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This resource is an interactive tutorial that provides a very concise overview of the school science lab environment. It familiarizes students with the basic lab safety precautions. It also helps to increase awareness of the lab environment. It covers instrumentation and equipment, rules for staying safe and concludes with a brief assessment. It also provides 'comp checks' between slides. This resource is one of the most important 'lessons' for science students prior to performing lab experiments.

DiscoveryKids.com offers many videos about sharks. The videos show sharks in and out of their natural habit and everyday life. The videos show how sharks eat and survive, how sharks look, and the different types of sharks that exist. I would combine these videos with Shark Week as a fun learning experience for the students. The videos would be used in numerous ways. I would have the students write in their science journals, take quizzes about a particular shark, draw pictures, complete a research paper, and complete other activities during that week about sharks.

This dairy farm is located in Trenton, IL and would be an excellent learning experience for children. You can set up a tour with the dairy by calling the number listed on the website. I envision taking this field trip during a unit on the food groups. It could also be used as a single, more specific, lesson about the process of creating yogurt, cheese, and milk. Students would also have the opportunity to taste a free sample of the yogurt after the tour. I can remember going on a field trip similar to this one when I was in the second or third grade. I would probably also use it for that grade level. It does not say the cost of the tour on the website but I was told that it is inexpensive.

This unit on weather includes three days worth of lesson plans. Each day corresponds with a specific book about weather. One of the books it includes is "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". Assuming most children saw the movie, I would ask questions to access what they may already know about weather and if the movie is comparable to the weather we experience. These lessons also include weather observation and opportunities to write about their observations. I chose these lessons because they include extensions, assignments, and assessments. I can see myself using this in the classroom with my students because I feel that using literature makes a lesson stronger. It draws the kids in, and enables me to ask questions to access prior knowledge.

This app was designed by a six year old boy and his meteorologist dad. It includes real weather conditions, forecasts, and weather fun facts. It also includes math and science with S.T.E.M. in mind for parents and teachers. I chose this app for a number of reasons. First, it allows the student to choose his hometown weather or somewhere else to track. The avatar, that the student is also able to choose, dresses according to the weather, and as a little added twist, the student can "change" the weather his avatar experience. It also has a lot of educational material and opportunities for graphing and plotting weekly or monthly weather conditions. I would definitely use this in my classroom during my calendar time. Although it costs $1.99, I feel it would be a fun alternative to the typical everyday weather discussion.

Once students have learned to observe weather, they can build their own weather tools through the directions on this website. They can record their own weather data and understand how we find temperature, wind speed, cloud type, humidity, etc. Teachers could incorporate this into future lesson plans to engage students about weather and give them a hands-on experience into the world of a meteorologist.

I like the opportunity for students to make their own weather instruments. They could do this in class, or as a family project and then monitor different aspects of the weather at home as well.

Gamestar Mechanic is my technology resource. This game, available for download and online, teaches kids how to create their own video games. There is a big teacher section online for the program with videos explaining how to use Gamestar Mechanic as well as a place for teachers who use the program to blog about their experiences and share lesson plans using this game. I would like to use this as a tool in problem solving where all my students could help create a "game" or for students to use during free time or inside recess. The pdf file and the ideas for lessons are very interesting and I think this can be used as a tool to open up student's to the many different sides of engineering and creating.

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.

STUDY JAMS! A website sponsored by Scholastic books. This page includes a 3 minute video, sing-a-long, vocabulary lesson, and quiz. In addition, this sight includes a link for a matter lesson plan and teachers guide

Love the video, which could be used as a good review, or in segments along with instruction and experiments on the individual phases of matter. Very kid-relevant and scientifically correct, including temperature and molecule movement, using the analogy of "teams" of molecules.

"Hand rolled soap has been made for centuries, and is easier to make than you think! Your child can learn more about the history of soap as well as rolling up some soap the whole family can use for getting clean. Soap has been around for thousands of years, first referenced in the second century AD!" We all want to be clean! But what is soap made of and what science aspects does soap bring to the table? This experiment is a perfect introduction and leading question to get students engaged. The child will add their own uniqueness to their individual soaps and the flexibility to be creative. They will also learn science concepts of liquid turning into solid and states of matter exploration. If the students are anything like me-they will be intrigued!

This is an activity for the first day or as an introduction to the scientific method or to just allow students to work in groups so that you can get to know them better. I usually do all instructions verbally and don't require any written documents for turning in. __________________________ This is a cute activity to use for smaller aged students to introduce them to the scientific method with little prep work from the instructor. All the teacher needs is gummy worms, life savors, paper clips, and plastic cups. Sam (the worm) is stuck on a boat (the cup) and the life jacket (life savor) is under the cup. The students will use paper clips to retrieve the life jacket and put it on Sam to save him. While doing this, students will work with a partner to explore ways to save Sam. I would use the link below as it goes along with the lesson and gives questions for the students to answer and record during their exploration to save Sam. The worksheet can be tailored to match the appropriate age group conducting the experiment. https://docs.google.com/document/d/15ahlJ9CSEB31IPgJOFO2LW62K5PoxbN6hosNneO2tRc/edit?hl=en_US I think this would be a fun activity that would allow the instructor to see how the students work together and who is taking the lead role. At the same time, the students are being introduced to creating an hypothesis, recording their observations, and coming to conclusions. I would probably use questions from the above link for higher grades such as 2nd - 5th. If I did this activity with K and 1st grade, I probably would just discuss vocabulary terms as well as their thoughts and observations during group discussion versus having them document on paper.

I wanted to step it up a notch since I loved Dr. Hope's Oobleck lesson plan. I discovered this on pinterest and it is actually Oobleck that moves. This activity incorporates both the texture of the oobleck and the unique sound waves/vibrations that make sound waves. Students ears and fingers will be stunned as they watch and hear the oobleck slide through their fingertips. This experiment can create multiple leading questions, an investigation, and a lengthy discussion.

Go on an exploration of what we're made of and how we work with this Human Body app, from Tinybop. This app will help students explore the body. I think that using this app in the classroom students will get a better understanding of the human body then just a picture. They will have an interactive experience of exploring the human body. It also shows what different aspects of your body can do, such as seeing sound waves with the ear. I think that the new technology will help students learn more efficiently.

This is a game that requires students to identify simple machines around the house and compound machines in the shed. Once students select one of the objects, they are given two multiple choice questions about the use of the tool and then what type of simple machine is being used. Then the students are given a visual aid explaining the job of that simple or compound machine. I chose this interactive website because it gives students real life application as it shows everyday uses for simple machines. I would use this in the classroom during a lesson on simple machines so that the students would benefit more from connecting the simple machines to previous experiences.

Simple Machines is a science game for students in grades 2 - 6 to identify simple machines around the house, and simple machines that make up compound machines in the tool shed. This is a very interactive activity. I chose this because it is informative and interactive as well as a free resource. I love that there is a free teacher's guide available and the national standards are listed so that you can see where this activity falls in the standards. I think this would be a great tool to use throughout the chapter or lesson on simple and compound machines. This will help reinforce the concept.

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.

In this activity, the students will build a fake lung. Watching a lung work is not something that we see everyday, so this activity is important for the visual learners in the class. I chose this experiment because it is a great attention grabber for a topic that may seem dry to most students. I would use this activity when teaching students about the way the body works.

This site gives lesson plan to make recycled paper. This is a two day lesson where students will be able to create their own paper by recycling old newspaper. I chose this because I think this would be a very neat experiment for the children to do, as I have never done something like this either. I also like that the website is very thorough, including standards, grade level, extension activity, and assessment ideas for this lesson. I believe this would be a great activity to do with the children around earth day and include in a lesson regarding the importance of taking care of our earth.

I think that kids fun science is a great website to use in the classroom. It includes many activities that can be used in the classroom. I think the activities would be very engaging for students. For example: To demonstrate sedimentary layers there is an activity where they use graham crackers, and peanut butter and jelly. The website also includes many experiments that can be done in the classroom. It also includes how to host a science fair and the steps that students should take. I feel like this would be a resource that I would use in my classroom to help me teach science.

Glad to see some of the science behind these fun activities explained.

I found this field trip idea from a mom who homeschool's her children and like to take them out and about to explore and learn. She was giving this as an idea for other homeschool moms, but I think that it would be awesome to do even with classroom students. The students would learn all about how science is everywhere! Especially relating to trees and how some of my kids may not realize that we get syrup from them! It may or may not just blow their minds! We would study up on it in the classroom but then we would take a field trip to go see how the sap is collected from the tree and turned into syrup. I would use this in a third, fourth, or fifth grade classroom. I would love to take a field trip to expose my students to the visuals and hands on experience. I just think this is something that is outside of the box and not a typical science lesson or trip. I think it could really help encourage some of my students who aren't fans of science. It will just be a way to spark their interest and help them have fun with science.

This resource houses a view of the perfect meteorology field-trip for students. The location is The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL. The exhibit gives loads of visuals of and scientific background for a variety of storms. The link attached is about the whole exhibit, as you click on what you would more directly want to study the website shows you how students can explore. The exhibit doesn't just cover storms, it also covers atoms and ways to harness energy. If you explore the tornado section you will get to see and manipulate a giant tornado. You also get to make your own table top tornado to explore farther. Finally they have wind tunnels you can get inside to feel the force of the wind. In the lightning section they explore charge. Not only do they get to see and hear a lightning storm inside, but they also get to experiment with magnets and levitation! There is a ton of information on fires including how some fires in nature aren't so bad. Students even get to use reactions with fire to create a fireworks display. The list of fun goes on and on! In the sunlight section solar power is discussed. Students can even watch a tsunami in a tank, and an avalanche in a disk. The exhibit is completely educational and makes many connections to the real world. I would use this to close a year in science, probably right after a unit on weather where students have studied all of the aspects of weather for at least one month. The exhibit is an awesome way for them to see what changes in weather and climate can do, and how exactly they do it. Some parts of the exhibit put a student in they eye of the storm! I had never heard of this place before but I would love to go! .