay warm in the winter that students would likely remember in the future. If the lesson is properly constructed, this activity also encourages critical thinking, making predictions, and discussing observations. When using this activity in my classroom, I would first discuss various polar animals with my students, making sure to ask them their opinion on how the animals manage to stay warm. This would then lead to a discussion on how humans stay warm. After creating a list of various ways in which humans adapt to cold weather, I would conduct the "blubber" activity. I would then explain to students that polar animals have an extra layer of fat, called blubber, to keep them warm. As a class, we would then discuss how certain human adaptations mimic the polar animals' survival techniques.

I have used this activity many times along with adaptations for survival. Very clear and concrete experience for students.

This site was created by NASA's Planetary Science Division. Their hardworking robots explore the planets and more on the wild frontiers of our solar system. NASA keeps their websites up to date and are user friendly. I would utilize this website in conjunction with a lesson on the solar system. I would pair students up and the group would use the website to explore their planet and then they would create a travel brochure using publisher. Incorporating technology into the classroom is important and this allows me to do that.

This is a book about sheep who take a drive down the country side in a jeep. There are many mishaps along the way. The jeep slows down at the top of the hill and the sheep jump out to push the jeep down the hill. When the jeep gets to the bottom, it gets stuck in some mud and the sheep have to pull the jeep out. I chose this book because of its introduction to pushes and pulls. Students can observe in an interactive way things that have to be pushed or pulled in real life. I could also ask what other things need to be pushed and pulled while I am reading. Although the idea is free, getting the book would cost money but it is only $6.00. I would use this book as an introduction to my lesson on pushes and pulls. This would be a great way for students to acclimated to the vocabulary and how it is used. I could even make the book more interactive by having students do the motion of pushing and pulling in their seat whenever a push or a pull happens.

This lesson allows students to investigate which way is best to clean up oil and researching how oil spills affect the environment. The students will try three different ways to remove oil from a tub of water, then they will determine which way is the most effective. Afterwards, the students will present their findings to the class. I like that this lesson is engaging and it can easily be related to real world oil spills. I would tell my students that they were a team that was hired to find out how to get rid of the oil after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This way the students feel that they are doing something realistic.

In Gro Flowers children learn about the important role bees play in the pollination of flowers and the production of honey. Through age-appropriate activities children will design flowers, manipulate bees in the pollination process, avoid pesticides and collect honey. I would have this app on the iPad in my room (in hopes that I have one). I chose this app because it fits perfectly with the previous lesson I posted about the importance of insects pollinating flowers. This would also be good to use before the field trip so students can visual what they need to observe. I would then use this app for centers. I would break my class down into 4 groups and have 4 different centers. I will first teach and review the lesson, then break my students down into the centers. Everyday the groups will switch so everyone has an opportunity at each center. Adding an app to my center is a great way to add technology into my teaching and what student does not love to play on an iPad.

The Students will create an undersea environment in their classroom while researching interesting facts about their favorite sea creatures. Materials may be used such as crayons, colored pencils, markers, crepe paper (blue, green, red, yellow, pink), paper plates, construction paper, index cards, or books/magazines with pictures or illustrations of fish. Throughout the following week the class will all work together to turn their classroom into an undersea environment, and teach one another more about the creatures that live in the sea. I chose this source because it is an exciting way to jump into a unit about the ocean wildlife, and by choosing their favorite creature the students will get a chance to use creativity. Ocean animals are exciting to learn about because they are often unseen to the human eye, and decorating the classroom is a fun way to bring the underground waters to life. In the classroom I would use this lesson at the beginning of a biology unit to get the class excited, and allow them to work on something fun throughout the week. Displaying their work in the classroom will make the atmosphere bright and cheery!

This activity uses skittles, warm water, and cold water. Skittles are dropped into warm water and cold water at the same time to see what dissolves first. I chose this lesson because I think it is a simple but great way to introduce the scientific method to students. Students tend to understand better with visuals and lecture. I would use this activity to introduce the scientific method to students. We would observe, make predictions, observe again, analyze, record our results. We would be able to use this with our science journals and record our observations and results in our journal.

This is super interesting. It has many visuals and simple notes to explain the movement of objects.This could easily be a replacement for a power point for the day. There are also quizzes and games students can play or work through after the lesson to help assess their learning.

What do you mean "power point for the day"? Where in your instruction would this be used?

This resource takes Newton's Laws of motion and applies them to concepts that we see everyday in our lives. Also, it uses the popular app Angry Birds that will appeal to the middle school students. I chose this lesson because it has real life applications and is a fun way to discuss the different laws and properties of motion in the classroom. I envision utilizing this source in the classroom as an introduction of a Force and Motion unit.