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This website was designed by a teacher that has taught biology and chemistry to middle school and high school students for 37 years. This is the culmination of materials and resources that she has created, modified, and gathered over the years. She provides a multitude of various links to different activities, worksheets, labs, demos, test reviews, etc. She even provides her email information so you can be in contact with her and discuss the material on the website and other teaching strategies. I selected this resource because there are so many different activities that can be used by middle and high school biology and chemistry instructors. It is particularly valuable to me because I will more than likely use many of the materials and resources provided from this website in my own classroom. Personally I find it challenging to create really fun and yet beneficial, educational activities for students on my own, so it is very useful to have some ideas available for me to start with. 

This is an activity resource I found about a robot arm activity for students. The information for the activity along with the full pdf file and the student worksheet are free to download. I liked all the information that the page offered, as well as the complete list of items for each group of students to use to create their robot arm. I think that this is another great way for students to see the many different sides of engineering. It's not all just about space or building skyscrapers. The goal of the project itself is for the robot arm each group creates to be able to grab and carry a foam cup. It's not too much of a daunting task and the goal is clear and is easily viewed when it comes to assessment.

This activity would be a great way to get the students more involved with being outside, and would be a fun way to study nature! Take a nature walk in your backyard or local park to find one object for every letter of the alphabet. Then put them together in this handy nature book. In the notebook, I would have the students tape or glue the object in their book, and research information about the object and write a description about it. When the nature book was due, I would have my students share with the class what they found. This lesson would work on their science, reading, communication, and writing skills.

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.

Students will examine and sketch various trace fossils from an unknown creature and then construct an image of the creature that they believe produced these fossils. This activity will let the students make an educated guess of the creature based on the available information. This can be used to explain portions of the scientific method and examine how scientist can use little bits of information to build towards a bigger solution.

This is another 23 minute by Bill Nye that informs children all about the different aspects of the atmosphere. I would show this to my future class when we were learning about the atmosphere and air systems. Bill Nye is always informative and fun so the students love watching him.

This site gives information on educational tours at the St. Louis Zoo. The tour can be guided toward a certain theme and are offered throughout the day. This would be a good field trip to take to get the students outside and actually seeing the different animals and being able to identify it on a food chain or web.

Introduction Diigo is a powerful information capturing, storing, recalling and sharing tool. Here are just a few of the possibilities with Diigo: Save important websites and access them on any computer. Categorize websites by titles, notes, keyword tags, lists and groups. Search through bookmarks to quickly find desired information.

This website offers information on the major topics in Chemistry. It explains the key components and terminology and offers examples to use in class. Worksheets and answer keys are also available for each topic. One of the teachers I observed last year used these worksheets with her class often to supplement the problems in the book. The students seemed to welcome the extra practice and change of pace. I think it is a helpful website, but depending on the level of students you end up working with, the worksheets may need to be edited. Some of the problems seemed a little too advanced for a first year Chemistry class.

I really like the butterfly life cycle coloring page on this site, especially for younger elementary students. The information presented about the butterfly life cycle is also very good along with the videos. I especially like the link to purchase live butterfly kits and would definitely want to do this in my classroom.

You've now reached the outer edges of our own solar system It would take you about 23 million years of continuous scrolling on this scale to get to the farthest regions of the observable universe, another 435,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kmor 46 billion light years away. We think we'll stop here. Hands down this is one of the most engaging sites I've ever visited. It is jam packed with fun facts, information, and references about outer space! I find it totally awesome how they created the site to be like a virtual rocket ride through space. You literally scroll the rocket down to get to different regions of space, along the way you get facts about the atmosphere, planets, meteors, and so much more! This site is so engaging that I thinks students will fall in love with it! It is whimsical and very colorful! Teachers could easily incorporate this site when teaching about the solar system. You could have students go on the site and find 5 facts that they found most interesting and have them share with the class. Or as a class you could scroll through space and learn about so many things! I think this site is just fascinating and could be very valuable, especially since there is so much information on space it makes for a great timeline/distance line since it can get confusing! I think every teacher should use this website because its awesome and very engaging and I think students will find it captivating.

StudyJams is a website sponsored by Scholastic that has a plethora of math and science (not to mention free) activities. Most topics have a video or slide show to present the information as well as a test so that the student (or teacher, if formatively assessing) can see how well they have retained the information. My cooperating teacher during my second block introduced me to StudyJams. The reason I selected this resource is because I have seen this site in action and it really does engage the students. I do not see this site being as frequently visited as it was in my cooperating teacher's classroom (which was about everyday). However, I think the short videos and review tests are great ways to grab the interests of my students.

Is there a particular science topic on StudyJams you would recommend?

The purpose of the lesson is for students to understand and sequence the life cycle of a frog, beginning with the frogspawn and ending with the frog. The website also says that this lesson is designed for kindergartners. The students will make observations of a tadpole and then read the story, Life Cycle of a Frog by Angela Royston. The students will then complete a graphic organizer of the story. I like that this lesson requires the students to determine important information in the story and then complete a graphic organizer using that information.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, or IUPAC, is a council made up of chemists from countries around the world. They have developed a system of naming elements and compounds. This website offers a variety of links to click on explaining the different rules. This website could provide a useful tool for teachers who need a refresher on some of the rules or for students who need additional clarification. Additionally, the site offers some suggestions about how to make the Chemistry curriculum more relevant to students by providing a more hands-on approach that requires a higher level of thinking and questioning.

Good place to go to get detailed information on science demonstrations you can do in class (or at home). This site is beneficial because not only does it outline the steps to doing the demo but each has a link to a video that shows a successful demo.

One of my favorite resources. Quick and easy experiments to wow your students!

This website is a fantastic resource to use to get the conservation status for ANY plant or animal on planet earth. Type in the common name for any animal and it will be cross-referenced to its scientific name and linked to its status. Other links include articles and sites providing information on that animal.

I really like this webpage because it shows what is going on in the world today, and because there are so many species that are endangered, threatened, etc. it can be a real eye opener for students. It may be a big motivator for students to ask why. This is a good supplement when studying biomes or the effects of human interaction in an ecology class.

Free elementary science activities and interactive educational science games for kids. This is a good website to use in the classroom for down time. There are many games, puzzles, and worksheets for students. I would use this in my classroom for students who finish a project early and need something to do.

Online puzzles and word finds, and a lot of printable coloring sheets. Some background information. Some are science related, some not. A LOT of ads around edges of pages, and tricky embedded links as well, which makes me leery of the idea of setting students loose on this to work independently.

This website is a video showcase -- on the Internet and TV -- of innovative and effective teaching practices in America's schools. It is fabulous. It has hundreds of high quality (made for TV type quality) videos designed to give educators information on how to conduct lessons of all disciplines. Broken down by 5 different subjects, 4 different grade groups and thousands of topics, lots here for any teacher of any discipline. Bonus--common core standards can be found in most videos!

The Biology Corner is a site that contains tons of resources for biology teachers. It provides lessons, quizzes, labs, interactive websites, and general science information. This website even breaks down chapters and topics that should be covered in AP Biology, Freshman Level Biology, and Anatomy and Physiology classes. Within these chapters power-point presentations, review guides, reading worksheets, etc. are all provided and are encouraged to be utilized and modified. I selected this resource because I can use many of the resources provided on this website in my own classroom. I also think it will be valuable to compare my own teaching materials and methods to another individual's and modify my own if I feel that they can be improved from what I have seen from this website. 

This site will be extremely useful to the science teacher. Pages include PowerPoint presentations, review guides, reading worksheets, crossword puzzles and any other specific resources used for that chapter or unit within that subject. Especially nice is the owner and keeper of this website is working to integrate Common Core into a large number of the lesson plans, especially Biology. Whereas a lot of website do not actively update and change their content this one seems to do that.

This website explains what carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, and decomposers are. It is very colorful, making it kid friendly. I choose this website as a resource because it is simple for young students to understand. The information is right to the point, creating a clear understanding of the material. I would use this resource in my classroom to teach my students how animals are classified based on what they eat.