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This is a well rounded lesson plan that utilizes online resources as well as in class activities. This serves as a good introduction to the unit and gets the students to be creative. It also hits on multiple styles of learning.

This is a lesson plan that helps teach the water cycle. It has the students acting as water droplets and moving through different stations in the room to represent them moving through the different stages in the water cycle. I like that in this lesson it gets the students out of their seats.

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.

The Three Gorges Dam in China has been completed and is considerably larger than the Hoover Dam here in the United States. With this lesson plan students will learn how a dam is constructed, it's purpose, and the dangers associated with dams. I would add some videos to this lesson to show the students how large or small dams can be and I would show a video of a dam breaking and the damage it can cause (Johnstown, Pa - 1889).

This activity steps out of the normal lesson in the classroom, but I think it would keep the students entertained because of the candy that is involved. Each student would have a paper plate and would glue different pieces of candy on the plate representing the sun, each of the planets, and the asteroid belt. I really like that this activity steps out of the comfort zone that most teachers have and allows the students to do such a hands on activity that involves something that they like!

This activity allows the students to make their own mini solar systems out of different sized/shaped pieces of candy. The class can discuss the planets size, their color, and even how far away they are from each other through this activity, and using candy will make it a hard lesson to forget.You can either draw your orbits on black construction paper or a paper plate. Sun- butterscotch, Mercury- orange jujube; Venus- Nestle's sno caps; Earth- blue Skittle; Mars- red Skittle; asteroid belt- candy sprinkles; Jupiter- peppermint with red hot stuck on top; Saturn- lemon drop with twizzler wrapped around; Uranus- green Jujube; Neptune- aqua Skittle; Pluto- tart n tiny. I chose this lesson because I think it would be a great activity to help the class remember this important topic. Often times it is hard to recall which planets are next to which and so on, but by the use of candy we can build representations that are sure to stick with the. All of the small candy pieces listed are also easy to find and inexpensive! I would use this activity after learning the basics of the solar system, maybe as a review a few days before an assessment.

In this activity you need a flashlight, A transparent container with flat parallel sides, and 250 milliliters (1 cup) of milk. There will be water in the container. Gradually as you experiment you will add more milk to the water. The water acts as the day time sky, the milk acts as the clouds, and the flashlight is the sun. As you add more milk it gives of the appearance of a more cloudy sky. The cloudier you make it the more orange the light will get. Basically the sun sets as you fill the container with more and more milk. I think this is an awesome idea. I have never seen this done before but I would have been amassed as a student to see this. it fits great with a weather lesson, a light lesson, or a lesson about clouds and cloud types. Depending on have advanced your students are you could probably ask them to give you examples of the cloud cover that might be present as you continue to pour in the milk. This is another good observation and journal point in class. Maybe you don't tell them right away what it is supposed to look like and you have them tell you instead. You could discuss how as clouds get thicker less light passes through and introduce terms such as transparent and translucent. Whether you tell them what it is or not it is a great connection to make with students. This is something that literally happens every day in their own lives. maybe you could have them go home with journals and compare the real sunset to the one you made in class today.

This site gives you a great lesson plan idea on teaching students about nutrition and what is really in all the food they eat. This is both a science and math lesson because after the students find out how much fat, sugar, etc. is in most of their favorite foods, the concept of energy is brought up to show the students what they need to do to burn all the calories off.

I think we all remember this being our favorite science lesson ever as a kid. In this lesson, the teacher will explain to students about freezing point depressions and exothermic reactions. Of course, in the way of making homemade ice cream. I loved this as a student before and I will definitely use it in my future classroom.

The website is a great resource for any elementary school teacher. It is broken down into sections such as organization, search engines, games, activities, etc. While I obviously didn't look at all 100, the ones I did look at seemed like they had great potential. The organization section seemed especially promising because I struggle with keeping things organized. It has websites similar to diigo to provide you with more ideas and inspiration. I think this will be a great starting point for any new lesson that I decide to try. Picking any of the 100 sites is sure to bring up something helpful. It includes free audiobooks, body maps, worksheets, electronic field-trips, etc.

I found several of the links to be faulty--leading to old sites no longer functioning, or to sites that looked questionable. However, I did also find Climate Zone, which allows you to use a clickable map to select a region of the world, and then a country, for which the site then provides latitude, longitude, and climate information about the location. This would be a good resource for students researching regions of the world or biomes.

This website could be useful to both the teacher and the student. For the teacher it as graphic organizers to guide the students through lesson and also has simulations to watch. The website also has games and practice quizzes for the students.

This is a simple, yet, very effective way for students to understand just what is happening during moon phases. It is a very simple activity to put together that has the students sitting in a circle around the "moon" which is stationary and half is colored black. Each student, sitting at different angles draws what it is they see demonstrating the moon phases. I love this activity, it easily illustrates any misconceptions that students may have about the moon and its phases. I could see this being a very useful lesson and activity when discussing the moon, and illustrating how parts of the moon don't actually disappear. I've always thought that being able to visualize things were the best way to learn.

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 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.

Composting is the oldest form of recycling. It provides an opportunity for students to observe the decomposition process and energy cycle at work; produces a valuable soil supplement; and reduces the amount of organic material requiring a landfill or incineration. This is a neat hands on lesson that can last up to the whole year! The students get to understand the process of composting and will learn that there we can use other methods of eliminating our trash. My favorite part is that they get to physically see what is happening in the soil. I would start this activity towards the beginning of the year. The students can volunteer to bring in items from the materials list to help feel involved in the prep. I would have the students keep a journal about the chances they see when we check on the compost bin.

This is site talks about the ways to defy the laws of physics through space travel.

SC.E.1.2.3 Students know that our Sun is a star and that the energy of the Sun can be captured as a source of heat and light on Earth (e.g. plants, solar panels) Students will have a basic understanding of the vocabulary words sun, solar system, star, planet, asteroid, comet, orbit, axis.

This is an activity in which students use slices of bread to create replicas of various landforms. After introducing the varying types of landforms to the class, the teacher will provide students with slices of bread with which they can create different land types (such as islands, peninsulas, gulfs, straits, and isthmuses) in a hands-on, memorable manner. After the students have created the landforms, they can glue them to a piece of paper, or simply eat them as a snack! This activity caught my eye because I feel as though it would be engaging for the entire class. I also thought it was cost-effective and simple to execute. This activity would be an excellent way to introduce a unit on landforms because it gives the students a chance to become acquainted with the topic in an appealing, memorable way.

A foundation in geography begins with an understanding of the terms geographers use to describe the features of Earth. Help students grow their vocabulary and learn to recognize common landforms such as islands, lakes, peninsulas, gulfs, straits, and isthmuses in a hands-on lesson using soft and squishy slices of bread! I love this because the students get to visually make the landforms when learning about them. It keeps the students involved in the lesson. I would use it when first learning about the landforms to help the students better remember them.

This is the type of lesson I would do with my students before we take a field trip to the zoo. I would have them describe different animals. Do they have two or four feet, do they fly, and do they prefer cold or warm weather. I would have my students have group discussions and write down our thoughts. After our field trip, we would come back to the thoughts we wrote down and compare them to what we thought. We can then go deeper into the study and find if certain animals are carnivores or herbivores and where animals such as a zebra or giraffe might be found.

As technology in schools continues to advance, teachers must be on the lookout for ways to integrate new technology into the classroom. This website overviews 30 science apps for IPad covering topics such as physics, chemistry, anatomy, geology, weather and the solar system among many others. Most are free, but some charge a small fee and would be suited to many grade levels, at least grades 3-12. I would use to introduce or supplement a lesson, but could also see this as a treat for kids ready to work ahead.

This website has videos that hit on the main points of many different science lessons. These videos are not long and even have a short quiz at the end. My cooperating teacher used these at the end of her lessons because the students looked forward to watching a movie. Some of these videos are free, but to view all of them you must have an account.