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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 is a great website that has tons of free lesson plans, videos, and quizzes. It covers a wide range of topics including, life science, physical science, the human body, and space. It includes content for grades K-12. It even includes interactive diagrams for students to complete. I think this resource could be used in the classroom in multiple ways. The activities could be used for instruction or reinforcement.

Very easy to search, by grade level or content area. The lessons I found were good foundations for particular content, but needed some sparking up, especially in terms of an engaging introduction.

During a field trip to the Field Museum of Science a class/grade of students can experience many new scientific experiences all in one day! Most exciting is the world-famous fossil known as "Sue"; the largest, best-preserved, and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found. Sue measures 42 feet long from snout to tail and 13 feet tall at the hip. She boasts 58 dagger-like teeth and cuts a fine figure as the Museum's most popular backdrop for visitor photos. We would never be able to experience a real activity such as this inside of a classroom, and the hundreds of ancient and new scientific wonders will have the students enthused to learn more about science. I chose this museum as a field trip that I would love to experience because it has a huge variety of scientific adventures for everyone to enjoy. The main attraction of a giant dinosaur fossil is a great real life encounter to show the children just how huge these prehistoric beings were. This would be a great wrap up experience to a unit on prehistoric earth or fossils in general, and would be fun and educational for all students and teachers involved!

This resource is a web page that has an entire outline and all of the information to do a field trip at Glacier National Park in Montana. This field trip is designed for 2nd grade (in the fall or spring) and has a duration of 4 hours. The group size listed is for 45 students. This is an excellent field trip that allows students to observe plants and animals in their natural habitats, compare/contrast, and communicate findings. I felt that this field trip would match perfectly with 2-LS4-1. I would use this field trip near the end of my unit, so students could grasp the real life connections and I could somewhat assess their learning of the lessons previously taught for this specific standard. ( I did not see the cost for this field trip listed on the website, so I am led to believe it is a free field trip that Glacier National Park offers.)

This is the website that students and teachers can both visit to see what the planetarium have and what is expected of the students to learn there. I think visiting the Saint Louis science center would be a fun learning experience for the students, even if they have already visited the center. As a teacher I would go here after my students have learned about planet, solar system, the history of astronomy, etc... It was help students connect all of their previous knowledge to a real life experience which makes it even more fun because it's relevant to them (students). The website/Science Center is also useful to students for other subject areas or interest they might have.

This website allows you to watch live video feed of the ocean. This could be used in your classroom to watch for a few minutes each day during your ocean theme. Students could watch for ocean plants and animals that they are studying. This is a neat way for students to experience ocean life!

The St. Louis Science Center is a great place for students to go to learn all about science. For all of the terrific things the Science Center has to offer, the students will be able to leave with a better understanding of everything around them that involves science. From the planetarium to the discovery room inside the Science Center, students will never get bored and there definitely will never be a dull moment. This is a great resource to use for any type of science related field trip. It also includes different information about the Science Center such as; student discounts, group discounts, and other activities that go on at the Science Center every day.

This is a field trip resource to the St. Louis Science Center, which allows students to see science in real life and go through simulations. I chose this resource because I think that all children enjoy going to the Science Center, and they would be having fun while learning about the content. I would use this as a field trip opportunity.

This would be a perfect field trip to incorporate with my lesson abou plants. In the Children's Garden, the students would get a tour of the garden, learn about germination through three different stations and get to experience plants in real life. This would be so fun!

This lesson/activity introduces students to interesting new topics such as the ecosystem, the Artic peninsula, and the food chain. All of these topics come together through the discussion of animals from the Arctic sea and how they live and thrive based off of each other. First the general animal life of the Arctic sea is discussed, then a broken down description of each animal in that particular food chain is provided. The students are able to cut out and color these pictures, and make their own mobiles to help them remember the food chain in the ecosystem. I chose this lesson/activity because I think it had a good mixture of knowledge and activity which allows the students to learn without even realizing it. Animals eating each other tend to be exciting to younger students, and by explaining these topics they will be able to understand wildlife a bit better. This is a great source to use during an ecosystem unit, that will make the class interested in learning the new material and excited about the project at the end.

This site provides information about butterflies along with coloring pages, teaching tools, and specific information about butterflies local to your area.

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.

Students will Learn and understand the term habitat. Discover that forests, deserts, wetlands, and grasslands are unique and separate habitats. Identify animals that live in four different environments. _______________________________________________________________________________________ In this lesson, students are learning about four different habitats: forests, deserts, wetlands, and grasslands. Students learn about the different environments of each habitat, as well as the different animals that live in each habitat. To show their understanding, students will create a drawing of the habitat they would most like to visit, including the different animals and plants that live there. I selected this resource because I think it's important for students to understand that there are many different habitats around the world. Students (as well as adults) often forget that there is a world outside of where they live, and I think it's important for students to learn about and understand these other habitats. Also, many students are interested in animals, and incorporating animals into this lesson will make it easier for the students to be engaged. I would follow the lesson the way it is written, and incorporate what we learn into a discussion about the type of environment we live in. Students would be able to compare where we live to other kinds of habitats. To add to this lesson, I would have each corner of the room decorated with a different kind of habitat (ex: forest corner: trees, monkeys, etc). Each student would make their own drawing, and go to their desired corner to share with their group first and then share their drawing to the whole class.

Looks good!

Learn More & Get Involved The Lower River Cam, located in Katmai National Park and Brooks Camp, Alaska, is where the Brooks River meets Naknek Lake. It is a favorite place of mothers and their young cubs, females and young adults until September when as many as 100 bears descend on the area to feast over a two month period. ______________________________________________________________________________ This is a GREAT website! This website allows viewers to observe animals in their natural habitats (my favorite are the elephants). Some of the animals include elephants, bears, sharks, penguins, and many more. These animals are found everywhere around the world, and cameras are put in their habitats (both in zoos and in the wild) so viewers can observe the way these animals act in their natural habitats. I chose this resource simply because I absolutely love it. I've heard nothing but good things about this website. My brother has used this website in his kindergarten classroom and his students really enjoyed observing the different animals. I also like how the website provides a wide range of animals, which helps peak every students' interest. This resource could be used during any science lesson about animals. If students are learning about animals and their habitats, this website would be very resourceful and would be a great visual to show the different habitats animals live in. Overall, I think this resource gets students interested in animals and can be used at any grade level to peak students' interest.

This lesson demonstrates a model of a species life cycle and how traits and the environment effects a species. Rather than looking at a worksheet that explains how traits are inherited or adapted due to the environment, this lesson allows students to see three generations of a species that they observe. Three different colored plastic Easter eggs and googly eyes are used for the outside appearance of the species. Two different colors of pipe cleaners are placed inside the eggs. The students make observations of color of the pipe cleaners and outer appearance. After their observation, they would write down their observation. They would take all the pipe cleaners out and throw them into a container. The next day they would come back to find what the next generation looks like.

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.

Journey North classrooms track bald eagle migration each season. This goes into details on things such as their territories, nest building, courtship, and babies! I love this site its so interesting going into more depth in a specific animals life. There are other animals on the site as well.

This source has a collection of questions and observations students can make while visiting the Botanical Garden. A field trip to the garden is very realistic in the St. Louis area since there is one in the city. The questions could be previewed in class before the day of the trip, so the students are alert and focused on those topics. This is a great lesson to improve the field trip experience and to get students thinking about the fascinating world of plants. Going on a trip like this is great, because many students will not get a chance to see a wide variety of plant life otherwise.

This is a resource video for Middle School Science Teachers that displays simple demonstrations to help instruct on chemical or physical reactions, surface tension, life science, and waves. I would use this video to help utilize creative and engaging lesson starters. I selected this resource because it has multiple ideas to spice up the classroom for both the students and teacher.

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!