Group items tagged

A. This resource contains educational games which focus on biology (plants and animal habitats). The link will take you to a particular game where students must find plants and animals in the local environment. Once students complete this game, they move onto others regarding growing plants and specific habitats. B. I chose this resource because it is an excellent introduction for a unit/lesson regarding plants and animals in their habitats, as well as showing students that plants and animals can be found in all types of environments. This resource fits well with my standard which is 2-LS4-1; Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. C. I would use this resource in my future classroom as an introduction for students to make the connection that animals and plants can be found in all types of environments. I would also use these interactive games to assess my students prior knowledge about plants/ animals habitat diversity in order to see which material can simply be a review.

This resource contains a video on how to make a pollution catcher. The materials needed for one catcher to be created is a paper plate, yarn/string, a hole punch, Vaseline, and a drawing utensil. I selected this resource because it fits the standard to- obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth's resources and environment (5-ESS3-1). This standard will be the focus of my lesson in this course. Having each student create a pollution catcher would be a fast activity for most grade levels, especially the upper elementary grades. If I was to teach a fifth grade class, I would do this activity as means of teaching the standard mentioned above.

Kohl Children's Museum of Greater Chicago strives to be equally available to guests with any level of physical, visual, auditory, or cognitive challenge. This museum allows students to explore, design, build and test musical instruments to discover how sound is created through vibration. I selected this resource because it sounds like it would be an interesting place to visit on a field trip especially for younger students and it fits well with my standard 1-PS4-1 which talks about vibrating materials creating sounds. I would use this resource by taking a field trip here one day and having students explore the different instruments and the vibrations that they make. This field trip would occur after a unit of learning about sounds and vibrations.

The resource shows a short video clip from the Magic School Bus episode: In the Haunted House- Sound is Vibration. It talks about sound and their vibrations and also shows Mrs. Frizzle's students demonstrating vibrations on numerous instruments. I selected this video resource because it fits well with my standard 1-PS4-1: provide evidence that vibrating materials can make a sound. I enjoyed watching this short video clip so I would hope my students would enjoy this also. I would use this resource as an introduction to grasp my students attention because it introduces what a vibration is.

This is a technology resource which is a link to a youtube video. The video is a clip from a Magic School Bus episode on sound. I chose this video because it explains vibration related to sound in simple terms that students can understand. I would most likely use this video as an introduction to a lesson to grab the students' attention.

This is another example, kind of like the other Simple Machines lesson that I posted earlier, where you get the kids involved in making their own simple machines. While the other lesson only allowed them to use their bodies to make replicas of the simple machines, this allows them to use different materials from around the classroom the create their machines.

While I didn't really understand what this lesson was trying to accomplish, it did help me come up with a great idea to connect a science lesson to "The Three Little Pigs." After we read the story, my class could discuss different types of houses that they could build, from material to shape/size. This would be a great activity to think of how the pigs could have stayed safe from the Big Bad Wolf from the beginning.

"Chemistry isn't just incredible ... sometimes it's edible, too! These crystal lollipops are a delicious introduction to some very lick-able chemistry concepts. Teach your child about saturation, evaporation, and crystallization with a simple kitchen concoction that will leave her hungry for more chemistry." Who doesn't love food? I know kids do! This website outlines the materials and process necessary to make crystallized lollipops. This allows for the students to understand concepts of boiling water, dissolving, super saturation, evaporation, etc. Science concepts can even be explained using something as fun as food-and the lesson can end with a yummy treat!

Our eyes are using light to see various objects all the time, but when this light travels through different mediums (such as water & air) it changes direction slightly. Light refracts (or bends) when it passes from water to air. I selected this resource because I could not quite find a good field trip. I feel like this is an easy way to show the young children how objects bend when looking through other material. This is a very easy lab and experiment for young grades. I would use this lab when showing my class how objects may appear and look different when seen through different objects.

St. Louis Science Center's reconstruction of a dig site in the Badlands, of Montana. The fossils at the "dig site" are casts made from the real fossils that can be seen on display in the Prep lab. The Prep Lab features interactive tables where real dinosaur fossils are displayed. Students are also encouraged to ask the workers and volunteers questions. There are also many other interactive exhibits at the St. Louis Science Center that deal with fossils and how they are made, and beginning March 7, there will be a special traveling dinosaur exhibit to visit. I can't think of a better place to take a field trip when teaching about biological evolution (3-LS4) than the Science Center. A large majority of their interactive displays fit right in with what the students are learning, and having the hands-on experience will only enhance the students learning and make it more meaningful. I would take the field trip somewhere in the middle of teaching the material, that way I could reference what the students have already learned in class when we're on the field trip but they would find that there is still more to learn.

This resource gives the children an opportunity to get up to the smart board and work on fun but still very educational material. I selected this resource because there is also a host of games that allow the children to showcase some different types of animals into their own animal and also make their own habitats. I would use this resource by first teaching the students what they need to know about the biodiversity of plants and animals and the different habitats and then I would have the students go to the smart board and work with the interactive activities. After this, I would have the students make and explain an animal and also habitat.

This resource contains instructions on how to bend water. The object is to bend the water by using static electricity. The materials needed are a plastic comb or inflated balloon, a narrow steam of water from a faucet, and dry hair. I selected this resource because I believe the lower elementary grades would really enjoy the experiment. Someday, I would love to teach kindergarten and I can see myself making a lesson out of this resource.

I like the idea of this matching game, however I would take the time to make the cards out of construction paper and laminate them so that the students could use them at their desks instead of having to be at the computer. I would also probably add more descriptions and have each planet as an answer two or even three times, just to make the game more challenging and show that the student has proficient knowledge over the material that has been covered in class.

Nice job considering modifications you would make.

This bird feed project requires students to create a bird feed out of recyclable objects. Instead of using things provided like the website says, I would have each child bring something to school out of their recycle bins to use on this bird feeder as a classroom conservation project.

This would be my last step in a recycling lesson, or, "Recycle Week." I would have my children create recycling slogans to post around the school and create rules/conditions for the competition. The goal would be to have a competition between each grade and class to see who can gather the most recyclable materials in four weeks. There will be a class winner in each grade that will be rewarded with an ice cream party, pizza party, extended recess, etc., to be decided with the class.

I would use this during my lesson/teaching time with my children before most activities and projects. This website gives a page of facts about recycling and each material that is recyclable.

This website includes: lesson plan, worksheets, higher-level thinking and reasoning questions for students. It has four weeks of activities to better understand the solar system and the entire universe and what it is made of. The four weeks are sections off into groups: Universe, Solar System, Earth and Geography. This website list all materials needed, the background information needed, higher-level thinking questions asked to students, diagrams and visual on each subject matter. There is a lab that gets the students working together and reasoning through their connections and answers. I would use this in my third grade classroom to help the students reason on why the planets rotate like they do, and other higher-level thinking questions. This will help the students reason, think on higher-levels of questions not just in science but in all subject areas.

Great find!

This activity allows students to work hands-on to observe and to collect data. It would be a fun activity that could engage students. This is also uses materials that would be accessible to students at home. Therefore, they could always show others.

This is an easy-to-follow, step-by-step explanation on genetics and inheritance. Each concept is briefly but succinctly explained allowing students to learn the concepts in small doses. I selected this resource because of its foundational nature and supporting graphics. This makes it suitable for learners at varying levels but particularly for early biology learners. It could be used effectively in any introductory DNA lesson.

Each of the many sections of the site includes explanation, animation, biography of a related scientist, and more. Quite in-depth and very high quality material.

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.